With the sad news of the sudden death of film icon David Lynch earlier today, media has been flooded with tributes and reminiscences.
Here is an excerpt from the obituary at Daily Variety by Chris Morris*:
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.
As an accompaniment, here is an interview from October 23, 2007 for the Simon Mayo program Daily Mayo on BBC 5 Live.
And it’s only January.
*Special thanks to Chris Morris at Daily Variety.
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