Patricia Arquette Recalls Filming 'Terrifying' Nude Scenes in Lost Highway as Crew Said 'Gross Things'

Patricia Arquette is looking back at concerns she had doing a nude scene for the 1997 movie Lost Highway.

During a panel at the Series Mania Festival in Lille, France, on Thursday, the Oscar winner, now 55, recalled preparing herself for the "terrifying" naked moments, especially as crew members on set were "saying gross things" about it.

Director David Lynch stepped in to address the comments at the time, she said.

"I was so extremely modest — I would take a bath in the dark," said Arquette, according to Variety. "The scene when my character had to strip was terrifying to me. Some of the guys were saying crude things and I told David: ‘I am not comfortable. They are saying gross things.’ "

"He said, ‘You read the script. Wait, who said what?’ When I came back, all these men were looking at their feet, all apologetic," she added.

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Arquette, who said she has a "tough side," also recalled speaking up on set while filming a sex scene.

"It was supposed to be a closed set. I said: ‘If I take this robe off and I look at you and I know you don’t have to be there, I am going to punch you in the face.' Later, I told [costar] Balthazar [Getty], ‘Just keep your hands on my tits. I would rather you hold them than the whole world saw them.' "

In Lost Highway, Arquette played Renee Madison among a cast that also included Bill Pullman, Robert Blake, Gary Busey, Giovanni Ribisi, Richard Pryor and more.

Arquette previously recalled the making of the movie in a 2022 interview with The Guardian, explaining, "One of the reasons I took the role was my phobia of nudity, but doing all those nude scenes didn’t cure it."

She said she still "had to peek through my fingers when I watched those moments in the film."

As research, Arquette said she "visited some weird clubs to prepare for the part, including this dominatrix place where some customers paid to be used as tables."

"I tried to study what the power dynamics were in there, the micro-expressions in people’s faces. The majority start out as submissives before they become dominatrixes. I think [my character] Renee/Alice experienced those echelons of humiliation."