David Lynch, the iconic director, artist, and pioneer in surrealist filmmaking has died at the age of 78, his family announced this morning. In a heartfelt post on Facebook, Lynch‘s family wrote:

“It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch. We would appreciate some privacy at this time. There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.’ It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.”

Lynch was just a few days away from his birthday, January 20th. He was born in Missoula, Montana, in 1946 and spent his professional life pioneering the most bizarre of storytelling methods and continually pushing the boundaries of filmmaking. He is best known for his films Eraserhead (1977), Blue Velvet (1986), Wild at Heart (1990) and Mulholland Drive (2001), as well as the groundbreaking television series Twin Peaks, which may well go down as his crowning achievement in visual storytelling. Lynch would return to Twin Peaks in 2017, finishing the story that he had begun in the 1980s, before being unceremoniously cancelled. Retrospectively, the series was seen as groundbreaking and ahead of its time, with audiences not quite ready to process the level of storytelling on display.

What Made David Lynch So Special?

His films often carried a dreamlike quality, which unsettled audiences, and felt like they were deeply personal to him, which earned him a committed fandom and acclaim from critics. Lynch also acted in numerous projects, including Twin Peaks, and also played the role of director John Ford in Steven Spielberg‘s The Fabelmans in 2022.

Lynch was nominated for four Best Directing Academy Awards in his lifetime, and he received an honorary Oscar in 2019 for his contributions to the art of filmmaking. Beyond directing and his other cinematic accomplishments, he was also a fine painter, musician and even for promoting meditation, which he said often was an integral part of his filmmaking. Lynch‘s style of making motion pictures had a huge impact on many other artists thanks to his distinctive style.

Everybody at Collider mourns the death of David Lynch, an icon of cinema, and extends our heartfelt condolences to his immediate family and friends. He is survived by his four children: Jennifer, Austin, Riley, and Lula.

via Collider