Haunted by The Wizard of Oz and possessed by the spirit of Elvis, David Lynch’s darkly comic, surrealist road trip is a tale of love, death and a snakeskin jacket.
Nicolas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas, Mandy, Raising Arizona) plays Sailor Ripley and Laura Dern (Jurassic Park, Inland Empire) is Lula, two lovers who hit the road in a 1965 Ford Thunderbird to escape from Lula’s pathologically overbearing mother, and the increasingly deranged cast of gangsters and hitmen that she sends after them. The result is a road trip classic like no other, featuring one of cinema’s sexiest onscreen couples.
Featuring a colourful cast of characters played by the likes of Willem Defoe, Isabella Rossellini, Harry Dean Stanton, Crispin Glover, and Diane Ladd (plus some familiar faces from Twin Peaks) a soundtrack featuring both Chris Isaak’s iconic ‘Wicked Game’ and plenty of thrash metal, Wild at Heart is perhaps the purest expression of some of Lynch’s key influences, from ‘50s Americana and film noir to the Technicolor imagery of The Wizard of Oz. Deservedly winning the Palme d’Or, this unforgettable tribute to young love proves that “this whole world’s wild at heart and weird on top…”