David Lynch might be my favorite director of all time. All of his movies are at minimum interesting, have unpredictable plots and are usually more terrifying than any genre horror film. Plus, he’s simply an entertaining human being. In fact, I’ve begun tuning in for his daily weather report just because his face and voice give me insanely good vibes.
Anyhow, over his long career, Lynch has covered period drama in The Elephant Man, a psychosexual autopsy on Americana in Blue Velvet, an extremely odd look at Hollywood in Mulholland Drive and… well, whatever the hell Inland Empire was. Recently, during an online Q&A session, Lynch answered a question on which project he was most proud of. He refused to pick a favorite, but said:
“Proud of everything, except Dune. I’ve liked so much working in different mediums. It’s not a thing about pride, it’s more like enjoyment of the doing. Enjoyment of the work.”
This 1984 science-fiction would-be blockbuster came at a crossroads for Lynch’s career. Early on, he was considered a hot new director, potentially able to take on Spielberg and Lucas-style projects. In fact, he was even seriously considered by Lucas to direct Return of the Jedi, but Lynch said he had “no interest” in it. This brief foray into mainstream blockbusters ended though with Dune, which was as bewildering as his other movies, and not in a good way.
Lynch has long said he had a horrible time making Dune, being beholden to studio requests and having final cut taken away from him. He’s never had a nice word to say about it, explaining that:
“It was a heartache for me. It was a failure and I didn’t have final cut. I’ve told this story a billion times. It’s not the film I wanted to make. I like certain parts of it very much – but it was a total failure for me.”
With Denis Villeneuve’s Dune due out this December, the memory of Lynch’s Dune will be further washed away. The remake is looking great so far though, judging by the stills we’ve seen, and seems to be coming together quite nicely.
And as for Lynch? Well, he claims he’s done making full-length movies, but we still hold out hope for a fourth season of Twin Peaks.
