- David Lynch’s family broke the news earlier today
- Lynch directed iconic works such as Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet
- “There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us”
The family of David Lynch have today broke the news that the visionary, surrealist director has died, aged 78.
Lynch, who received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director for Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man and Mulholland Drive, had revealed last August that he was suffering from chronic lung condition emphysema after “many years of smoking”.
In a post to Lynch’s official Facebook page, the director’s family said, “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.”
Lynch launched himself into the public consciousness with his 1977 independent surrealist body horror Eraserhead. Three years later he would land his first Best Director nomination for his work on The Elephant Man, starring John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins. Sandwiched in between his first and second nominations (his second coming for Blue Velvet) was his attempt at bringing Dune to the big screen.
However, Lynch’s efforts at bringing his epic space opera to Hollywood was a monumental disaster of such a scale that Lynch disowned the film and had his name either removed or changed to pseudonyms on the credits.
The beginning of the 1990’s brought arguably Lynch’s most iconic and influential work as he created Twin Peaks alongside novelist and screenwriter Mark Frost. Running for two seasons on ABC, the Kyle MacLachlan starring mystery drama has long retained a passionate cult following and is widely regarded as one of the most influential TV shows of all time. Twin Peaks was a major inspiration for the X-Files and David Chase, creator of The Sopranos, has also claimed that anyone making longform drama on television who said they were not inspired by Twin Peaks was lying.
In 1990, Lynch also received the Palme d’Or at Cannes for Wild at Heart, starring Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern and Willem Dafoe. His final Best Director nomination arrived in 2001 for Mulholland Drive before he released his final film, Inland Empire, in 2006. The Guardian would rank the film as one of the 10 most underrated movies of the decade. Lynch also famously campaigned for Laura Dern to receive an Oscar nomination for her performance in the picture by hiring a cow named Georgia and sitting on the side of Hollywood Blvd with a huge ‘For Your Consideration’ sign.
My second greatest Hollywood moment after sitting behind Billy Wilder at a screening of SUNSET BOULEVARD was seeing David Lynch on Hollywood Blvd with a real cow promoting INLAND EMPIRE. Lynch played Gordon Cole in TWIN PEAKS — a character in SUNSET BOULEVARD. pic.twitter.com/9CxJeULlfa
— Christian Divine (@Chris_divine) January 16, 2025
Lynch recently had a cameo at the end of Steven Spielberg’s 2022 film The Fabelmans, playing director John Ford.
It is often said “there will never be another like him” but the cliche in this instance is actually as big an understatement as there could ever be. David Lynch was truly one of one. And while Homer Simpson may have been rendered clueless by his work it will be revered by cinema fans forever.
