David Lynch
The adjective Lynchian came into use to describe works or situations reminiscent of his art,[2] with the Oxford English Dictionary noting his penchant for "juxtaposing surreal or sinister elements with mundane, everyday environments, and for using compelling visual images to emphasize a dreamlike quality of mystery or menace".He directed music videos for artists such as X Japan, Moby, Interpol, Nine Inch Nails and Donovan, and commercials for Dior, YSL, Gucci and the New York City Department of Sanitation.Lynch also worked as a musician, releasing solo albums and a variety of collaborations; a visual artist, including painting, furniture design, and photography; and an author, publishing the books Images (1994), Catching the Big Fish (2006) and Room to Dream (2018).My childhood was elegant homes, tree-lined streets, the milkman, building backyard forts, droning airplanes, blue skies, picket fences, green grass, cherry trees.[10]: 1 At Francis C. Hammond High School in Alexandria, Lynch did not excel academically, having little interest in schoolwork, but he was popular with other students, and after leaving he decided that he wanted to study painting at college.The film starred Lynch's wife Peggy as a character known as The Girl, who sings the alphabet to a series of images of horses before dying at the end by hemorrhaging blood all over her bed sheets.[14]: 18 Lynch left the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts after three semesters and in 1970 moved with his wife and daughter to Los Angeles,[15][16] where he began studying filmmaking at the AFI Conservatory, a place he later called "completely chaotic and disorganized, which was great ... you quickly learned that if you were going to get something done, you would have to do it yourself.Filmed in black and white, Eraserhead tells the story of Henry (Jack Nance), a quiet young man, living in a dystopian industrial wasteland, whose girlfriend gives birth to a deformed baby whom she leaves in his care.But Lynch soon realized that Ronnie Rocket, a film that he said is about "electricity and a three-foot guy with red hair", was not going to be picked up by any financiers, and so he asked Cornfeld to find him a script by someone else that he could direct.[4]: 104 After The Elephant Man's success, George Lucas, a fan of Eraserhead, offered Lynch the opportunity to direct the third film in his original Star Wars trilogy, Return of the Jedi.The main character, Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan), is the son of a nobleman who takes control of the desert planet Arrakis, which grows the rare spice melange, the empire's most highly prized commodity.Developing from ideas that Lynch had had since 1973, Blue Velvet was set in Lumberton, North Carolina, and revolves around a college student, Jeffrey Beaumont (MacLachlan), who finds a severed ear in a field.Investigating with the help of his friend Sandy (Laura Dern), Jeffrey discovers a criminal gang led by psychopath Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper), who has kidnapped the husband and child of singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) and repeatedly rapes her.[4]: 211–212 1990 was Lynch's annus mirabilis: Wild at Heart won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and the television series Twin Peaks was proving a smash hit with audiences across the world.[24] Calling its plot a "strange blend" of "a road picture, a love story, a psychological drama and a violent comedy", Lynch departed substantially from the novel, changing the ending and incorporating numerous references to The Wizard of Oz."[4]: 187 The result, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), primarily revolved around the last few days of Laura Palmer's life, was much "darker" in tone than the TV series, with much of the humor removed, and dealt with such topics as incest and murder.[4]: 245 Le Blanc and Odell write that the plot made it "seem as far removed from Lynch's earlier works as could be imagined, but in fact right from the very opening, this is entirely his film—a surreal road movie".The network gave Lynch the go-ahead to shoot a two-hour pilot for the series Mulholland Drive, but disputes over content and running time led to the project being shelved indefinitely.But in 2022, he agreed to a cameo in one: Mr. Spielberg's autobiographical feature The Fabelmans, where the enigmatic if not eldritch Mr. Lynch was cast as John Ford, the maker of westerns and the grand old curmudgeon of American cinema.