Oscar-winning filmmaker Sir Steve McQueen has praised David Lynch for approaching his projects with “two guns blazing” as he paid tribute to the acclaimed director following his death aged 78.
The British director joined the world of film and TV in remembering the “visionary” Oscar-winning filmmaker, who was known for the surreal TV series Twin Peaks and films such as The Elephant Man, Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet.
The US filmmaker’s death comes five months after he revealed he had been diagnosed with emphysema, a chronic lung disease, after “many years of smoking”.
Sir Steve recalled how Lynch did things his own way, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday: “Go out there with two guns blazing. Don’t be afraid.
“I remember someone saying to me ‘Steve, be careful’, I said, ‘Absolutely not’. So any artists, just do not be careful, that’s what David did.”
He added: “He did it his way. He designed nightclubs, he painted, he did what he wanted to do.
“I tip my hat to him, he went out with two guns blazing, he did it, end of story. And he tapped in to the mainstream, which is extraordinary.”
Sir Steve, whose 2013 drama 12 Years A Slave won the best picture Oscar, said Lynch’s hit 90s TV series Twin Peaks was cinematic in its approach as it allowed you to spend time with the characters rather than cutting from scene to scene.
“You got to know them in a way, you got to care about them in a way”, he said.
“But also, it was the darkness. I think it was putting the evil to the forefront of our narrative. Because evil and darkness are as as prominent now as they were then.”
The director said Lynch “obliterated those shadows and brought that stuff into the light” within his projects.
Lynch achieved worldwide stardom with the release of Twin Peaks, co-created with Mark Frost, following eccentric FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) who visits a quaint town to investigate the murder of a 17-year-old.
The director returned to develop and write Twin Peaks: The Return, released in 2017, as MacLachlan came back to the role.
MacLachlan said he “owed” his “entire career, and life really, to his vision” after Lynch originally cast him in 1984 sci-fi film Dune based on the Frank Herbert novel, before starring in Lynch’s 1986 film Blue Velvet.
Lara Flynn Boyle, who played Donna Hayward in the early 1990s series, said “there goes the true Willy Wonka of filmmaking” in a statement.
“I feel like I got the golden ticket getting a chance to work with him. He will be greatly missed,” she added.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese was also among the filmmakers reflecting on Lynch’s back catalogue, including Eraserhead, Wild At Heart, Lost Highway, The Straight Story and Inland Empire, which he said will keep “growing and deepening” as the decades go by.
“I hear and read the word ‘visionary’ a lot these days — it’s become a kind of catch-all description, another piece of promotional language,” Scorsese said in a statement given to the PA news agency.
“But David Lynch really was a visionary — in fact, the word could have been invented to describe the man and the films, the series, the images and the sounds he left behind.”
Scorsese said Lynch made “everything strange, uncanny, revelatory and new” which were “right on the edge of falling apart but somehow never did”.
“He put images on the screen unlike anything that I or anybody else had ever seen… And he was absolutely uncompromising, from start to finish.
“It’s a sad, sad day for moviemakers, movie lovers, and for the art of cinema… We were lucky to have had David Lynch,” he added.
Other stars paying tribute were Italian-born star Isabella Rossellini, British actress Naomi Watts, Sir Ringo Starr, Wolverine star Hugh Jackman, The Police singer Sting and Oscar winner Nicholas Cage.
Lynch gave former partner and collaborator Rossellini her breakthrough role in neo-noir mystery thriller Blue Velvet before the pair worked together on Wild At Heart.
“I loved him so much,” the actress, who was Bafta-nominated for her supporting role in Conclave earlier this week, said.
Mystery movie Blue Velvet launched Lynch into the mainstream but prompted controversy with its violent and sexual content, despite securing him an Oscar nomination for best director.
He was known for the dreamlike, surreal quality of his work, epitomised in 1980 film The Elephant Man – which secured Lynch Oscar nods for best director and best writing, and was loosely based on the life of Joseph Merrick, a severely deformed man who lived in London in the late 19th century.
Following three Oscar nominations, the Academy presented Lynch with the honorary award in 2019 for “fearlessly breaking boundaries in pursuit of his singular cinematic vision”.
Born in Missoula, Montana, Lynch began a career in painting before switching to making short films during the 1960s.
He was also known for the 1970s feature-length film, Eraserhead, a black and white, surrealist body horror which follows Henry Spencer as he navigates a strange and gloomy industrial landscape filled with characters such as The Lady In The Radiator.
He also directed 1997’s Lost Highway, and 1999’s The Straight Story, and made a foray into music, releasing three of his own studio albums, working with Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer Karen O and Swedish singer Lykke Li.
Lynch’s family said “there’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us” as they confirmed his death, which came just days before his 79th birthday on January 20, on Facebook.
