David Lynch films that were never made: “Ronnie Rocket”, “Dune Messiah”

David Lynch transformed the landscape of cinema with films like “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive,” and changed the parameters of television with “Twin Peaks.” From one project to another, he repeatedly merged the surreal and nightmarish with the wholesome and picturesque, luxuriating in the gray areas between an idyllic portrait of small-town America and the danger and mystery that are hiding underneath. But almost as remarkable as his filmography, more selective than that of many authors his age, was the number of projects he was attached to or considering, including adaptations of books like Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” and the best -seller “The White Hotel,” and even a meeting with George Lucas about the prospect of directing “Return of the Jedi.”

Many of these unrealized projects featured themes — or like “Mulholland Drive,” even started in different incarnations — that were revived or reimagined for other projects years later. Others were born from frankly outlandish “Lynchian” ideas, such as “three guys who were cows, hanging around Van Nuys (“The Bovine Dream”) or “a bunch of people digging a hole” (“The Bovine Dream”) happy worker”).

It’s no surprise that studios – much less audiences – weren’t ready for some of these projects. But after Lynch’s death on Thursday, it’s worth speculating about what they might have become, even if we’ll never know which ones might have joined the canon of this singular filmmaker’s avant-garde classics.

“I will test my journal with all branches of knowledge”

Years before the Log Lady became a beloved part of “Twin Peaks,” Lynch already had logs in mind. While filming 1977’s “Eraserhead,” Lynch reportedly told his collaborator Catherine E. Coulson that he had an image of her holding a large log. He had the idea for a sort of interview show called “I Will Test My Diary With Every Branch of Knowledge”, but the offbeat idea came to nothing – until the character was memorably revived for “Twin Peaks.”

“Ronnie Rocket”

One of Lynch’s most memorable unrealized projects dates back to his “Eraserhead” days. “Ronnie Rocket,” about a detective who tries to enter another dimension and is pursued by “Donut Men,” would also have starred Michael J. Anderson, who later played The Man From Another Place in “Twin Peaks.” . When financing fell through, he moved on to “The Elephant Man.” Lynch maintained his vision for sci-fi fantasy, telling Indiewire as recently as 2013 that it was still possible to make.

“Dune: Messiah”

Lynch’s best-known and most criticized film was “Dune,” a commercial and critical failure that was reevaluated by subsequent generations of moviegoers, even amid the release of Denis Villeneuve’s acclaimed adaptations. Speaking to David Breskin in 1990, he said: “Looking back, it’s no one’s fault but mine. …I saw tons and tons of possibilities for the things I loved, and this was the structure in which to make them happen. There was so much room to create a world. But I had clear indications from (producers) Raffaella and Dino De Laurentiis about the kind of film they were expecting, and I knew I didn’t have the final cut. Although he told Breskin he was relieved not to have to make a sequel, he admitted, “I was really getting into ‘Dune II.’ I wrote about half the script, maybe more, and I was really excited about it. It was much tighter, a better story.

“Snootworld”

Lynch first conceived the animated feature, co-written by Caroline Thompson (“Edward Scissorhands,” “Welcome to Marwen”), in the early 2000s. He insisted the project tells more an “old-fashioned” story, but its premise is unsurprisingly idiosyncratic: “It takes my breath away how far-fetched it is,” he told Deadline in April 2024. “The Snoots are these tiny creatures that have a ritual transition at the age of eight, at which point they become smaller and they are sent away for a year for protection. The world descends into chaos when the story’s hero Snoot disappears into thin air and his family is unable to find him. He enters a crazy and beautiful world. Despite revealing last year that Netflix executives turned down his “wacky” pitch, Lynch expressed optimism that he would be able to direct the film, which would have marked his first animated feature project. “I love this story,” he said. “I’ve never really done simple animation, but with today’s computers it’s possible to do spectacular things.”

“The antelopes no longer run”

Since the release of “Inland Empire” in 2006, Lynch has not only directed all 18 episodes of “Twin Peaks: The Return,” but also several music videos and dozens of short films. Besides “Snootworld,” Lynch revealed in his 2018 memoir “Room to Dream” that he had written this feature film, which would incorporate elements of the mythology of “Inland Empire” and “Mulholland Drive.” A plot summary explains that it is “a narrative fantasy that incorporates aliens, talking animals, and a beleaguered musician named Pinky; it impressed everyone who read it as one of the best scripts Lynch ever wrote. Although the filmmaker announced in 2024 that due to an emphysema diagnosis he was unable to direct projects in person, Lynch stressed that he was otherwise in very good shape and that he was unequivocally not retiring.

“Night not recorded”/“Wisteria”

In March 2022, a casting note was identified in an industry publication for a Lynch project seeking a “dark-haired actress in her mid-to-late 20s” and indicated that the role would require “tasteful nudity” . In November 2020, an issue of Production Weekly listed a new limited series from Lynch under the working title of “Wisteria”, the true title of which was later revealed as “Unrecorded Night”. Lynch planned to write and direct 13 episodes on a budget of $85 million and enlisted “Lost Highway” and “Mulholland Drive” cinematographer Peter Deming as photographer. (“Wisteria” was later revealed to be a “code name” given to the project by Netflix to maintain secrecy.)

According to a conversation with Deming in November 2021, the project was paused due to the COVID pandemic, but at the time he said he “assumed it would come back to life at some point.” And in May 2024, Lynch’s longtime producer Sabrina Sutherland participated in an online Q&A on the Tulpa forum where she suggested Lynch was preoccupied with other projects. “There’s always a chance we could bring it back, but David appreciated his artistic and musical efforts, so we didn’t go back,” she said.

Among the many other projects Lynch has been involved with are: