Kyle MacLachlan pays tribute to 'enigmatic and intuitive' David Lynch

Kyle MacLachlan has led tributes to visionary director David Lynch.

The artist-filmmaker's family announced on Thursday that he had died at the age of 78. He had been suffering from emphysema due to years of smoking.

Following the sad news, Kyle took to Instagram to thank David for kickstarting his acting career by selecting him to star as Paul Atreides in the 1984 feature Dune.

"Forty-two years ago, for reasons beyond my comprehension, David Lynch plucked me out of obscurity to star in his first and last big-budget movie," he began. "He clearly saw something in me that even I didn't recognize. I owe my entire career, and life really, to his vision. What I saw in him was an enigmatic and intuitive man with a creative ocean bursting forth inside of him. He was in touch with something the rest of us wish we could get to."

Kyle went on to recall how his and David's friendship "blossomed" while they were working on the director's other major projects, such as 1986's Blue Velvet and the iconic 1990 TV series Twin Peaks.

David was also known for making 1977's Eraserhead, 1980's The Elephant Man, 2001's Mulholland Drive, and 1997's Lost Highway.

"I always found him to be the most authentically alive person I'd ever met," the 65-year-old continued. "David was in tune with the universe and his own imagination on a level that seemed to be the best version of human. He was not interested in answers because he understood that questions are the drive that make us who we are. They are our breath."

To conclude, Kyle insisted he will miss David "more than the limits of my language can tell".

"My world is that much fuller because I knew him and that much emptier now that he's gone. David, I remain forever changed, and forever your Kale," he wrote, referring to his friend's nickname for him. "Thank you for everything."

A number of filmmakers and celebrities have also paid heartfelt tributes to David.

Hugh Jackman called him an "inspiration to my life", while Ron Howard described the director as a "gracious man and fearless artist".

And Nicolas Cage, who starred in 1990's Wild at Heart, labelled David as "one of the greatest artists of this or any time".

"He was brave, brilliant, and a maverick with a joyful sense of humour. I never had more fun on a film set than working with David Lynch. He will always be solid gold," he told Deadline.

Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg recounted how much he enjoyed working with David when he tapped him to play John Ford in his 2022 film The Fabelmans.

"I loved David's films. Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive and Elephant Man defined him as a singular, visionary dreamer who directed films that felt handmade," he declared. "I got to know David when he played John Ford in The Fabelmans. Here was one of my heroes - David Lynch playing one of my heroes. It was surreal and seemed like a scene out of one of David's own movies. The world is going to miss such an original and unique voice."

David was married four times and had four children, including filmmaker Jennifer Lynch.