David Lynch Diagnosed With Emphysema

Film icon David Lynch says he will no longer be able to direct in person after being diagnosed with emphysema. The director, who made his mark on film and television with titles like Blue Velvet, Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive and Twin Peaks, revealed in a recent interview with Sight & Sound that his emphysema has made him “homebound.”

Lynch revealed he developed emphysema after “smoking for so long,” revealing that he’s “homebound whether I like it or not.” The auteur continued that he “can’t go out” and can “only walk a short distance before I’m out of oxygen.”

He lamented, “Smoking was something that I absolutely loved, but in the end, it bit me. It was part of the art life for me: the tobacco and the smell of it, and lighting things and smoking and going back and sitting back and having a smoke and looking at your work, or thinking about things. Nothing like it in this world is so beautiful. Meanwhile, it’s killing me. So I had to quit.”

Because of his illness, Lynch doesn’t know what the future holds for him in terms of directing, although he weighed the idea of working remotely on a new project. “I like to be amongst the things and get ideas there,” he said. “But I would try to do it remotely, if it comes to it.”

The cinematic icon certainly isn’t slowing down completely. Lynch revealed he recently pitched an animated project to Netflix titled Snootworld, after starting work on the idea two decades ago with Caroline Thompson. “Just recently, I thought someone might be interested in getting behind this, so I presented it to Netflix in the last few months, but they rejected it,” Lynch revealed. “Old-fashioned fairy tales are considered groaners: apparently, people don’t want to see them. It’s a different world now, and it’s easier to say no than to say yes.”

Lynch also shared that he feels “hopeful” that his 2010 screenplay Antelope Don’t Run No More will eventually make it to screen. Lynch’s last big project was Showtime’s 2017 Twin Peaks: The Return, which brought back original actors Kyle MacLachlan, Sherilyn Fenn, Mädchen Amick, Sheryl Lee and David Duchovny, among others.