TRANSCRIPT
{MUSIC}
The haunting opening of Twin Peaks.
Airing first in 1990 - the mystery show had millions wrapped in the question: who killed Laura Palmer.
It's now heralded as one of the significant television shows ever produced and as co-creator, David Lynch's influence was unmistakable.
Indeed, It's rare for an artist to be so distinctive, so unusual, even disturbing across their work, that they have their own adjective in the Oxford dictionary.
But how else can you describe David Lynch - but Lynchian?
Born on January 20th 1946 in Missoula, Montana, Lynch, like revered director Alfred Hitchcock, was a trained artist with the brush.
Here he is speaking 2014, about how his creative process.
“We don't do anything without an idea, so they're beautiful gifts. And I always say, you desiring an idea is like a bait on a hook, you can pull them in, and if you catch an idea that you love, that's a beautiful, beautiful day. And you write that idea down so you won't forget it.”
From his first film, Eraserhead, his work delved into the surreal.
And while films like the Elephant Man and Dune had mainstream success, he seemed most comfortable, making the audience uncomfortable.
Through Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, some would say he explored the decaying American dream.
But don't ask him to explain his films, as British critic Mark Kermode once tried.
Interviewer: "I know you hate saying what things mean in your films, but am I right in that's at least in the right area?"
David Lynch: "No!”
{ Audience laughs}
That's what kept viewers coming back, even if they left his films confused,
And while he never won an Oscar - though he was nominated four times - he had Hollywood's respect.
On set - he was unapologetically himself, endearing himself to his cast and crew.
Naomi Watts was cast by Lynch from a headshot in 2001's Mulholland Drive, a breakthrough role.
Here she is speaking in 2017 with W magazine.
"It's like he's in the scene with you, he's on his megaphone, even when he's like two feet away from you. Such a freak! And he'll often direct you in the scene, Tu say a line and then, "Say it again! Rip his! Rip his head off. Go for it Naomi just... he'll just give you this and it gets you going, it does!"
In one memorable stunt in 2006, Lynch sat by on the roadside with a cow to promote his star Laura Dern's Oscar campaign.
In later years, he would charm fans with daily weather reports online, maintaining a loyal cult following.
A lifelong smoker, Lynch was diagnosed with Emphysema in 2020.
It left him house-bound but he refused to retire.
He, like others, had been evacuated in recent weeks as smoke and fires ravaged the Hollywood Hills .
'There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us,' his family said.
'But, as he would say, “Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.” '
Among those paying tribute, award winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg.
He cast Lynch as Western director John Ford in his semi-autobiographical film, The Fabelmans.
It would be one of his final film projects...
Lynch as John Ford: "They tell me you what to be a picture maker."
Sam Fabelman: "Yes sir I do."
Ford: Why? This business, it will rip you apart."
Spielberg said he was remembering "a singular, visionary dreamer who directed films that felt handmade"
Longtime collaborator and Twin Peaks star Kyle McLachlan adds: "He was in touch with something the rest of us wish we could get to."
Here's Lynch reflecting on the way his work is received.
"The film is the thing. You work so hard, to get, after the ideas come, to get all these things built. All the elements to feel correct the whole to feel correct, in this beautiful language called cinema. When things are concrete, very things are are open to interpretation. But the more abstract a things get, the more varied the interpretations, but people still know what it is inside for them."
David Lynch was 78.
