Talk:David Lynch

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[edit] Biography assessment rating comment

WikiProject Biography Assessment

Does need cleanup, but technically a B.

The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. -- Yamara 21:56, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Chronology

Lynch directed six episodes of the series, including the pilot, wrote or co-wrote several more and even acted in some episodes. Lynch on the cover of the October 1, 1990 issue of Time Magazine.

/snip/

However, Lynch clashed with the ABC Network on several matters, particularly whether or not to reveal Laura Palmer’s killer. The network insisted that the revelation be made during the second season but Lynch wanted the mystery to last as long as the series. Lynch soon became disenchanted with the series (many cast members would complain of feeling abandoned) and, after shooting the Twin Peaks pilot episode, set off to work on the film Wild at Heart.

This is confusing. I can assume that Lynch directed six episodes of the series, including the pilot, but what doesn't add up is that he'd abandon the project for a film after the first episode (pilot) and return to shoot six episodes. Is this what happened or is the last sentence in error?

--- Just saw Lynch talk tonight in Bethesda MD about his new boook and the new movie. When questioned about Twin Peaks he stated that he had lost interest in it by the second season and only directed a few episodes, he was focused more on making Wild at Heart. In his "selected works" listing in his books he only credits himsel wiht the first season of Twin Peaks.

[edit] The Dark Side of the Straight Story

"The Straight Story" has got to be one of the most misunderstood films ever, as Lynch, no doubt, intended.

Behind the veneer of "Lynch goes straight and makes a rated-G, Disney, life-affirming family film," is a story of darkness and repression, one of drunkenness and violence. That story is so subtly told, that it was initially lost on almost all the critics and viewers.

This review explains it all:

http://www.lipmagazine.org/articles/revicontent_97_p.htm

As the author states, "The Straight Story is genuinely poignant and moving, in a way that, say, Lost Highway certainly isn't. But to call the film "sentimental," or discontinuous with Lynch's previous work, is simply to misunderstand it."

I propose the following rewrite to the paragraph about "The Straight Story:"

"In 1999, Lynch surprised fans and critics with the G-rated, Disney-produced The Straight Story, which was on the surface, a simple and humble movie telling the true story of an Iowa man (Richard Farnsworth) who rides a lawnmower to Wisconsin to make peace with his ailing brother. The film gathered positive reviews, but most reviewers missed the uglier story lurking underneath, which Lynch subtly wove into the film."

I would also add the above-cited review as a reference.

Before I change anything, I would like comments. Also, should I tell more about the underlying story? I don't want to spoil the movie. Thanks.

17:05, 5 October 2005 (UTC) ToddCrowder


Gazpacho said of my "Straight Story" comments: "this analysis is highly speculative and not verified by Lynch."

Most of the other analyses of Lynch films are not verified by Lynch either. He usually blows off such questions. And highly speculative? You have seen the movie and read the review in its entirety, correct? Do you believe that Mssrs. Kreider and Content are seeing something that isn't there? I have found no reviews whatsoever that disagree with them, only ones that completely missed what they saw. And once the sub-story is pointed out, I don't see how anyone can deny that it is there and don't know of anyone who ever has. But I may be wrong. So will someone who has seen the movie please read the review and tell me it's bunk?

And remember, this is Lynch, the "trickster author," we're talking about ("Do You Enjoy Making the Rest of Us Feel Stupid?: alt.tv.twinpeaks, the Trickster Author, and Viewer Mastery," Henry Jenkins, from "Full of Secrets: Critical Approaches to Twin Peaks," Ed. David Lavery, 1995, Wayne State University Press). Did you really expect Lynch to ever tell a straight story?

Perhaps we could mention the sub-story preceded by "Some critics say..."? or something like that? How'd that be? Thanks to all.

