David Lynch
|
|
David-lynch.jpg
David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946 in Missoula, Montana) is an American filmmaker.
| Contents |
Career
Early days
Lynch grew up the archetypal all-American boy: The son of a U.S. Department of Agriculture research scientist, he was raised throughout the Pacific Northwest, eventually becoming an Eagle Scout and even serving as an usher at John F. Kennedy's Presidential inauguration. Originally intending to become a painter, Lynch enrolled in the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1963, falling under the sway of expressionist painter Oskar Kokoschka and briefly studying in Europe. By the early weeks of 1966, he had relocated to Philadelphia, where he attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts where he began working with film. During this period he produced four short films with grants from the American Film Institute.
Philadelphia and the Short Films
The violence and decay which greeted Lynch in Philadelphia proved to have a profound and long-lasting effect, as his work became increasingly obsessed with exploring the dark corners of the human experience. From his first experimental student film (1967's "moving painting" Six Men Getting Sick, which its creator described as "57 seconds of growth and fire, and three seconds of vomit") onward, his vision grew more and more fascinated with the seedy underbelly of everyday life. Awarded an American Film Institute Grant, The Alphabet, a partially animated 16 mm color film, followed later in the year, but Lynch soon turned away from the cinema to renew his focus on fine art. His next short film, The Grandmother, did not appear until 1970. After several exhibitions at local galleries, Lynch moved to Los Angeles to attend the AFI Center for Advanced Film Studies. He began working on his first feature, Eraserhead.
Eraserhead
He has referred to Eraserhead as "my Philadelphia story", meaning it reflects all of the dangerous and fearful elements he encountered while studying and living in Philadelphia. [1] (http://www.davidlynch.de/tiplynchtrans.html) He said "this feeling left its traces deep down inside me. And when it came out again, it became Eraserhead". A surreal nightmare borne of the director's own fears and anxieties of fatherhood, the film took over five years to complete, finally premiering in March of 1977. The final film was initially judged to be almost unreleasably weird, but thanks to the efforts of distributor Ben Barenholtz; it became an instant cult classic. It was also a tremendous critical success, launching Lynch to the forefront of avant-garde filmmaking. Financed with the aid of boyhood friend Jack Fisk, a noted production designer as well as the husband of actress Sissy Spacek, Eraserhead not only established Lynch's singular worldview but also cemented the team of actors and technicians who would continue to define the texture of his work for years to come, including cinematographer Frederick Elmes, sound designer Alan Splet, and actor Jack Nance.
Characteristics of his work
His films tend to feature small-town America (Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet) or the sprawling vastness of Los Angeles (Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive) and the dark underbelly that exists in each. Sound in his films is as important as the image, with each soundtrack being worked on with painstaking care. He has managed to establish himself as one of the few modern directors whose visual and verbal style is instantly recognisable. Despite his almost exclusive focus on America, Lynch, like Woody Allen, has found a large audience in France with films like Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway and Fire Walk With Me finding funding from French production companies.
Awards and honors
He has twice won France's César Award for Best Foreign Film and served as President of the jury at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival where he had won the Palme d'Or in 1990. He was also honored in 2002 by the French government with the Legion of Honor.
Other interests
Lynch has cited the Austrian expressionist painter Oskar Kokoschka as an inspiration for his works. He continues to present art installations and stage designs. In his spare time, he also designs and builds furniture. Lynch was also responsible for the comic strip The Angriest Dog in the World. Lynch also practices Trancendental Meditation, and advocates its use in bringing peace to the world. Lynch also designed davidlynch.com, a site exclusive to paying members, where he posts short films, interviews, and other items.
Personal life
Lynch is the father of director Jennifer Lynch.
Lynch was romantically involved with Blue Velvet star Isabella Rossellini.
