David Lynch was one of the world’s most visionary directors
David Lynch has died at the age of 78.
The director was best known for his artistic vision and the direction behind Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet. Lynch’s family confirmed the news on Facebook, 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.’”
In 2024, Lynch revealed he could no longer leave home. He was diagnosed with emphysema following a lifetime of smoking. As a result, he said it was not likely he’d be able to leave home and direct anymore.
In August, Lynch confirmed he was living with the chronic lung disease and it was the result of ‘many years of smoking’. However, he insisted he was still in ‘excellent shape’ and would ‘never retire’.
Emphysema is the end stage of long-term damage to the lungs, usually due to chronic bronchitis, which is nearly always related to smoking. The airways become damaged, even destroyed, causing wheezing and increasing shortness of breath. Emphysema is a form of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Speaking to Sight & Sound Magazine, via the Independent, he said: “I’ve gotten emphysema from smoking for so long and so I’m homebound whether I like it or not. It would be very bad for me to get sick, even with a cold.” He went on to say he cannot ‘go out’ over fears he’ll get Covid, and is only able to ‘walk a short distance’ before he runs ‘out of oxygen’.
Lynch also revealed that walking more than a couple of feet was a real challenge and spoke about his Covid concerns. He added: “We don’t know what the future will bring, but we remain hopeful.” He said it was unlikely he will direct a film again, and if he does he knows he would be unable to do so in person.
Taking to Twitter, he also said over summer that his emphysema diagnosis was the ‘price to pay’ for his smoking, despite having kicked the habit two years earlier.
Aside from Twin Peaks, Lynch was also known for Lost Highway and Mullholland Drive. Lynch was born in Montana in 1946 and attended art college in the 1960s. He was a student at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts when he made his first film, an experimental short called Six Men Getting Sick.
In 1971, he moved to LA and studied at the AFI Conservatory. It was during his filmmaking course here that he started making his first ever feature, Erasurehead.
The auteur’s last work was his 2017 revival series Twin Peaks: The Return, which reunited him with original series stars such as Kyle MacLachlan, Sheryl Lee, Dana Ashbrook, Madchen Amick, and James Marshall, along with some of his other previous collaborators such as Laura Dern and Naomi Watts.
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