Kudos to Marlow Stern at The Daily Beast for asking David Lynch all the right questions and providing us with a “Summer 2014” update on basically all things David Lynch:
David Lynch on season two of Twin Peaks
I had very little to do with Season 2, and I’m not happy with it. Up until “Who Killed Laura Palmer?” I was with it 100 percent, and then it drifted away. […] We had a little goose that was laying golden eggs, and they told us to snip its head off. But it’s a great world, the world of Twin Peaks, and it holds many possibilities.
David Lynch on Kanye West’s Blood On The Leaves
“Blood on the Leaves” is one of my favorite songs. It’s great. He’s just ridin’ the wave and not takin’ no for an answer. We almost worked together, but I never got the ideas. I feel I let him down a little bit. I was going to do the music video for “Blood on the Leaves,” but it never happened. I didn’t come up with any ideas that I thought he would like. Kanye came up to the house one day. Kanye’s a good guy, and a great musician. I loved the song, and that’s what brought us together, but I couldn’t come up with ideas that thrilled either one of us.
https://vimeo.com/73375276
David Lynch on cable television being the new arthouse
Cable television is the new arthouse, so it’s there, but it’s not the big screen. If people have a big screen at home, great sound, and they turn the lights down and turn their phones off, they can get into the world and have an experience. But most people don’t watch films that way anymore.
David Lynch on his favorite shows
I like Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and True Detective. [Breaking Bad] was a great show. Really great show.
David Lynch on True Detective
I basically liked the two characters, so that was the best part of it for me.
(If Nic Pizzolatto ever reached out) Nope, no one ever reached out!
(If he noticed any parallels with Twin Peaks) No, no, no. I just liked the show, and that was it.
David Lynch on the story about George Lucas asking him to direct Return Of The Jedi
I can say something about that. That shouldn’t have been put up there. I publicly apologize to George Lucas. I was telling that story to just a few people, and then it somehow ended up on the Internet. I didn’t know it was going to go online, and George is a great guy. He did offer me that, but it wasn’t my thing. I said, “It’s your thing, George. You should direct it.” And we parted friends. But he’s a great one.
David Lynch on Laura Dern’s recent statement that he’s “cooking up” a new film
Laura… she loves to talk, and she loves to work, so you can’t really go by what she says! [Laughs] I’m really loving painting these days. So there’s nothin’ on the burner right now.
David Lynch on Ronnie Rocket
I love Ronnie Rocket, and I love the world of Ronnie Rocket, and I wouldn’t mind going there. The thing that kept me from doing it, really, is that I haven’t quite gotten the big idea for it. Something is still somewhat missing in the script. I think about it from time to time, but it’s just never happened. It’s not what you would call a “summer blockbuster.” It would be a very tough sell these days.
David Lynch on his multi-episode stint on Louie
He wrote me a letter. I was probably his 15th choice, but that’s OK. It said, “If you want to do this… please do this…” but what got me about it was the scripts were fantastic, and they just poured out of him like a stream. That was the main thing, plus he writes a really good letter, and Louie is just a really great guy. My favorite moment was takin’ a smoke together on the New York City sidewalks. I don’t know where we were, but we were in the city somewhere.
David Lynch on his coffee-infused Ice Bucket Challenge video
Oh. Great trumpet playing, huh? I had to do two buckets because two people challenged me, so I thought it should have some music to it. And I’m a great trumpet player. And for some reason, I wanted to nominate Vladimir Putin. He might want to take part in helping some people.
David Lynch on movies he’s recently enjoyed
I haven’t been to a movie in a long, long time. I’ve just been working. I don’t know how long it’s been… seven years? Maybe more. I never was a big film buff.
David Lynch on his favorite films
Sunset Boulevard, 8½, and Lolita are my three top ones.
Seven years since David last saw a theater movie?!
Well, I guess that’s reasonable considering “big movies” these days are for the most part commercial, consumer crap aimed at the lowest common denominator. The big movie industry is overdue for a creative kick in the pants. It appears visual artists have channeled all their talent into dumbed down videogame spectacles just to get a piece of the pie – what happened to film? Cinema?
“Nope, awesome movies and a super size soda – dude!”
David, we really need him back or at least someone who has the ability to transform this disposable entertainment masquerading as culture.
Twin Peaks, maybe dreams are real.
Just stumbled across this and noticed it was just a couple months before the new Twin Peaks was announced. “Nothing on the burner,” my ass! Sly old dog…
Kenn Gauvin – All due respect, but I always find it a bit ironic when people blast contemporary cinema in terms that make it sound like all they pay attention to are big Hollywood movies. There is at least as much interesting, boundary-stretching cinema out there as ever, if you look at indie and international film.