The visionary of ‘Twin Peaks,’ ‘Blue Velvet’ and ‘Elephant Man’ was 78

One of Hollywood’s worst weeks just got worse. David Lynch, the four-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker behind Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, Eraserhead, Wild at Heart, The Elephant Man and others who also created the Showtime drama Twin Peaks, died. He was 78 years old.

His family announced the news on social media.

Lynch had been diagnosed with emphysema. Sources told Deadline that he was forced to move out of his home due to the Sunset Fire, and then his situation took a turn for the worse. In an interview with Sight and sound magazine last year, Lynch revealed that due to Covid fears and his emphysema diagnosis, he could no longer leave the house, meaning if he directed again, she would be away. He then followed the interview with a social media message that he will “never retire” despite his physical challenges.

“It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and artist David Lynch,” the family’s message read. “We would appreciate some privacy right now. There is a big hole in the world now that he is no longer with us. But as he said: “Keep your eye on the donut and not the hole.” It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies throughout.

An eccentric outsider and visionary, he was nominated for an Academy Award for writing and directing the 1980s film. The elephant man and to lead Mulholland Drive And Blue velvet. In 2000, he received an honorary Academy Award for his entire career. He also won the Palme d’Or at Cannes for Wild at heart in 1990 and was nominated for the award three other times. He won the best director award at the festival for Mulholland Drive in 2001.

Born January 20, 1946 in Missoula, Montana, Lynch began his career directing short films in the late 1960s. His first feature film was the influential and still offbeat Eraser head (1977), which he wrote and directed and which became a cult classic of midnight cinema. This brought him great success with The Elephant Man, starring John Hurt as the friendly and intelligent but disfigured title character from Victorian England and Anthony Hopkins as the doctor who tries to treat him. When chased by a gang of tough guys, Hurt’s John Merrick memorably cries, “I’m not an animal!” I am a human being – a man! »

Lynch’s career took off in the 1980s. He followed the success of Elephant Man with Dunethe 1984 version of Frank Herbert’s classic science fiction novel that failed to light up the box office, and the 1986 dark psychological thriller. Blue velvet, with Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper and Laura Dern.

Perhaps his masterstroke came in 1989.

He created, directed, co-wrote Twin Peaks, a weird sort of science fiction detective/soap opera/adventure-mystery series and occasional outright Twilight Zone-like horror. Set in the fictional Pacific Northwest town that gives the series its title, Twin Peaks began with one of the most disturbing and strangely compelling opening scenes in television history: the discovery of the plastic-wrapped corpse on the beach. The town’s popular high school student, Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), had been murdered, her bluish corpse still strangely beautiful.

The discovery would bring eccentric FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), a brilliant, eccentric detective accustomed to praising coffee, pie and, ultimately, the forbidding town he has adopted as his own. Along the way, Cooper has uncovered many mysteries in Twin Peaks, many of them involving the supernatural. Along the way, “Who Killed Laura Palmer?” » has become a national obsession.

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The series lasted two seasons and ended when Cooper finally discovered Laura’s supernatural killer. A 2017 revival series titled Twin Peaks: The Return brought together many of the original cast and characters, and under Lynch’s care, became even weirder than the original series: The returnThe final scene of remains one of the scariest moments of all time on television. The so-called third season was widely praised by critics.

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The next step for Lynch was to write and direct the 1990 thriller. Wild at heart. Starring Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, Crispin Glover, Diane Ladd, Rossellini and Harry Dean Stanton, it took the Cannes Film Festival by storm, winning the Palme d’Or ahead of films like Jean-Luc Godard, Clint Eastwood . , Ken Loach and Zhang Yimou.

Lynch’s feature film writing and/or directing credits also include Lost Highway (1997), The direct story (1999) and Inner Empire (2006).

MORE TO COME…

Greg Evans and Andreas Wiseman contributed to this report.