LAURA DERN - DERN DEFENDS DIRECTOR/MENTOR LYNCH

Actress LAURA DERN has defended DAVID LYNCH against accusations the director makes his surreal movies deliberately difficult to understand - and then refuses to explain them. Dern, who has starred in four Lynch movies including his latest INLAND EMPIRE, became incensed at the Venice Film Festival last September (06) when one reporter criticised him for not explaining the movie's plot. She says, "I get so protective of David, like an older sister or something, which is so absurd. "He's not waiting for us to get the movie because he doesn't think the cinema is about 'getting it'. I think he believes - which I've found very rare in filmmakers - in the intelligence of the audience, that they're intelligent enough to discover the film and what it means within themselves."