David Lynch filmography | ||
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Lynch at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival | ||
Filmography | ||
Feature films | 10 | |
Short films | 46 | |
Television | 4 | |
Web series | 5 |
David Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 15, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician and actor. Known for his surrealist films, he developed his own unique cinematic style which has been dubbed "Lynchian" [1] and is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound design. The surreal and, in many cases, violent elements to his films have earned them the reputation that they "disturb, offend or mystify" their audiences. [2]
Lynch's oeuvre includes short and feature-length films, music videos, documentaries and television episodes, while his involvement in these ranges from direction, production, and screenwriting to acting and sound design. Lynch's first project was the 1967 short Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times) , an animated film which blended elements of sculpture and painting into its animation. [3]
His first feature-length project, 1977's Eraserhead , became a cult film and launched his commercial career. [4] It also marked his first collaboration with Jack Nance, an actor who would appear in many more of Lynch's productions until his death in 1996. [5] Lynch's other feature films include the critically successful The Elephant Man (1980), Blue Velvet (1986) and Mulholland Drive (2001), all of which went on to earn Academy Award nominations, [6] [7] [8] and the commercial flop Dune . [9]
Lynch also branched out into television, and later, internet-based series. His first foray into the medium was Twin Peaks , a joint venture with Mark Frost. Twin Peaks became a cult success, [10] leading to Lynch and Frost working together on a number of other projects, including On the Air [11] and American Chronicles . [12]
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Personal
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In 2002 Lynch began producing two series of shorts released through his official website: the Flash-animated DumbLand [13] and Rabbits . [14] Having begun acting in his 1972 short The Amputee, [15] Lynch went on to appear on-camera in Twin Peaks, [16] Zelly and Me , and Dune. [17] From 2010 to 2013, Lynch appeared in a recurring voice role in the animated series The Cleveland Show . [18]
Lynch was a supporting actor in the 2017 John Carroll Lynch film Lucky .
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Sound Designer | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1977 | Eraserhead | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Also editor, composer, art director, and special effects | [17] |
1980 | The Elephant Man | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Also musical director, co-written with Christopher De Vore and Eric Bergren | |
1984 | Dune | Yes | Yes | No | No | ||
1986 | Blue Velvet | Yes | Yes | No | No | ||
1990 | Wild at Heart | Yes | Yes | No | No | ||
1992 | Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me | Yes | Yes | Executive | Yes | Co-written with Robert Engels | |
1997 | Lost Highway | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Co-written with Barry Gifford | |
1999 | The Straight Story | Yes | No | No | Yes | ||
2001 | Mulholland Drive | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ||
2006 | Inland Empire | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also editor and cinematographer | |
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Actor | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1967 | Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Also animator | [17] [19] |
1968 | Absurd Encounter with Fear | Yes | Yes | No | No | [20] | |
Fictitious Anacin Commercial | Yes | Yes | No | No | [20] | ||
Sailing with Bushnell Keeler | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | [21] | ||
The Alphabet | Yes | Yes | No | No | Also editor, cinematographer, animator and sound | [17] [19] | |
Early Experiments | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 16mm, from Lime Green DVD Set | [22] | |
1970 | The Grandmother | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Also cinematographer, animator and sound effects | [17] |