Despite his professional accomplishments, Lynch once characterised himself simply as, "Eagle Scout, Missoula, Montana".[2] (http://www.thecityofabsurdity.com/inticon.html)
Filmography
As director
- Six Figures Getting Sick (1966)
- The Alphabet (1968)
- The Grandmother (1970)
- The Amputee (1974)
- Eraserhead (1978)
- The Elephant Man (1980)
- Dune (1984)
- Blue Velvet (1986)
- The Cowboy and the Frenchman (1988)
- Twin Peaks (TV series) (1990-1991)
- Wild at Heart (1990)
- Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Broken Hearted (1990)
- On the Air (TV Series) (1992)
- Hotel Room (TV Series) (1993)
- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
- Lumière:Premonitions Following an Evil Deed (1996)
- Lost Highway (1997)
- The Straight Story (1999)
- Mulholland Drive (2001)
- Pleasure and Pain (2001), a documentary about Ben Harper
- Darkened Room (2002)
- Rabbits (2002)
- Inland Empire (2006)
As an Actor
- The Amputee (1974) as a doctor
- Dune (1984) as a spice miner (uncredited)
- Zelly and Me (1988) as Willie, Isabella Rossellini's character's love interest
- "Twin Peaks" (1990) as Agent Cooper's boss, FBI Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole
- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) FBI Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole
- Nadja (1994) brief scene as a morgue receptionist
Trivia
- Got his big break as director of The Elephant Man after Mel Brooks saw Eraserhead. It also turned out that Eraserhead was the favourite film of Stanley Kubrick.
- Frequently uses the same actors in his productions... Jack Nance appears in Eraserhead, Dune, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks and Wild At Heart; Catherine E Coulson appears in The Amputee and Twin Peaks; Charlotte Stewart appears in Eraserhead and Twin Peaks; Freddie Jones appears in The Elephant Man, Dune, Wild At Heart and Hotel Room; Kyle MacLachlan appears in Dune, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me; Everett McGill appears in Dune, Twin Peaks and The Straight Story; Jürgen Prochnow appears in Dune and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me; Dean Stockwell appears in Dune and Blue Velvet; Alicia Witt appears in Dune and Hotel Room; Brad Dourif appears in Dune and Blue Velvet; Isabella Rosselini appears in Blue Velvet and Wild At Heart; Laura Dern appears in Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart and INLAND EMPIRE; Frances Bay appears in Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks and Wild At Heart; Sherilyn Fenn appears in Twin Peaks and Wild At Heart; Grace Zabriskie appears in Twin Peaks and Wild At Heart; David Patrick Kelly appears in Twin Peaks and Wild At Heart; Sheryl Lee appears in Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and Wild At Heart; Harry Dean Stanton appears in Wild At Heart, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Hotel Room, The Straight Story and INLAND EMPIRE; Ian Buchanan appears in Twin Peaks and On The Air; Miguel Ferrer appears in Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and On The Air; Crispin Glover appears in Hotel Room and Wild At Heart; Scott Coffey appears in Lost Highway, Mulholland Dr. and Rabbits; Justin Theroux appears in Mulholland Dr. and INLAND EMPIRE; Naomi Watts appears in Mulholland Dr. and Rabbits; and Laura Harring appears in Mulholland Dr. and Rabbits.
- The Pixies sometimes perform a cover of "In Heaven", a song that is featured in "Eraserhead". The same song has been covered by the italian electro/industrial band Pankow and recorded in their album "Freiheit Fuer Die Sklaven" (1987)
- In the 1980s Lynch was an admirer of Ronald Reagan and had dinner with the Reagans at the White House. Years later when someone made a disparaging comment about Nancy Reagan he spoke up and defended her.
- At the Cannes Film Festival in 2005, Lynch announced that he had spent over a year shooting his new film digitally. The film is titled INLAND EMPIRE (in capitals.) The cast includes Lynch regulars such as Laura Dern, Harry Dean Stanton, Justin Theroux, as well as Jeremy Irons. Lynch described the film as "a mystery about a woman in trouble."
See also
External links
- David Lynch Homepage (http://www.davidlynch.com)
- Template:Imdb name
- David Lynch page (http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:100454) at the All Movie Guide
- David Lynch Faculty Website European Graduate School (http://www.egs.edu/faculty/lynch.html)
- LynchNet: The David Lynch Resource (http://www.lynchnet.com/)
- The City of Absurdity - the mysterious world of David Lynch (http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/2093/lynch.html)
- A David Lynch Electrical Resource (http://www.dugpa.com/)
- David Lynch DreamWorld (http://members.tripod.com/~tormato/LYNCH.html)
- David Lynch Films (http://www.wayney.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/lynch.htm)
- The Universe of David Lynch (http://www.davidlynch.de)ca:David Lynch
da:David Lynch de:David Lynch es:David Lynch fr:David Lynch he:דיוויד לינץ' it:David Lynch ja:デヴィッド・リンチ nl:David Lynch no:David Lynch pl:David Lynch pt:David Lynch sk:David Lynch fi:David Lynch sv:David Lynch zh:大卫·林奇