‘Twin Peaks’ creator and filmmaker David Lynch dies at 78 Reuters

By Patricia Rennie

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) – David Lynch, an American filmmaker, writer and artist who earned Oscar nominations for best director for “Blue Velvet,” “The Elephant Man” and “Mulholland Drive,” and co-created a hit television series. Twin Peaks” star has died at the age of 78, his family said on Thursday.

A statement on Lynch’s Facebook (NASDAQ:) page said, “We are deeply saddened by the family to announce the passing of David Lynch, the man and artist.” “There is a big hole in the world because he is no longer with us. But as he says, “Keep your eyes on the donut, not the hole.”

The cause of death was not disclosed. Lynch in 2010 In August 2024, he was diagnosed with emphysema, a lung disease caused by years of smoking.

In his visually stunning, haunting and mysterious works filled with dream sequences and dramatic imagery, Lynch was considered a master of surrealism and one of the most innovative artists of his generation.

In the year In 2019, he received an Honorary Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

The enigmatic artist and proponent of transcendental meditation chose not to elaborate on his complex and confusing films, including “Wild Heart,” winner of the 1990 Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, the 1977 horror film “Eraserhead” and the 1997 mystery “Lost Highway.”

“A film or a picture, each thing has its own language and trying to say the same thing with words is not right. The words are not there,” he told the Guardian newspaper in a 2018 interview.

His filmmaking style inspired the term Lynchian, which Vanity Fair magazine described as strange, creepy and slow. Lynch infused the macabre into his films, subsuming the disturbing into the mundane and mundane, and enhanced his musical influence.

Lynch said that he was interested not only in the story, but also in the feel of the film, composed of visual elements and voice.

“His eye for the absurd detail of throwing a scene into shocking relief and his taste for danger made him resemble perhaps Hollywood’s most celebrated eccentric, the psychopathic Norman Rockwell.” New York Times (NYSE: ) said in 1990.

After his death on Thursday, several filmmakers said that Lynch inspired them. Actor and director Ron Howard, writing in X, called Lynch “a kind man and fearless artist who followed his heart and soul and proved that extreme experimentation can make for unforgettable cinema.”

Counterculture icon

A former Eagle Scout once described by producer Mel Brooks as “Jimmy Stewart from Mars,” Lynch grew up as a counterculture icon, but his roots were planted in small-town, wholesome America.

David Keith Lynch was born on January 20, 1946 in Missoula, Montana, the eldest of three children. His father worked for the US Department of Agriculture and the family moved often. Lynch once described his childhood as “a very beautiful, perfect world.”

But in the year While an art student at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts in the 1960s, he encountered the racist side of America with his wife and daughter in a crime-ridden, sprawling neighborhood in Philadelphia. The city was the biggest influence in his life.

The experience inspired “Eraserhead,” his unsettling, early fantasy feature that became a cult favorite in midnight cinemas. After seeing the film, Brooks, the producer of “The Elephant Man,” hired Lynch to direct the film.

He was nominated for eight Academy Awards in 1981 for “The Elephant Man,” about a severely disabled man in Victorian London. Although he didn’t win an Oscar, it launched Lynch into the mainstream. But the next film The 1984 science fiction film “Dune” bombed at the box office.

Two years later, Lynch returns to the surface with “Blue Velvet,” which delves into the mysterious underworld of a small North Carolina town. Some critics considered it his masterpiece and the best film of the decade.

“‘Blue Velvet’ represents something that has never been seen before and will never be seen again: an underground movie made with Hollywood technique and Hollywood skill. Midnight is the thing,” wrote Dave Kerr of the Chicago Tribune. 1986 review.

Lynch in 2010. He transitioned to the small screen in 1990 when he co-created the mystery crime series “Twin Peaks” with Mark Frost for ABC. The Emmy-winning series became a cultural phenomenon and was renewed in 2017.

“Mulholland Drive,” Lynch’s 2001 Hollywood mystery, started as a TV pilot but was dropped by the network and eventually made it to the big screen. In the year In 2016, it was voted the best film of the 21st century by the BBC in an international poll of 177 critics.

In his later years, Lynch, a true renaissance man, devoted himself to making documentaries, short films, painting and a YouTube channel. He has released albums, music videos, soundtracks, and books, including his 2018 memoir, “Into the Dream Room.”

The famous director was married four times and had four children.

“I love what I do and I work on the things I want to do. I wish everyone had that opportunity,” he told Vulture.com in a 2018 interview.