Cyrk Zalewski is a traveling circus in the Baltic region. Smithy and the Phantom tour with the circus.
Eight members of the circus, all Polish-speaking, attend a backyard party hosted by Smithy and Sue. Gordy says, "It's 3:00." Smithy, slightly perplexed, responds, "Yes, that's right. You're right on time." One man (Janusz Hetman ) says, "The situation is becoming dangerous." Another man (Michal Stopowski) escorts him into the house, then comes out and asks Smithy for "paper for the toilet." Koz Kakawski, another member of the troupe, fights one of his colleagues for a hammer.
Smithy leaves Sue to travel with the group, to "take care for the animals."
The Phantom's job is to work up the crowd, doing "some sorta thing on people," according to Sue. One night, the Phantom was involved in a barroom fight. Everyone involved was arrested, including many circus clowns, but when the group was taken to the station, the Phantom had vanished.
More Things That Happened (Deleted Scenes)[]
Smithy does tricks with a horse in a darkened tent, with a few appreciative onlookers.
Trivia[]
- Several members of the circus are played by members of the film crew. Kazimierz Suwala, Janusz Hetman and Michal Stopowski are co-producers for the Poland unit. Alfredo Ponce is credited as construction coordinator, and is also credited as "builder extraordinaire" on Lost Highway. Initially hired as a landscaper after Lynch saw him doing working on a neighbor’s property and befriended him in the mid-1990s, Ponce has served as a “jack of all trades” plumber, electrician and builder on Lynch’s home property ever since. (Source: Room to Dream, David Lynch and Kristine McKenna, 2018, Random House, p. 312.)
- Juggler Bryson Lang plays a member of the circus. He is briefly seen entering the backyard party carrying juggling pins.
- The Lynch 2 documentary shows Lynch planning the circus shoot while sitting in a restaurant. Stopowski tells Lynch they can get him a camel, tiger and horses for two days. Lynch only says he wants to shoot outside the tent at night with wagons, and where they keep the horses. Stopowski asks if Lynch wants the inside of the tent, and Lynch says he wants the tent empty. After thinking, he adds, "Maybe Piotrek," and the Camerimage gang dressed and in back, coming out together with Piotrek. He asks if Krzysztof (who plays the Phantom) will be there tomorrow night, and Stopowski says he will. In the Lynch documentary, Lynch says that he doesn't think he'll use the whole circus, and says he has to "think fast" and see if it conjures up ideas.