Director and writer David Lynch is dealing with some serious health issues but he’s not going to walk away from his career no matter what….
Prolific creator David Lynch is struggling with some health problems that may keep him from ever sitting in the director’s chair again but that doesn’t mean he’s calling it a career.
The man behind “Twin Peaks” as well as films such as “Blue Velvet,” “Lost Highway” and “Mulholland Drive” admits that it’s getting tougher and tougher for him to leave the house these days after he was diagnosed with emphysema after many years of smoking. Because he struggles to catch his breath, Lynch knows spending all day on a film set is nearly an impossibility as he approaches his 79th birthday in January.
“I’ve gotten emphysema from smoking for so long and so I’m homebound whether I like it or not,” Lynch told Sight & Sound. “It would be very bad for me to get sick, even with a cold. [I] can only walk a short distance before [running out of oxygen].”
If he was going to direct again, it’s more likely that Lynch would have to do that remotely but he doesn’t sound like a big fan of that idea. Still, Lynch made it clear in a post on social media that despite his health problems, there’s no way that he’s walking away from his creative career.
In addition to filmmaking, Lynch is also an artist, painter and musician so he’s keeping plenty busy these days even if he’s not actively working on another installment in his “Twin Peaks” series, which was his most recent production after “Twin Peaks: The Return” was released in 2017.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, Yes, I have emphysema from my many years of smoking,” Lynch wrote on Twitter. “I have to say that I enjoyed smoking very much, and I do love tobacco – the smell of it, lighting cigarettes on fire, smoking them – but there is a price to pay for this enjoyment, and the price for me is emphysema. I have now quit smoking for over two years.
“Recently I had many tests and the good news is that I am in excellent shape except for emphysema. I am filled with happiness, and I will never retire. I want you all to know that I really appreciate your concern.”
Lynch came to fame in 1977 with the release of his first film “Eraserhead” and he’s been constantly creating his own kind of movies and TV series ever since. While “Twin Peaks: The Return” was his last appearance as a director for TV, Lynch hasn’t made a film since 2006 when he released “Inland Empire.”
He has a couple other potential projects in mind including a screenplay he wrote for a film called “Antelope Don’t Run No More” that he’s long wanted to make but it remains to be seen if that will get developed.