1974 | The Amputee | Yes | No | No | Yes | Role: Unable and scared nurse | [15] [17] |
1988 | The Cowboy and the Frenchman | Yes | Yes | No | No | [17] | |
1995 | Premonition Following an Evil Deed | Yes | No | No | No | [17] | |
2001 | Pierre and Sonny Jim | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | [23] | |
Head with Hammer | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | [24] | ||
Dead Mouse with Ants | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | [25] | ||
Ball of Bees #1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | [26] | ||
Steam Chain | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | [27] | ||
2002 | Darkened Room | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Also animator | [28] [29] |
The Pig Walks | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | [30] | ||
The Disc of Sorrow Is Installed | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | [31] | ||
Laura Palmer | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | [32] | ||
The Coyote | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | [33] | ||
2004 | BlueBob Egg | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | [34] | |
2005 | Scene from a David Lynch DV Project | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | For Avid promotional film | [35] [36] |
2007 | Absurda | Yes | Yes | No | No | [37] [38] | |
Boat | Yes | No | No | No | Also editor | [38] | |
Bug Crawls | Yes | No | No | No | [39] | ||
Lamp | Yes | No | No | Yes | Role: Himself | [39] | |
Industrial Soundscape | Yes | No | No | No | [39] | ||
Intervalometer Experiments | Yes | No | No | No | [39] | ||
More Things That Happened | Yes | Yes | No | No | Also editor | [40] | |
Ballerina | Yes | No | No | No | [40] | ||
Blue Green | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | [41] | ||
David Lynch Cooks Quinoa | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | [42] | ||
2010 | Dream #7 | Yes | No | No | No | [43] | |
Lady Blue Shanghai | Yes | Yes | No | No | Also editor and composer | [44] | |
2011 | The 3 Rs | Yes | Yes | No | No | Also editor and cinematographer | [45] |
2012 | Memory Film | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | For Serpentine Gallery Memory Marathon | [46] |
2013 | Idem Paris | Yes | No | No | No | [47] | |
2015 | Fire (Pożar) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | [48] | |
2017 | What Did Jack Do? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Also editor Role: Detective | [49] |
2018 | Ant Head | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | [50] | |
2018 | This Video of David Lynch Is Not What It Seems | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | For Omaze | |
2020 | The Story of a Small Bug | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Role: Narrator at beginning Also editor | [51] |
The Adventures of Alan R. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | [52] | ||
The Spider and the Bee | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | [53] | ||
How Was Your Day Honey? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | [54] | ||
The Mystery of the Seeing Hand | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | [55] | ||
Year | Title | Creator | Executive Producer | Director | Writer | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1990–1991 | Twin Peaks | Yes | Yes | 6 episodes | 4 episodes | Co-created with Mark Frost | [17] |
1992 | On the Air | Yes | Yes | 1 episode | 2 episodes | [56] | |
1993 | Hotel Room | Yes | Yes | 2 episodes | No | Also sound designer, Co-created with Monty Montgomery | [56] |
2017 | Twin Peaks: The Return | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also sound designer and additional editor, Co-created with Mark Frost | [17] |
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Creator | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | DumbLand | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | [29] |
Rabbits | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | [29] | |
2005–2009 2020–2022 | Weather Reports | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
2007 | Out Yonder | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | [39] |
2020–2022 | Today's Number Is... | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | [39] |
Year | Song | Musician | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
1990 | "Wicked Game" | Chris Isaak | [57] |
