the 50 best david lynch characters: the countdown

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Time Out Film count down the greatest David Lynch creations

Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper)

As seen in 'Blue Velvet'

‘Do you know what a love letter is? It's a bullet from a fucking gun, fucker! You receive a love letter from me, and you're fucked forever!’

For David Lynch, fucked-up characters run – nay, stream – from the infamous brainpool of his unconscious. None, however, remain so utterly debased, despicable and deranged as Dennis Hopper’s take on perverted, Pabst Blue Ribbon-quaffing profanity volcano Frank Booth. The director initially had his sights set on go-to evil freak Steven Berkoff for the role, but the story goes that Hopper lobbied hard for the part: ‘I am Frank Booth!’ Hopper also had plenty of hard experience playing frazzled maniacs, and if Lynch ever wavered, he only needed to take a five-second peek at Hopper’s performances in ‘OC and Stiggs’ (all-American trigger-happy separatist and hash farmer) or ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2’ (insanely violent sheriff who opts to fight chainsaws with chainsaws). Perhaps his in-the-moment insanity and mouth-foaming line-readings are what ensures that Booth remains in the pantheon of cinema's great bad boys (to put it mildly). But take a moment to just ponder exactly how someone like this came into being, and that’s where the real scares emerge. Altogether now: ‘Let’s Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuucccccccccccckkkkk!’

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