After news broke Thursday of the death of filmmaker David Lynch at age 78, tributes from his former collaborators began coming out as well, including actors Kyle MacLachlan and Nicolas Cage, filmmaker Steven Spielberg and others.
Among the most heartfelt was from MacLachlan. who had a long and fruitful collaboration with the director that included a number of key works. After making his debut as Paul Atreides in Lynch’s 1984 adaption of “Dune,” MacLachlan would go on to star in 1986’s “Blue Velvet” and as agent Dale Cooper in the television series “Twin Peaks,” going on to appear in its 1992 movie prequel “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me” and a 2017 third season known as “Twin Peaks: The Return.”
MacLachlan posted an extended, heartfelt tribute to Lynch on Instagram.
“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 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.
“Our friendship blossomed on ‘Blue Velvet’ and then ‘Twin Peaks’ and I always found him to be the most authentically alive person I’d ever met. 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.
“While the world has lost a remarkable artist, I’ve lost a dear friend who imagined a future for me and allowed me to travel in worlds I could never have conceived on my own. I can see him now, standing up to greet me in his backyard, with a warm smile and big hug and that Great Plains honk of a voice. We’d talk coffee, the joy of the unexpected, the beauty of the world, and laugh.
“His love for me and mine for him came out of the cosmic fate of two people who saw the best things about themselves in each other. I will miss him more than the limits of my language can tell and my heart can bear. 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. Thank you for everything.”
Naomi Watts starred in Lynch’s 2001 “Mulholland Drive,” which began as an aborted television pilot, only to be retooled into a feature film, one of the director’s most celebrated. The movie earned Lynch an Academy Award nomination for director. Watts also appeared in the third season of “Twin Peaks.”
Watts posted, “My heart is broken. My Buddy Dave… The world will not be the same without him. His creative mentorship was truly powerful. He put me on the map. The world I’d been trying to break into for ten plus years, flunking auditions left and right. Finally, I sat in front of a curious man, beaming with light, speaking words from another era, making me laugh and feel at ease. How did he even “see me” when I was so well hidden, and I’d even lost sight of myself?!
“It wasn’t just his art that impacted me — his wisdom, humor, and love gave me a special sense of belief in myself I’d never accessed before.
“Every moment together felt charged with a presence I’ve rarely seen or known. Probably because, yes, he seemed to live in an altered world, one that I feel beyond lucky to have been a small part of. And David invited all to glimpse into that world through his exquisite storytelling, which elevated cinema and inspired generations of filmmakers across the globe.
“I just cannot believe that he’s gone. I’m in pieces but forever grateful for our friendship. I’m yelling from the bullhorn: Godspeed, Buddy Dave! Thank you for your everything. —Buttercup xox”
Nicolas Cage starred in Lynch’s 1990 film “Wild at Heart,” which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and for which Diane Ladd received a supporting actress Oscar nomination.
In a statement, Cage said, “David was a singular genius in cinema, one of the greatest artists of this or any time. He was brave, brilliant, and a maverick with a joyful sense of humor. I never had more fun on a film set than working with David Lynch. He will always be solid gold.”
Steven Spielberg cast Lynch as the legendary filmmaker John Ford in a climactic scene in the autobiographical 2022 film “The Fabelmans.” In a statement, Spielberg said, “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. 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. His films have already stood the test of time and they always will.”
Filmmaker Harmony Korine, whose movies such as “Gummo” and “Trash Humpers” have tapped into a similar Lynchian vision of an off-kilter America, also remembered the filmmaker in a statement.
“David Lynch was one of our great artists, a Mount Rushmore-level director, truly a GOAT,” Korine said. “He changed a lot of people’s lives. There will never be another one like him, because he made films at a point in history where nothing like that had ever been experienced before. We live in a time where everything has been seen. Lynch invented a new language. He was a once-in-a-generation talent who absorbed the embers of America’s wildness. He embraced his own inner logic and filtered it through a subconscious magic. He created worlds and unmatched vibrations. He hit on things that were inexplicable and sacred and beyond articulation. He is a treasure. His work will live forever.”
French actor Marion Cotillard appeared in a 2010 short film by Lynch, “Lady Blue Shanghai,” made for the fashion brand Dior. Posting to Instagram, Cotillard said, “Oh I am so sad. I am so grateful that our paths crossed and that I got the great chance to be filmed by you. Being around you was like being in connection with such a deep place of heart and soul. I wish you a wonderful journey David.”
Lynch was part of the class of 1970 at the American Film Institute. A statement from the AFI read, “Across the decades, David’s impact on cinema proved indelible in his films and his art — and he always gave back to AFI — supportive of the storytellers who wrote their own rules and reached for something different. During a seminar on campus, he shared this timeless advice with Fellows: ‘Tell the stories that are inside you. Each person has these stories that come along. Just stay true to those ideas and enjoy the doing of it.’ ”
Richard Kelly, who created dark, mysterious worlds in films such as “Donnie Darko,” said simply, “One of the greatest artists to ever live.”
“I Saw the TV Glow” filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun also paid tribute to Lynch, posting “Like Kafka, like Bacon, he dedicated his life to opening a portal. He was the first to show me another world, a beautiful one of love and danger I sensed but had never seen outside sleep. Thank you David your gift will reverberate for the rest of my life.”
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