1992 | "A Real Indication" | Thought Gang | [58] |
1995 | "Longing" | X Japan | [57] [59] |
1999 | "Thank You, Judge" | BlueBob | [60] |
2009 | "Shot in the Back of the Head" | Moby | [61] |
2010 | "I Touch a Red Button Man" | Interpol | [62] [63] |
"Lion of Panjshir" | Ariana Delwari | [64] | |
2012 | "Crazy Clown Time" | David Lynch | [65] |
2013 | "Came Back Haunted" | Nine Inch Nails | [66] |
2020 | "I Have a Radio" | David Lynch | [67] |
2021 | "I Am the Shaman" | Donovan | [68] |
"Gimme Some a That" | [69] | ||
2024 | "Sublime Eternal Love" | Chrystabell & David Lynch | |
"The Answers to the Questions" |
Year | Commercial Title | Subject | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
1988 | "F. Scott Fitzgerald", "Ernest Hemingway", "D.H. Lawrence", "Flaubert" | Obsession by Calvin Klein | [70] [71] |
1991 | "Mystery of G", "Cherry Pie", "Lost", "The Rescue" | Georgia Coffee | [70] [71] |
"We Care About New York" | New York City Department of Sanitation | [70] [71] [72] | |
— | Dangerous by Michael Jackson | [73] | |
1992 | "Who Is Gio?" | Gio by Armani | [70] [71] |
"Opium" | Opium by Yves Saint Laurent | [70] [71] | |
1993 | — | Alka-Seltzer Plus | [70] [71] |
"Tresor" | Lancôme Tresor | [71] [74] | |
— | Barilla Pasta | [70] [71] | |
"Revealed" | American Cancer Society | [71] [72] [74] | |
"The Instinct of Life" | Background by Jil Sander | [71] [74] | |
"The Wall" | Adidas | [75] | |
1994 | "Sun Moon Stars" | Sun Moon Stars by Lagerfield | [70] [71] |
1997 | "Dead Leaves", "Aunt Droid", "Nuclear Winter", "Rocket" | Sci-Fi Channel | [71] [74] |
— | Clearblue Easy | [70] [71] | |
"Mountain Man" | Honda | [76] | |
1998 | "Parisienne People" | Parisienne | [71] [74] |
1999 | "Opium" | Opium by Yves Saint Laurent | |
2000 | "Welcome to the Third Place" | PlayStation 2 | [70] [71] |
"Un matin partout dans le monde" | JCDecaux | [74] | |
2002 | "Do you speak Micra?" | Nissan Micra | [70] [71] |
"Bucking Bronco" | Citroën | [77] | |
2004 | "Fahrenheit" | Dior | [78] |
"Preference" | L'Oreal | [79] | |
2007 | "Gucci" | Gucci | [80] |
2008 | "Revital Granas" | Shiseido | [81] |
2011 | "Doll Head" | David Lynch Signature Cup Coffee | [82] |
2012 | "Oh Yeah" | [83] | |
2014 | — | Louboutin Rouge | [84] |
Year | Title | Director | Producer | Himself | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1990 | Industrial Symphony No. 1 | Yes | Yes | No | Also composer | [17] |
2014 | Duran Duran: Unstaged | Yes | No | Yes | [85] | |
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1980 | Heart Beat | Painter | [86] | |
The Elephant Man | Man in Bowler Hat in Mob Chasing Merrick | Uncredited extra | ||
1984 | Dune | Spice Worker | Uncredited cameo | [87] |
1988 | Zelly and Me | Willie | [17] | |
1992 | Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me | Gordon Cole | [17] | |
1994 | Nadja | Morgue Receptionist | Cameo | [17] |
1997 | Lost Highway | Morgue Attendant | Deleted scene | |
2006 | Inland Empire | Bucky J | Uncredited voice | [88] |
2017 | Girlfriend's Day | Narrator | Voice | [89] |
Lucky | Howard | [90] | ||
2022 | The Fabelmans | John Ford |
Short film
Year | Title | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
2009 | Soul Detective | Detective | [91] [92] |
2017 | The Black Ghiandola | Man in Black | [93] |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1990–1991 | Twin Peaks | Gordon Cole | 6 episodes | [17] |
2002 | DumbLand | All characters | Voice; 8 episodes | [29] |
2010–2013 | The Cleveland Show | Gus the Bartender | Voice; 20 episodes | [18] |
2010, 2016 | Family Guy | Gus the Bartender / Himself | Voice; episodes: "The Splendid Source" and "How the Griffin Stole Christmas" | [94] [95] |
2012 | Louie | Jack Dall | Episodes: "Late Show - Part 2 & 3" | [96] [97] |
2017 | Twin Peaks: The Return | Gordon Cole | 11 episodes | [17] |
2020, 2022 | Robot Chicken | Mad Scientist | Voice; episodes: "Endgame" and “May Cause Season 11 to End” | [98] |
Year | Title | Director | Producer | Himself | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1990 | Hollywood Mavericks | Yes | [17] | ||
Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only | Yes | ||||
1994 | Crumb | Presenter | [17] | ||
1998 | Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch | Yes | [17] | ||
2001 | I Don't Know Jack | Yes | [17] | ||