[4]: 62 He expressed his admiration for Federico Fellini,[4]: 62 Ingmar Bergman, Werner Herzog, Alfred Hitchcock,[78] Roman Polanski, Jacques Tati,[4]: 62 Stanley Kubrick, and Billy Wilder.Le Blanc and Odell write, "his films are so packed with motifs, recurrent characters, images, compositions and techniques that you could view his entire output as one large jigsaw puzzle of ideas".[86] He frequently worked with composer Angelo Badalamenti, film editor Mary Sweeney, casting director Johanna Ray, and actors Harry Dean Stanton, Jack Nance, Kyle MacLachlan, Naomi Watts, Isabella Rossellini, Grace Zabriskie, and Laura Dern.1: The Dream of the Broken Hearted, which starred frequent Lynch collaborators Laura Dern, Nicolas Cage, and Michael J. Anderson and contained five songs sung by Julee Cruise.[5][127][128] In 2007, a panel of critics convened by The Guardian announced that "after all the discussion, no one could fault the conclusion that David Lynch is the most important film-maker of the current era",[129] and AllMovie called him "the Renaissance man of modern American filmmaking".The Oxford English Dictionary further defines Lynchian artwork as "juxtaposing surreal or sinister elements with mundane, everyday environments, and for using compelling visual images to emphasize a dreamlike quality of mystery or menace."[132] David Foster Wallace wrote, "An academic definition of Lynchian might be that the term 'refers to a particular kind of irony where the very macabre and the very mundane combine in such a way as to reveal the former's perpetual containment within the latter'" but that "it's ultimately definable only ostensively—i.e., we know it when we see it.Together with John Hagelin and Fred Travis, a brain researcher from Maharishi University of Management (MUM), Lynch promoted his vision on college campuses with a tour that began in September 2005.On April 4, 2009, the "Change Begins Within" concert featured Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Donovan, Sheryl Crow, Eddie Vedder, Moby, Bettye LaVette, Ben Harper, and Mike Love of the Beach Boys.[186] In January 2025, Lynch was evacuated from his Los Angeles home due to the Southern California wildfires; according to Deadline Hollywood, these events preceded a terminal decline in his health.[191][192] Tributes were also paid by Judd Apatow, Mel Brooks, Francis Ford Coppola, James Gunn, Ron Howard, Patton Oswalt, Pedro Pascal, Billy Corgan, Questlove, and Ben Stiller.
David Lynch (disambiguation)Missoula, MontanaPennsylvania Academy of the Fine ArtsFilmographydiscographybibliographyunrealizedSurrealismmysteryneo-noirpsychological thrillerarthouseexperimentalMary SweeneyIsabella RosselliniJenniferFull listEraserheadEarly life and workJennifer LynchThe Elephant ManBlue VelvetTwin PeaksThe ReturnWild at HeartLost HighwayThe Straight StoryMulholland DriveInland EmpireBlueBOBThe Air Is on FirePolish Night MusicCrazy Clown TimeThe Big DreamThought GangCellophane MemoriesImagesCatching the Big FishGenealogies of PainRoom to DreamDale CooperLaura PalmerSheriff Harry TrumanShelly JohnsonDonna HaywardAudrey HorneMaddy FergusonBenjamin HornePhillip JeffriesWindom EarleLeland PalmerLog LadyThe GiantThe Man from Another Place / The ArmTommy HillBobby BriggsFrank BoothUnrealized projectsAccolades receivedCultural impactFrequent collaboratorsDavid Lynch Foundationsurrealistnumerous accoladesGolden Lion for Lifetime AchievementVenice Film FestivalHonorary Academy AwardOxford English Dictionarybody horrormidnight movieAcademy Award for Best Directorpsychological dramaPalme d'OrCannes Film Festivalspace operaroad movieMark FrostPrimetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Directing for a Drama SeriesOutstanding Writing for a Drama Seriesthird season in 2017The FabelmansThe Cleveland ShowX JapanInterpolNine Inch NailsDonovanNew York City Department of SanitationTranscendental Meditationemphysema2025 Southern California wildfiresEarly life of David LynchMiddle Americared antsHenry KingWait till the Sun Shines, NellieU.S. Department of AgricultureFinnish-SwedishPresbyterianSandpoint, IdahoSpokane, WashingtonDurham, North CarolinaBoise, IdahoAlexandria, Virginia Boy ScoutsEagle ScoutWhite House inauguration of President John F. KennedyRobert HenriFrancis C. Hammond High SchoolCorcoran School of the Arts and DesignSchool of the Museum of Fine Arts, BostonPeter WolfJack FiskCooper UnionexpressionistOskar KokoschkaSalzburgWalnut Creek, CaliforniaPhiladelphia Francis BaconFairmountengravingsSix Men Getting Sick (Six Times)The AlphabetAmerican Film Institute