Marek (Leon Niemczyk), Darek (Jozef Zbirog) and Franciszek (Marian Stanislaw) are three old Polish-speaking men who appear to be incarnations of the the Rabbits. They give Smithy the gun which is used to kill the Phantom.
Somewhere in Poland, they hold a séance to summon the Lost Girl while sitting around a table by candlelight. The Lost Girl sends for Smithy, who arrives with Janek. Smithy hears the Lost Girl, but cannot see her. Franciszek says, “It was red.” Marek asks if Smithy works for someone, and Smithy says he does. Marek says that the man Smithy works for is “the one she spoke of.” Smithy repeats this, and Marek says, “So…you understand.” Darek says, “The horse was taken to the well.” Marek takes a pistol out of the back of his pants and places it on the table, telling Smithy to take it. Smithy does so. One of the men yells, “Right away! It’s after midnight!” Janek and Smithy exit, passing a painting of two white arms against a dark background, one hand holding a lit candle. The Lost Girl disappears. The three men rearrange their positions, then turn into the Rabbits in their home. Marek turns into Jane. Darek turns into Jack. Franciszek turns into Suzie. Shortly thereafter, Suzie repeats Franciszek's line, "It was red."
Trivia[]
- Darek's line, "The horse was taken to the well," is repeated later by Mr. K (who also seems to be an incarnation of Jack Rabbit). It presumably refers to a trap to lure the Phantom to his death.
- This was likely the first scene conceived and shot for the Poland shoot. According to David Lynch on the Stories feature, he had traveled to Łódź a few times with the help of the Camerimage Film Festival, primarily to take photos of abandoned factories. On one visit, ideas started flooding in, and he pictured three people sitting around a table. He had filming equipment with him because he had just shot a scene with Laura Dern, who was in Paris. He spoke to the Camerimage crew about shooting a scene, and scripted it that night. He told Camerimage that he needed a room with a table on a second floor. Within hours, he had the actors' faces; The next morning, Marek Zebrowski translated the script Lynch had written. By 2pm, the actors were cast and they had their pages. They were on location by 6 or 7pm, were shooting by 7pm, and by 10pm "it was taillights" and they had shot the scene.
- Marian Stanislaw, who plays Franciszek, died on April 7, 2004, two and a half years before the release of INLAND EMPIRE. Leon Niemczyk, who played Marek, died on November 29, 2006, four days after the film's Polish premiere at the Camerimage Film Festival.