Exclusive: How Richard Green's New Film Unveils the Life of a Stage and Screen Icon

Catherine E. Coulson. You may not know her name, but you will likely recognize her face, particularly if it is accompanied by round, red glasses and an obligatory log. Best known for her role as Margaret Lanterman, aka the Log Lady in the 1990 television series Twin Peaks, Coulson’s entertainment career was diverse, working in front of the camera, behind the camera, and on the stage. It was in the theater where she spent most of her later years; she would become a beloved member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), serving in the acting company for the last two decades of her life.

In his new documentary “I Know Catherine, the Log Lady,” filmmaker Richard Green has embarked on a Herculean task: compiling a film that spotlights Coulson's vast life, recognizes her artistic and personal achievements, and most importantly, allows viewers a chance to enter into her inner circle, despite her passing nearly ten years ago.

Green disarmingly does this in the film's opening moments with the inclusion of a phone call recording. In the call, we hear Coulson, only days from death, attempt to set up her end-of-life affairs with a mortuary, making jokes along the way. “It's so shocking to hear. I didn't laugh when I first heard it. I didn't see anything funny at all. It wasn't until later that I could start to hear the humor in it,” Green admitted in an interview with BroadwayWorld.

While screening the film for audiences, Green observed that many viewers have also been unsure how to respond to this conversation. It is, after all, about her own impending death. However, those who knew Coulson have recognized that familiar humor and, by the end of the film, the rest of the audience is right there with them. “When we bring [the recording] back and put it on now with subtitles, everybody laughs because they know Catherine now after this long film, and they realize that it's pretty funny.”

It was this particular off-kilter brand of humor that was characteristic of Coulson, who shone bright on stage and screen and among her peers. Before officially beginning her career in show business, she spent a lot of time in Disneyland as the daughter of Disney employee Bud Coulson, who worked directly for Walt. “I think [her love of performing] started back at the Disneyland days, being Snow White with little kids, and being able to interact. I think that impacted her method of working," Green noted, also sharing his belief that this was a great influence on David Lynch, who was known for his generosity and love for actors. "In theater, you can't do a show if everybody's not on time. It's a collective thing. Everybody has to do their part; therefore, everybody needs to feel good, respected, and treated well."

As he worked on the film, Green captured 65 interviews with Coulson's colleagues, friends, and family members, among them actor Kyle MacLachlan, playwright Robert Schenkkan, and the late David Lynch. "It was clear to me and David that we didn't want it to just be about Twin Peaks. We wanted it to be about Catherine: who she was- the whole of it- because it informs who the character was in TWIN PEAKS and how it developed. I hadn't watched Season Three on purpose because I didn't want to be too influenced by it, and I didn't go back and watch any of TWIN PEAKS initially."

Throughout the process, various cuts of the movie were in play, as were questions about its medium. Should it be a film or should it be a miniseries? "It seemed to me [that a miniseries would] be the best way to handle the material, even though I thought a feature would be more accessible to a larger audience." It was this longer, three-part version that David Lynch himself approved before his passing. But Green explains, "Things were changing so dramatically in the industry at that point that it just didn't look like we were going to get the kind of deal for this three-part that I thought it deserved."

The final version of the film- now feature-length- alternates in time between various aspects of Coulson's career, from her role in Robert Schenkkan's play By the Waters of Babylon (written specifically for her by the Tony Award-winning playwright) to her most famous (and what was ultimately her final) role, the Log Lady. Her return to that iconic role serves as the jumping-off point of the movie. Only days before her death, Coulson played the role of the Log Lady one last time in the long-awaited third season of the cult television series. How that happened is a complicated and compelling story, and one that Green doesn't answer right away.

"I actually cut a trailer, and the trailer gave me the idea about how to tell the story. I realized that there's a powerful throughline from the minute she finds out Twin Peaks is coming back and then she's got cancer, to when they get it shot, is it going to happen? And it's a cliffhanger."

Green has taken the film on the road, screening it in venues across the country, including in her hometown of Ashland, Oregon. The response from her friends and family, Green says, has been incredible. "They were delighted because they have known for so long how extraordinary this woman was who lived in their midst. Everybody who knew Catherine knew she was absolutely the best of us. Really superhuman. Not in the sense that she was beyond human, but that she was so damn human: so vulnerable, so real, so crazy."

"I Know Catherine, the Log Lady" is currently screening in select theaters throughout May and June. In Los Angeles, the documentary will debut May 9th for a weeklong run at the Laemmle Glendale. Check out the full list of screenings here and watch the trailer below.