Yahoo Movies What made David Lynch one of the most special creators of our time
From Eraserhead to Twin Peaks, the American filmmaker had a huge impact on the industry before his death aged 78.
David Lynch, the prolific filmmaker known for his experimental work, has died aged 78 it was announced on Thursday, 16 January.
Actors and directors paid tribute to the director, with Mulholland Drive's Naomi Watts saying she was "heartbroken" by his death and Twin Peaks stars Kyle MacLachlan paying tribute to say he "will miss him more than the limits of my language can tell". This level of devotion was mirrored by cinephiles across the world who also shared tributes.
In August 2024 Lynch revealed he was homebound after being diagnosed with emphysema and was no longer be able to direct projects in person. Sharing his health struggles publicly, Lynch had told Sight and Sound magazine: "I've gotten emphysema from smoking for so long, and so I'm homebound whether I like it or not. I can't go out... because of COVID, it would be very bad for me to get sick."
At the time his fans shared with Yahoo UK how much they loved Lynch's work and what his movies meant to them. Lynch is, and will always remain, one of the most special creators of our time, and there's plenty of reasons why.
How David Lynch and his work inspired devotion
Since his directorial feature debut in 1977 with Eraserhead, Lynch gathered a dedicated following whose devotion to him could easily rival the fanbases of filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, Zack Snyder, and Martin Scorsese.
The Guardian once called Lynch "the most important filmmaker of the current era", and it is easy to see why from his work. The American filmmaker had a unique vision and style, adopting a dream-like quality in his work that highlighted surrealism to transport viewers to the dystopian worlds he would create.
This was true of his early movies Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man and Mulholland Drive, and is especially true of his iconic TV show Twin Peaks that he co-created with Mark Frost.
It began with Eraserhead, a staple of the midnight movie underground circuit where it, and Lynch himself, grew a cult following that included acclaimed director Stanley Kubrick. It's success all but assured the filmmaker's rise to fame, and he followed it up with the equally impressive The Elephant Man.
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Starring John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins, the film earned eight nominations at the Academy Awards and even led to the creation of an award for make-up artists. His first two feature films were so well received George Lucas approached Lynch to direct Return of the Jedi, and though he turned down the opportunity it showed belief in his work within the industry as well as outside it.
What made David Lynch special?
David Lynch tapped into something that few others are able to. He transported his audience into weird and wonderful worlds that were at turns spooky and revelatory.
His work is controversial in a way that ensures they'll be debated for years to come, from Eraserhead's terrifying use of body horror to Blue Velvet's shocking use of violence. We're both frightened and delighted by his creations, and when it's said that nobody makes films like Lynch it doesn't feel like an over-exaggeration.
Lynch often taps into this darkness in his work, and the reason for it is simple he once told BBC Radio 3's Sound of Cinema: "Even in the so-called dark things, there's a beauty. It can be foreboding, but there is also something else in there that's bigger. It's truthful."
It's this sentiment that reveals why so many people resonate with Lynch's work. It was also his dedication to the craft and bringing his true vision to life that made him so appealing, in the same way filmmakers like Nolan and Snyder invoke in their fans. Lynch would make the film he wanted to make, and that's admirable in and of itself.
Read more: How Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me nearly killed David Lynch’s career
Journalist Marcio Delgado told Yahoo UK that is part of the director's appeal: "I find his films out of the Hollywood mould. You never truly know where the story is going, what the characters are doing next.
"Twin Peaks was suspenseful and emotional, for example, maybe the easier way to get to know his work for those starting now. David Lynch remained authentic when lot of filmmakers became very predictable over time, specifically with success, as it is easy to follow a tried and tested recipe.
"I also like Lynch’s way of making us feel uneasy while watching a film and, still you can stop it until you reach the end."
Another fan of Lynch's work, Van Sievert, told Yahoo UK: "The funny thing is I used to run hot and cold with Lynch. For every movie of his that I loved, like Wild at Heart and Blue Velvet, there some that just perplexed me like Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway.
"For the most part I wasn't very interested in that surrealist use of storytelling but as I got older I realised Lynch wasn't interested in it either. He really cared about his characters & didn't want to use them as just metaphors.
"He wanted to use dream-like logic to expand his story-telling as opposed to relying on it, and even though he tackled dark themes, you could tell from some of his movies, he was really a romantic at heart and had a great love of cinema."
There's a reason he was nominated for an Academy Award for movies like The Elephant Man, and earned a Palme d'Or for 1990 film Wild At Heart. Even his less critically-well received films like Dune have become cult hits in their own right, such is the power of his vision and his ability to tap into the collective subconscious with his work.
Lynch's work will always look and feel like nothing else, certainly nothing that came before it in any case. In the years since his debut it's easy to see how much influence his work has had on the TV and movie industry from his storytelling to style. Directors like Kubrick, Quentin Tarantino, and the Coen Brothers have been influenced by Lynch's work, to name just a few.
A lot of modern projects owe a lot to Lynch, and it certainly goes a long way to explain why his work has endured for so long, and why the filmmaker has, and always will have, such devoted fans.
