It’s been seven years since David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks: The Return” blurred the line between television and cinema. However, Lynch hasn’t directed anything since then. In fact, if you don’t count ‘The Return’ as cinema, then Lynch actually hasn’t directed a feature film since 2006’s “Inland Empire.”
Lynch is on the cover of the new Sight and Sight, which is in connection with the release of Lynch’s latest album, with Chrystabell. Sadly, anyone hoping for a new film or TV series out of him, it doesn’t look too good. Apparently, Lynch can now only direct remotely due to illness:
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, even with cold. I can only walk a short distance before I'm out of oxygen.
He says of remote directing, "I wouldn't like that so much, but I would do it remotely, if it comes to it."
Lynch, who turned 78 this year, has been a heavy smoker since his teen years, consistently smoking those America Spirits on and off set. Smoking was a crucial aspect of his creative process, opening his mind to different ideas. It sounds like it’s finally taken its toll.
Smoking was something that I absolutely loved but, in the end, it bit me. It was part of the art life for me: the tobacco and the smell of it and lighting things and smoking and going back and sitting back and having a smoke and looking at your work, or thinking about things; nothing like it in this world is so beautiful.
Regardless, this is an interesting interview, one that deeply delves into the fascinating mind of Lynch: "[A] lot of times I watch crime shows at night. I like to think and watch TV at the same time. I've seen many Forensic Files... they're like friends."
Lynch is asked whether his 2010 screenplay “Antelope Don’t Run No More,” one of the best unproduced scripts of his career, will ever get made. "Well, we don't know what the future will bring, but we remain hopeful."
In 2019, Lynch was supposed to go back to work with a mysterious new project titled “Wisteria/Unrecorded Night". Lynch veterans Naomi Watts and Laura Dern had even been rumored to be a part of this one. The rumor had Netflix originally greenlighting 13 hour-long episodes and a budget of $85 million. The mini-series may or may not have been a set of hour-long movies, it was never confirmed.
Sadly, Netflix scrapped it while it was in pre-production and ready to shoot. We could have had another Lynch-directed project, but the streaming giant nixed it.
The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.