Acclaimed director David Lynch passed away at the age of 78, his family announced via social media yesterday. Details of his death were not provided; however, Lynch, a lifelong smoker, revealed last year he had been diagnosed with emphysema and was largely unable to leave the house.
Often employing dark themes and surreal aesthetics, Lynch was known for “Elephant Man” (1980), “Blue Velvet” (1986), and “Mulholland Drive” (2001), as well as the TV series “Twin Peaks” (1990-91, 2017). His 1977 debut feature film “Eraserhead” garnered a cult following and remains a topic of debate—Lynch was notoriously cryptic about its themes and symbolism. Even Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of the novel “Dune”—which struggled at the box office and saw Lynch remove his name from certain credits due to disagreement over the final cut—has seen renewed interest in recent years.
Lynch received the Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievement in 2019, and his unique style has been enshrined in its own descriptor of “Lynchian.”