CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 11/9/2026

Rizzoli Bookstore presents the launch of 'Blue Velvet: A Polaroid Diary'

Monday, November 9 at 6 PM, go behind the scenes of David Lynch’s 1986 cult classic with on-set Polaroids taken by makeup artist Jeff Goodwin. Rizzoli Bookstore is delighted to welcome Goodwin to celebrate his book, Blue Velvet: A Polaroid Diary. He will be in conversation with Reel Art Press publisher and film connoisseur Tony Nourmand, followed by a signing.

PLEASE NOTE: RSVPs are encouraged but not required. Seating is limited and will be first come, first served. Doors open at 5:30 PM.

Can't attend? Order your signed copy here.

Crack open a Pabst Blue Ribbon and revisit the uncanny world of Blue Velvet, David Lynch’s neo-noir thriller starring Kyle Machlachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Laura Dern and Dennis Hopper playing against type as the unforgettable, nitrite-sucking drug kingpin Frank Booth. Here, the film’s makeup artist, Jeff Goodwin, shares hundreds of never-before-published Polaroids documenting the movie’s genesis and production.

Goodwin was already taking dozens of pictures to test and document different actors’ looks across multiple scenes, from Dern’s introduction as sweetheart Sandy to Rossellini’s bewitching chanteuse look as she croons the film’s eponymous song. It was only natural that he would turn his camera outward, toward other areas of the set, to unknowingly create a visual anthology of the making of Blue Velvet. Goodwin was also responsible for the film’s gory prostheses—brain injuries, gunshot wounds and, most famously, severed ears. He originally modeled the latter after his own, but when he deposited them on Lynch’s desk the director exclaimed, “These are great! But we need to make them adult ears.”

Bound in blue velvet (nothing else would do), this Polaroid Diary. arrives just in time for the 40th anniversary of the inimitable film. Goodwin’s snapshots, spanning from pre- to post-production, invite us behind the scenes of life on set: from field tests of “Mr. Ear” to goof-offs between takes. Annotated with technical notes and anecdotes, these Polaroids serve as record of both a commitment to craft and the admiration held by the cast and crew for David Lynch, a director whose singular vision will never be seen again.

Jeff Goodwin is an award-winning film makeup and makeup special effects artist. Blue Velvet (1986) launched his career, and he has gone on to work on over one hundred film and television productions, including The Last of the Mohicans (1992) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990). Over the course of his career Goodwin has worked with leading filmmakers including David Lynch, Nicolas Roeg, Ang Lee and Michael Mann. Alongside his work in cinema, Goodwin founded the Transformations Makeup FX Lab and has taught and lectured internationally on the craft of makeup and special effects.

Tony Nourmand is founder and editor-in-chief of Reel Art Press. Tony’s peerless curatorial ability and his uncompromising obsession with print quality has elevated R|A|P editions to cult status worldwide. Tony is a world authority on the imagery of film. In the mid 1990s, Nourmand co-founded the world’s leading gallery in original movie posters, and he was also the consultant for vintage movie posters for Christie’s auction house in London from 1992 to 2003. He has been instrumental in forming some of the world’s leading private and public collections of movie posters and has edited over 20 best-selling authoritative books on the subject.

ABOVE: A Polaroid from Scenes 190, 191 & 192.

Rizzoli Bookstore
Jeff Goodwin and Tony Nourmand launching 'Blue Velvet: A Polaroid Diary'
Monday, November 9, 6–7:45 PM
1133 Broadway
New York, NY 10010
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