Eraserhead Stories | Yes | Yes | [17] | ||
2004 | Dennis Hopper: The Decisive Moments | Yes | [17] | ||
2005 | Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream | Yes | [17] | ||
2007 | Lynch | Yes | [17] | ||
2008 | School of Thought | Yes | [99] | ||
Sunshine Superman: The Journey of Donovan | Yes | [17] | |||
2009 | Transcendendo Lynch | Yes | [17] | ||
Great Directors | Yes | [17] | |||
2010 | 2012: Time for Change | Yes | [28] | ||
2011 | Meditation Creativity Peace | Yes | [17] | ||
2012 | Side by Side | Yes | [17] | ||
2016 | My Beautiful Broken Brain | Yes | [100] | ||
David Lynch: The Art Life | Yes | [101] [102] [103] | |||
2021 | Moby Doc | Yes | [104] | ||
2024 | Beatles '64 | Yes |
Year | Title | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|
1991 | The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez | [17] |
1994 | Nadja | [17] |
2008 | Surveillance | [17] |
2009 | My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done | [17] |
2022 | The Other Me | [105] |
TBA | The Happy Worker | [106] |
David Keith Lynch was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. He received acclaim for his films, which are often distinguished by their surrealist, dreamlike qualities. In a career spanning more than fifty years, he was awarded numerous accolades, including the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival in 2006 and an Honorary Academy Award in 2019. Often described as a "visionary", Lynch is considered one of the most important filmmakers of his era.
Kyle Merritt MacLachlan is an American actor best known for his Emmy nominated and Golden Globe winning role as Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks and its film prequel Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992). He is also known for his roles in another two of Twin Peaks co-creator David Lynch's films: Paul Atreides in Dune (1984) and Jeffrey Beaumont in Blue Velvet (1986). MacLachlan's other film roles include Lloyd Gallagher in The Hidden (1987), Ray Manzarek in The Doors (1991), Cliff Vandercave in The Flintstones (1994), Zack Carey in Showgirls (1995) and Riley's father in the Inside Out film series.
Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist. He co-founded Studio Ghibli and serves as its honorary chairman. Over the course of his career, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished filmmakers in the history of animation.
Mulholland Drive is a 2001 surrealist neo-noir mystery art film written and directed by David Lynch, and starring Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Ann Miller, and Robert Forster. It tells the story of an aspiring actress named Betty Elms (Watts), newly arrived in Los Angeles, who meets and befriends an amnesiac woman (Harring) recovering from a car accident. The story follows several other vignettes and characters, including a Hollywood film director (Theroux).
Twin Peaks is an American surrealist mystery-horror drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on ABC on April 8, 1990, and ran for two seasons until its cancellation in 1991. The show returned in 2017 for a third season on Showtime.
Castle in the Sky, also known as Laputa: Castle in the Sky, is a 1986 Japanese animated fantasy adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was produced by Isao Takahata, animated by Studio Ghibli, and distributed by Toei. The film stars the voices of Mayumi Tanaka, Keiko Yokozawa, Kotoe Hatsui, and Minori Terada. In the film, orphans Sheeta and Pazu are pursued by government agent Muska, the army, and a group of pirates. They seek Sheeta's crystal necklace, the key to accessing Laputa, a legendary flying castle hosting advanced technology.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is a 1992 psychological horror film directed by David Lynch, and co-written by Lynch and Robert Engels. It serves as a prequel to the television series Twin Peaks (1990–1991), created and produced by Mark Frost and Lynch. It revolves around the investigation into the murder of Teresa Banks and the last seven days in the life of Laura Palmer, a popular high school student in the fictional Washington town of Twin Peaks. Unlike the series, which was an uncanny blend of detective fiction, horror, the supernatural, offbeat humor, and soap opera tropes, Fire Walk with Me has a much darker, less humorous tone.
