A new book devoted to the U.S. television series "Twin Peaks" claims that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was such a fan of the cult show that he enlisted the help of then-U.S. President George H.W. Bush to find out the answer to the show's main riddle: Who killed Laura Palmer?
The legendary series, which aired in the U.S. from 1990 to 1991, got audiences hooked on a fictional and mystical investigation into the murder of young homecoming queen Laura Palmer, whose killer remained a mystery throughout the entire first season and well into the second.
When asked about the claim during an extensive interview Tuesday, Gorbachev told The Moscow Times that he had no recollection of the show. The show aired on Russian television in 1993.
In an excerpt from "Reflections: An Oral History of Twin Peaks" published this summer, author Brad Dukes cites Jules Haimovitz — then-president of Aaron Spelling Productions, which produced the show — as describing an incident in which the two leaders of the world's main superpowers allegedly tried to wield their authority to make the show's creator and director, David Lynch, reveal who the killer was, according to a scanned copy of a page in the book posted on Twitter by composer Ryan Walsh.
One day, Haimovitz said, his colleague got a call from financier Carl Lindner, who had bought half of Aaron Spelling Productions and who happened to be friendly with Bush "wanting to know who killed Laura Palmer."
Haimovitz is cited in the book as saying he didn't know the answer, but was told "it's really important" so he called up Lynch himself.
"I called David and he says, 'I can't tell you.' I don't want to press David, so I call Aaron back to say, 'David won't tell me, who wants to know?' and he says, 'President Bush.' What happened was Gorbachev called Bush, who called Carl, who called Aaron, who called me," Haimovitz is quoted as saying.
Haimovitz reportedly called Lynch again to demand to know the name of the killer. "That's when I realized David [Lynch] had no idea who killed Laura Palmer."
Contact the author at a.quinn@imedia.ru
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