David Lynch, filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and author, has passed away at the age of 78. His death came just days before his 79th birthday. No official cause of death was given, but Lynch had been struggling with emphysema in recent years, after many years of smoking. The news came via his family, from his official Facebook page. The news was confirmed by Deadline. In the post, his immediate family stated the following:
It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch,” the post reads. “We would appreciate some privacy at this time. There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.’ It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.
Although he only had 10 feature films under his belt and just a handful of television series, David Lynch absolutely changed the face of filmed entertainment. He joined a small club of film directors, like Hitchcock, whose style was so singular that their very names became an adjective. The term “Lynchian” is now in the Oxford Dictionary, as “Characteristic, reminiscent, or imitative of the films or television work of David Lynch.” That’s no small feat.
Born on January 20, 1946, in Missoula, Montana, Lynch began his career making experimental short films in the late 1960s. An Eagle Scout who grew up in different idyllic American suburbs, he saw the strange and bizarre behind the All-American 1950s veneer at a young age. All things he funneled into his future art. His first feature film, which took years to complete, was the surrealistic masterpiece Eraserhead. Along with John Waters’ Pink Flamingos and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, it became a staple of the midnight movie circuit for years. This cult success led to his first mainstream feature film, the biographical film The Elephant Man. That film earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Director.
After the success of The Elephant Man, George Lucas offered Lynch a chance to direct Return of the Jedi. He turned it down to adapt Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic Dune instead. The production was a nightmare, and Lynch did not have the final cut. The film flopped upon release as well. But from this failure, Lynch’s career truly blossomed. As an “I’m sorry” to Lynch, Dune producer Dino De Laurentis offered him a small budget to direct whatever he wanted. He cast his Dune star Kyle MacLachlan in the lead opposite a young Laura Dern. Blue Velvet was a thriller drama about the secrets people keep behind the white-picket fences. (Among other things). The film was a sensation, earning Lynch his second Oscar nomination. It was also his first of many collaborations with composer Angelo Badalamenti. The Lynch style was cemented.
After Blue Velvet, Lynch did something totally unexpected, something that changed the face of TV forever. Together with writing partner Mark Frost and his star Kyle MacLachlan, they developed the murder mystery soap opera Twin Peaks. At the time, serious filmmakers stayed far away from network television. However, ABC took a chance on Lynch and Frost’s vision, and somehow, Lynch’s surrealistic series captured the American consciousness. Twin Peaks‘ first season was a genuine pop culture phenomenon. Everyone around the country was obsessed with the question “Who killed Laura Palmer?” Somehow, America’s strangest filmmaker found mainstream success. At the same time Twin Peaks was on the air in 1990, his trippy road movie Wild at Heart, starring Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern, won the Palme d’Or at Canne. The man who made Eraserhead in 1977 was somehow now on the cover of Time Magazine.
Twin Peaks was ultimately too weird to sustain itself on network TV. After the second season, it was canceled, and the feature film prequel Fire Walk With Me was met with poor box office and general hatred from the mainstream audience that had embraced the series. (Most today recognize it as a horror masterpiece.) Lynch continued on with films like Lost Highway, and the surprisingly wholesome The Straight Story, which earned him another Academy Award nomination. ABC asked him to produce a new pilot for them in the same vein as Twin Peaks, with a mystery series set in Hollywood. Lynch shot the pilot in 1999, with a young unknown actress named Naomi Watts. But ABC passed on it. Similar to Dune, however, this lemon produced lemonade.
A French company provided Lynch with the funds to film a new ending for the pilot to release it as a theatrical feature. The result was the 2001 masterpiece Mulholland Drive, which earned Lynch his fourth and last Best Director nomination. Many consider Mulholland Drive one of the greatest films of the 21st century, and it continues to be hailed as revolutionary. After Mulholland Drive, Lynch reunited with his muse Laura Dern for a three-hour experimental film called Inland Empire. It’s his most challenging work yet, and even the most die-hard Lynch fan often has a hard time with it. Yet without a doubt, it displayed Lynch’s commitment to putting his vision on screen, totally uncompromised.
For much of the next decade, David Lynch painted and recorded albums, and many wondered if we’d ever get a Lynch movie again. In 2014, David Lynch announced that he and Mark Frost would reunite to continue Twin Peaks as a Showtime limited series, set 25 years after the original. The 18-episode Twin Peaks: The Return aired in 2017. Even though it was a television series, many hailed it as the best movie of that year, seeing it as a very long film. Some fans didn’t take to it, but many saw it as a brilliant continuation of the series. It fulfilled the promise Laura Palmer made at the end of the original series—“I’ll see you again in 25 years.” Twin Peaks The Return wound up as the last long-form David Lynch project he produced.
Many younger folks only know Lynch from his quirky appearances, more or less playing himself, in series like The Cleveland Show. Also, they might know him from his daily weather reports, which he filmed from his home until 2021. But David Lynch was so much more than the quirky old man with the funny voice. His style literally changed the face of cinema and television. Much of modern independent film wouldn’t exist today without Lynch’s example. And there is almost no modern “prestige television series” that doesn’t have the mark of Twin Peaks on it somewhere. David Lynch was an American original, who will never be forgotten or replicated. Our condolences go out to his family and friends.