Matthew Steven LeBlanc is an American actor. He garnered global recognition with his portrayal of Joey Tribbiani in the NBC sitcom Friends and in its spin-off series, Joey. For his work on Friends, LeBlanc received three nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards. He has also starred as a fictionalized version of himself in Episodes (2011–2017), for which he won a Golden Globe Award and received four additional Emmy Award nominations. He co-hosted Top Gear from 2016 to 2019. From 2016 to 2020, he played patriarch Adam Burns in the CBS sitcom Man with a Plan.
Only Yesterday is a 1991 Japanese animated drama film written and directed by Isao Takahata, based on the 1982 manga Omoide Poro Poro by Hotaru Okamoto and Yuko Tone. Produced by Toshio Suzuki, it was animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network and Hakuhodo, and distributed by Toho. The film follows a twenty seven year-old Taeko Okajima as she takes a holiday with her relatives in the country, during the course of her trip she reminisces about her life when she was ten. The ending theme song "Ai wa Hana, Kimi wa sono Tane" is a Japanese translation of Amanda McBroom's composition "The Rose".
Ronnie Rocket is an unfinished film project written by David Lynch, who also intended to direct it. Begun after the success of his 1977 film Eraserhead, Lynch shelved Ronnie Rocket due to an inability to find financial backing for the project. Instead, he sought out an existing script on which to base his next film, settling on what would become 1980's The Elephant Man. Lynch returned to Ronnie Rocket throughout the 1980s but by the following decade had stopped considering it to be a viable prospect.
"Episode 2", also known as "Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer", is the third episode of the first season of the American mystery television series Twin Peaks. The episode was written by series creators David Lynch and Mark Frost, and directed by Lynch. It features series regulars Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Ontkean, Ray Wise and Richard Beymer; and introduces Michael J. Anderson as The Man from Another Place, Miguel Ferrer as Albert Rosenfield and David Patrick Kelly as Jerry Horne.
Ross Shor Lynch is an American actor and singer. He was the lead vocalist of the pop rock band R5 and is one half of the band the Driver Era. As an actor, he rose to recognition for his debut role as Austin Moon on Disney Channel's comedy television series Austin & Ally (2011–2016) and for his role as Brady in the network's musical films Teen Beach Movie (2013) and its sequel Teen Beach 2 (2015).
"Episode 14", also known as "Lonely Souls", is the seventh episode of the second season of the American mystery television series Twin Peaks. The episode was written by series co-creator Mark Frost and directed by series co-creator David Lynch. It features series regulars Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Ontkean, Ray Wise and Richard Beymer; and guest stars Frank Silva (uncredited) as Killer BOB, Hank Worden as The Waiter, Julee Cruise as Singer, and David Lynch as Gordon Cole.
Eraserhead is a 1977 American independent surrealist body horror film written, directed, produced, and edited by David Lynch. Lynch also created its score and sound design, which included pieces by a variety of other musicians. Shot in black and white, it was Lynch's first feature-length effort following several short films. Starring Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Jeanne Bates, Judith Anna Roberts, Laurel Near, and Jack Fisk, it tells the story of a man (Nance) who is left to care for his grossly deformed child in a desolate industrial landscape.
David Keith Lynch was an American filmmaker, painter, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he developed his own unique cinematic style, most often noted for its dreamlike imagery and meticulous sound design. The surreal and, in many cases, violent elements in his films earned them a reputation as works that "disturb, offend or mystify" general audiences.
Odell Cornelious Beckham Jr., commonly known by his initials OBJ, is an American professional football wide receiver. He played college football for the LSU Tigers and was selected by the New York Giants in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft. He has previously played in the NFL for the New York Giants, Cleveland Browns, Los Angeles Rams, Baltimore Ravens, and Miami Dolphins.
The following is a list of books and essays by and/or about David Lynch.
Of all the unexpected things about Girlfriend's Day, maybe the most unexpected is the fact that the opening narration... is handled by none other than David Lynch.