RIP David Lynch

[DJJasonp]

This one hurts......one of my all time favorite directors

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/d...ks-1236276106/

Director-writer David Lynch, who radicalized American film with with a dark, surrealistic artistic vision in films like “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive” and network television with “Twin Peaks,” has died. He was 78.

Lynch revealed in 2024 that he had been diagnosed with emphysema after a lifetime of smoking, and would likely not be able to leave his house to direct any longer. His family announced his death in a Facebook post, writing, “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.'”

The “Twin Peaks” TV show and films such as “Blue Velvet,” “Lost Highway” and “Mulholland Drive” melded elements of horror, film noir, the whodunit and classical European surrealism. Lynch wove tales, not unlike those of his Spanish predecessor Luis Bunuel, which proceeded with their own impenetrable logic.

A four-time Oscar nominee, Lynch received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement in 2020.

After years spent as a painter and a maker of short animated and live action films, Lynch burst onto the scene with his 1977 feature debut “Eraserhead,” a horrific, black-humored work that became a disturbing fixture on the midnight movie circuit. His outré and uncompromising style quickly won the attention of the Hollywood and international movie-making establishment.

He was hired by Mel Brooks’ production company to write and direct “The Elephant Man,” a deeply affecting drama about a horrifically deformed sideshow freak in Victorian England who became a national celebrity. The feature captured eight Academy Award nominations, including Lynch’s first for best director.

[GabyKeepsMeWarm]

Just got home from working a double shift, and suffice it to say, today was pretty brutal, made worse by the passing of two legends today…

I was a lucky kid in many ways… one such way was I always grew up with Showtime, HBO and Cinemax. Might not mean much to many here, but if you’re of a certain age, you get it. I started recording movies from the aforementioned channels as soon as we got our first VCR at Christmas in ‘84. I was a pay cable junkie. But my folks kept an eye on me…. I might be kept from sneaking around and watching Purple Rain at 8pm, but little did they know Beastmaster was on during the day, and titties we’re titties…

But I digress…. I remember specifically in 1989 getting my mind blown…. I think it was Saturday nights, Cinemax used to have a thing they called “vanguard cinema”, shown around 9 or 10pm, and it would be a film a bit off the beaten path. No Ghostbusters, Star Wars or Indiana Jones…. And I guess this night was my indoctrination…. Taxi Driver. I was too young to fully grasp or understand it, but it “did” something to me. I remember it vividly. I’d sorta heard of the movie and knew it had relevance, but this was probably my first real step into looking at movies differently. The next week, I tuned in again, and this time it was Clockwork Orange. Again, too young to fully grasp the material, but I was digging it. Third week I get Blue Velvet….

This movie terrified me in ways the other two films didn’t. In ways I can’t explain, it felt more “real”, but completely surreal, scary, weird, odd, upsetting, etc…. And then I learn the director had also done Dune? For real? I saw that crazy mess in the theater and couldn’t believe it could be the same brain that put together such different films.

But I kept watching films, and Blue Velvet, David Lynch and others had a remarkable influence and I knew I wanted to get into the film business. And I did.

I briefly met Lynch about 20 years ago at a WGA screening. Got the good ol handshake and smile. He seemed very tall, but it was probably just his amazing hair.

His work is certainly hit and miss. Not for everyone. But man…. This guy loved his work. I nerded out on the guy for years. Can you imagine committing to a film for five or six years, working enough to pay for more film and rentals to ultimately create Eraserhead? Can you imagine poor John Nance who had to keep the same haircut during that time? There is literally continuity direct cut shots of Nance shot over a year apart, as simple as him walking across a parking lot to a door, cut to the other side of the door of Nance entering. Same haircut. That’s commitment man, and it shows you how much they either believed in David or they were under their own spell.

Oh, then his next project is Elephant Man?!? After the huge Broadway run it had? And he’s got Anthony Hopkins, Anne Bancroft and John Hurt as leads?!? Then delivers a ****ing gem, gaining award noms left and right and ultimately making a movie that has made me cry buckets?!? You win Dave.

I’m gonna miss Lynch, and I hope he’s enjoying a smoke, a fine cup of coffee and a delicious slice of pie wherever he is. The world just got a lot less weird and in this case, that’s a huge loss.

[srvy]

Just like Bobby Peru David didn't come up for air loved his films except Dune. I don't hold it against him. RIP

[DJJasonp]

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by GabyKeepsMeWarm

Just got home from working a double shift, and suffice it to say, today was pretty brutal, made worse by the passing of two legends today…

I was a lucky kid in many ways… one such way was I always grew up with Showtime, HBO and Cinemax. Might not mean much to many here, but if you’re of a certain age, you get it. I started recording movies from the aforementioned channels as soon as we got our first VCR at Christmas in ‘84. I was a pay cable junkie. But my folks kept an eye on me…. I might be kept from sneaking around and watching Purple Rain at 8pm, but little did they know Beastmaster was on during the day, and titties we’re titties…

But I digress…. I remember specifically in 1989 getting my mind blown…. I think it was Saturday nights, Cinemax used to have a thing they called “vanguard cinema”, shown around 9 or 10pm, and it would be a film a bit off the beaten path. No Ghostbusters, Star Wars or Indiana Jones…. And I guess this night was my indoctrination…. Taxi Driver. I was too young to fully grasp or understand it, but it “did” something to me. I remember it vividly. I’d sorta heard of the movie and knew it had relevance, but this was probably my first real step into looking at movies differently. The next week, I tuned in again, and this time it was Clockwork Orange. Again, too young to fully grasp the material, but I was digging it. Third week I get Blue Velvet….

This movie terrified me in ways the other two films didn’t. In ways I can’t explain, it felt more “real”, but completely surreal, scary, weird, odd, upsetting, etc…. And then I learn the director had also done Dune? For real? I saw that crazy mess in the theater and couldn’t believe it could be the same brain that put together such different films.

But I kept watching films, and Blue Velvet, David Lynch and others had a remarkable influence and I knew I wanted to get into the film business. And I did.

I briefly met Lynch about 20 years ago at a WGA screening. Got the good ol handshake and smile. He seemed very tall, but it was probably just his amazing hair.

His work is certainly hit and miss. Not for everyone. But man…. This guy loved his work. I nerded out on the guy for years. Can you imagine committing to a film for five or six years, working enough to pay for more film and rentals to ultimately create Eraserhead? Can you imagine poor John Nance who had to keep the same haircut during that time? There is literally continuity direct cut shots of Nance shot over a year apart, as simple as him walking across a parking lot to a door, cut to the other side of the door of Nance entering. Same haircut. That’s commitment man, and it shows you how much they either believed in David or they were under their own spell.

Oh, then his next project is Elephant Man?!? After the huge Broadway run it had? And he’s got Anthony Hopkins, Anne Bancroft and John Hurt as leads?!? Then delivers a ****ing gem, gaining award noms left and right and ultimately making a movie that has made me cry buckets?!? You win Dave.

I’m gonna miss Lynch, and I hope he’s enjoying a smoke, a fine cup of coffee and a delicious slice of pie wherever he is. The world just got a lot less weird and in this case, that’s a huge loss.

Well said! The one that threw me for a loop was his G rated The Straight Story. It was really great, but never expected something like that from him. 😂