David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946 in Missoula, Montana) is an American filmmaker.

Career

Early days

Lynch initially intended to become a painter. He attended several art schools before settling at 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. 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 with Jack Nance in the lead role. Eraserhead was completed in 1976.

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 Philadephia. [1] He said "this feeling left its traces deep down inside me. And when it came out again, it became Eraserhead".

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, like Woody Allen, Lynch has found a large audience in France with the likes of 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.

Personal life

Lynch is the father of director Jennifer Lynch. Lynch was romantically involved with Blue Velvet star Isabella Rossellini.

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)

As an Actor

• The Amputee (1974)
• 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

• The Pixies sometimes perform a cover of "In Heaven", a song that is featured in "Eraserhead".
• 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.

References

• Lynch on Lynch, interviews with David Lynch, edited by Chris Rodley. Faber & Faber Ltd., London, 1997, ISBN 0571195482)

See also

• The Short Films of David Lynch

External links

• David Lynch Homepage
• David Lynch page at the All Movie Guide
• David Lynch Faculty Website European Graduate School
• LynchNet: The David Lynch Resource
• The City of Absurdity - the mysterious world of David Lynch
• A David Lynch Electrical Resource
• David Lynch DreamWorld
• David Lynch Films
• The Universe of David Lynch