David Lynch's films with their unique aesthetic and often twisted stories continue to captivate new audiences. Known for his distinctive style, he has been entertaining for nearly 50 years, with films like "Mulholland Drive" and "Blue Velvet", and not least the TV series "Twin Peaks".
About the series' sequel, he said to TT in 2014:
Humans constantly get lost in darkness and confusion. That's what my films are about, about the extreme, about contradictions.
But the ideas behind the films didn't come from him himself, he said.
They come from somewhere else. They exist, and they come to us, and I see them as a gift. You catch the ideas and fall in love.
Golden Palm and Space Flop
David Lynch was Oscar-nominated four times, was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 2019 for his lifetime achievement, and won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival in 1990 for "Wild at Heart", one of many awards he received.
After trying to make a living as an artist, he seriously entered the film world in the 1970s. His feature film debut "Eraserhead" from 1977 is still a tumultuous experience that shocked audiences and critics when it was released – a hint of what was to come.
The big breakthrough came instead three years later with "Elephant Man", a prize-winning success followed by acclaimed "Blue Velvet" (1986) but also one of his less appreciated works: "Dune" from 1984.
In 1990, "Twin Peaks" came, a series that changed TV history. "I'm surprised we got away with as much as we did," he said himself in 2014.
Nothing was Alien
Nothing was alien to the curious Lynch. After "Twin Peaks", he continued to make films in all forms – feature films and music videos, commercials, and short clips on social media. He also made music and could be seen in front of the camera occasionally. As FBI Agent Gordon Cole in "Twin Peaks" and in 2022 as John Ford in Steven Spielberg's "The Fabelmans".
"I love David's films," Spielberg wrote after the news of his death, "The world will miss such an original and unique voice."
Last year, Lynch announced that he had been diagnosed with lung emphysema after smoking his whole life.
In an interview with People magazine, he said that he started smoking at the age of eight and loved "lighting cigarettes". But he also wanted to warn others from smoking.
You can quit these things that will kill you, he said.
David Lynch himself died on Thursday. His family writes in a statement on Facebook that he leaves "a great void in the world" behind him, but that it's "a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue sky as far as the eye can see".
Born in 1946 in Missoula, Montana.
He was married four times and had four children, including daughter Jennifer Lynch, who is also a film director.
Feature films: "Eraserhead" (1977), "Elephant Man" (1980), "Dune" (1984), "Blue Velvet" (1986), "Wild at Heart" (1990), "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me" (1992), "Lost Highway" (1997), "The Straight Story" (1999), "Mulholland Drive" (2001), "Inland Empire" (2006).
Additionally, in selection: the TV series "Twin Peaks" 1990-91 and 2017, music videos for, among others, Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" 1990 and Moby's "Shot in the Back of the Head".
David Lynch also made notable commercials for, among others, Calvin Klein, Armani, and his own coffee brand. Additionally, he made internet weather reports and number drawings.
He has also released music, both film scores and sound design for some of his own films, as well as pure albums, including "Crazy Clown Time" and "The Big Dream".
In 2013, he made the duet "I'm Waiting Here" with Swedish Lykke Li.
