David Lynch is no more. The announcement of his death was a shock wave in Hollywood where the filmmaker was respected by many members of the 7th art and admirers, some of whom shared their grief and memories on social networks in his memory. Some, like Naomi Watts and Kyle Maclachlan, have even attributed their career and success to the director.
“My heart is broken. My friend Dave… The world won’t be the same without him,” Naomi Watts captioned a series of images of the actress with the man with whom she first collaborated in 2001 on the film Mulholland Drive. “He made me known. This world where I tried to break through for over ten years, failing auditions left and right. Then I finally found myself in front of a curious man, radiating light, using words from another era, making me laugh and putting me at ease.”
Same story with Kyle Maclachlan, first interpreter of Paul Atreides in the saga Dunebefore Timothée Chalamet, under the direction of David Lynch in 1984. “42 years ago, for reasons beyond my understanding, David Lynch brought me out of the shadows to star in his first and last big budget film “, he wrote alongside photos of the star of Desperate Housewives in the company of the late director. “He clearly saw something in me that even I didn’t recognize. I owe my entire career, and my life in fact, to his vision.”
-An original “vision”
Others have noted the mark of this jack-of-all-trades artist in the art and entertainment circles. Director Steven Spielberg hailed a “unique and original voice” and a “singular dreamer and visionary who made films that felt handmade.” Ron Howard, director of Da Vinci Codes et Le Grinchalso saw in the director of Twin Peaks “a gracious man and fearless artist who followed his heart and soul, and proved that radical experimentation could result in unforgettable cinema.” Nicolas Cage went further by considering David Lynch “one of the greatest artists of the era and of all time” in a press release for Deadline.
The director’s family announced his death yesterday in a statement on their Facebook account. “It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the death of the man and the artist David Lynch,” they wrote, without specifying the reasons for his death. The artist suffered from emphysema, a lung disease. “There is a great void in the world now that he is no longer with us. But, as he said, “keep your eyes on the donut and not in the hole (in the middle).”
