Filmmaker
David Lynch
Notes from Evan Smith
"If only he had brought a one-armed man or a hissing mutant baby or Laura Dern to sit in the front row of our studio. If only he’d placed a severed ear right here on our set, or breathed maniacally into an oxygen mask while we talked. If only the narrative arc of our half-hour together had been incomprehensible yet strangely compelling—then, and only then, would I have felt at home in David Lynch’s world. Of course, in a literal sense, very little could have prepared me for the experience of interviewing the four-time Academy Award nominated director and screenwriter; this is one original individual. The 61-year-old had come to Austin to promote his newest movie, and to sign copies of his just-published book on meditation. it was his first time in our fair city, and the fanboy film buffs with expensive glasses and no jobs who filled our audience one weekday afternoon in late January couldn’t get enough of him. And for good reason: Rarely does a star of his magnitude come out to play.
Born in Missoula, Montana, raised variously in the Pacific Northwest and Durham, North Carolina, Lynch attended art schools in Washington, D.C., Boston, and Philadelphia before making his first short film, Six Figures Getting Sick, in 1966. In the forty years since he has rarely put down his camera, producing a significant and distinct body of work that includes the big-screen classics Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Dune, Blue Velvet, and Mullholland Drive, and the TV series Twin Peaks. His latest feature, Inland Empire, is said to be “about a girl in trouble,” but if you remember who you’re dealing with here, you won’t be surprised to learn that Naomi Watts plays a talking rabbit. Like all of Lynch’s films, this one is surreal and mind-expanding, which is also how I’d describe our wide-ranging conversation. See for yourself—and be sure to keep an eye on his hands. You can’t make this stuff up, folks."
- Evan Smith, Texas Monthly Talks, Broadcast 2.22.07
