I love David Lynch. I love Twin Peaks, his bizarre northwestern murder mystery show that inspired TV to get weirder and wilder. I love Mulholland Drive, his 2001 stylistically bonkers exploration of Hollywood’s seedy underbelly. And I love that he is always unapologetically himself, with all the strangeness that comes with it.
For example, The Hollywood Reporter recently asked the director if he was interested in seeing Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction masterpiece Dune, which Lynch himself adapted as a movie back in 1984. “I have zero interest in Dune,” he said plainly. Not even a remake by someone else? “I said I’ve got zero interest.”
"[Making Dune 1984] 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."
It’s true that Dune is a bit of an odd duck in Lynch’s filmography, maybe because it’s not odd enough, although there are plenty of memorable things about it:
The ’80s, huh?
But even if Lynch isn’t there to take in Villeneuve’s movie, he has other big names in his corner. For example, Frank Herbert’s son Brian — who continued the Dune series after his father died — is fully on board:
Dune fans, I hope you’re all as excited as I am to see these early glimpses of the new "Dune" movie. My father would be incredibly proud!https://t.co/EkDy1IZAw3 pic.twitter.com/bq6W7YxzI9
— Brian Herbert (@DuneAuthor) April 13, 2020
Personally, I’m really looking forward to the new Dune movie, although I would kill to see Lynch back at work on a movie or TV series again, too. Apparently he’s taken to social distancing like a fish to water (“So far it’s really nice.”), but he definitely has ideas about where the industry is going. “Feature films in my book are in big trouble, except for the big blockbusters,” he said. “The art house films, they don’t stand a chance. They might go to a theater for a week and if it’s a Cineplex they go to the smallest theater in the setup, and then they go to Blu-ray or On Demand. The big-screen experience right now is gone. Gone, but not forgotten.”
"I really love a continuing story, and cable television I say is the new art house. You have total freedom. The sound isn’t as good as a great theater; the picture isn’t as big — but TVs are getting bigger and bigger and better and better, so there’s hope. And then you have this chance for a continuing story, so it’s the new art house, I say."
Are you listening, cable television? Book this wild man.
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