20:25, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

wait a sec... you're quoting that review as fact, and you haven't even seen the movie? jeez. take a minute to analyze your own words above. "I have found no reviews whatsoever that disagree with them, only ones that completely missed what they saw." listen to yourself. you don't know that they saw anything, and you're alleging as fact that others "completely missed what they saw." nonsense. the statement alone presumes the truth of something you've admitted is an unknown to you.
just got around to reading the review you linked to. if you accept that review as stated, you're a fool. did you notice that it's based on an assumption? everything flows from a single assumption -- an exercise in bad-lawyer mimicry, like being in court for a sophistic summation. was the film's alvin straight responsible for the death of his daughter's kids? you can't answer that factually. you can only assume. stating theories as facts is the first mark of an idiot. i'm going to watch the DVD now to see if even the quote about the fire is correct. i suspect it will not be, no matter how small the difference. regardless, the quote as written in the review says nothing except "i have a theory", followed by piles of baloney. if i wanted to be an attention-grabbing fool, i could write a 10-page treatise on the sinister overtones of coffee in lynch's work. it would be linked to by people like you, i suppose. Wbfl 22:53, 3 November 2005 (UTC)
the real quote: "One night, somebody else was watchin' the kids, and there was a fire. Her second boy got burned real bad."
as "quoted" in the review: "Someone else was supposed to be watchin' them, and there was a fire, and her second boy got burned real bad."
that quote distortion is significant. anybody putting quote marks around something has a responsibility to accuracy, unless it's stated that the quote is from memory or the like. in this case, the insertion of "supposed to be" implies that the person didn't watch the kids — an embellishment. not going to waste my time looking for more; my suspicion was confirmed, and the things i already know assign the review to the trash pile.
if you watch the film, you'll notice from the tone of alvin's voice and the look on his face that it's damned unlikely the theory of your pet review is true. the review moves quickly from installing sinister tone where there was none, to making an utterly harmless (albeit stupid) metaphor of a bundle of sticks into fascism. gets worse from there. and this is the review you want to quote as fact in the article? if you want to look into sinister undercurrents, look no further than the review, an obvious grope for attention from a liar. it is possible that the film version of alvin straight was responsible for his grandson's injury. damned unlikely though. note that the core thesis of the review is "'the straight story' is presumed by most people to be an exception to the lynch canon; however, this is impossible, because the lynch canon has consistency." don't believe me? read the piece of crap... after seeing the film. quite a leap, and it's one i'm not taking, except to consider that there is more to the film than is obvious. it can be inserted properly into the article. hasn't been yet. and yes, there are similar problems already in the article. maybe you can remove them before inserting your grope. Wbfl 23:18, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

==

[edit] Ronald Reagan

I think the bit of trivia in regards to Mr. Lynch's fondness for Ronald Reagan should be omitted until it can be verified. It seems preposterous to make claims of this sort with out any real substantiation.
There are many interviews, and articles available on the internet which will back this up. I will see about digging them up here in a little bit. Rsm99833 16:28, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
Here's a few articles relating to this subject. If someone has access to Lexus-Nexus, there is an interview with Lynch who talks about his views a few years back in the LA Times (keywords "David Lynch", "Ronald Reagan" "American Spirit"). Anyway:

http://www.laweekly.com/general/features/getting-lost-is-beautiful/4458/

http://victorian.fortunecity.com/plath/372/index2005.html

http://www.hollywoodinvestigator.com/lynch.htm


I have changed the exact content of what Lynch supposedly felt for Ronald Reagan. In interviews Lynch is never quoted as to have been "an admirer of Reagan". He seems to express that he actually liked Reagan because of some paternal influence. The only page were the word admiration is used is in The Hollywood Investigator and it seems that it was used to serve their own sensationalist purposes than actually being accurate. The word Lynch used was that he "liked" and that is the word that should be included.

[edit] Mulholland Dr.: Boxoffice status

It's incorrect to call it a dismal boxoffice failure: it made a profit worldwide (cost 15M and made 20M so that's 5M profit - that's not a failure by any stretch of the imagination). [EDIT: Incorrect as pointed out later] It only made 7M in the US though but that's kind of expected given that Europe (esp. France) is one of Lynch's major fanbases and funded the film. See http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=mulhollanddrive.htm for the data on the film's takings. I've ammended the entry to relect this...

--MarkB 14:42, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

long as we're estimating, then it was closer to a $5M loss at the box office using your numbers. box office figures are not what a movie "makes"; they are simply the box office gross. generally, the studio nets half or a little over half of that during a film's entire run. your base figures, if correct, cannot add up to a $5M profit via the box office. assuming marketing is included in that $15M figure, the box office might have needed to go over ~$30M for profit there (worse if marketing was additional). as with many films these days, it was probably DVD that took the film black. Wbfl 08:08, 23 October 2005 (UTC)

True - I've mixed up gross with theatrical rentals. Still, the point remains can we seriously consider Mulholland Dr. to be a dismal boxoffice failure? Take for example Maid in Manhattan and you'll end up with a larger loss by your calculations. However, it's deemed to be a relative success by most parties (Of course, artistically, it's nothing of the sort) .--MarkB 20:01, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

no, i don't think it's accurate to claim that MD was a dismal box office failure; "dismal" should be reserved for the lowest of the low percentages. however, at the box office alone it wasn't a success, if your numbers are correct and if the industry average holds. with the strong DVD market though, box office numbers are rapidly losing their traditional significance. Wbfl 02:12, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] On the Air

I don't see any discussion about the tv show "On the Air" aside from credits and such at the bottom. Forget "Fire Walk with Me," which I think he was working on at the same time. "On the Air" has got to be the most negatively received Lynch work of his career and among the worst television programs ever produced. It was essentially Lynch and Frost saying, "this is what we can get away with." Don't get me wrong; I'm a huge Lynch fan and can put together a more neutral addition about it (I've never added anything to Wikipedia before). Or someone else can. Regardless, it should be mentioned. --Happylobster 21:41, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

..."among the worst television programs ever produced." yeah? i think it's one of the best. i've been looking for it on DVD for years. if you're going to add on the air to the article, it'd better be a helluva lot "more neutral" than that. its dismal reception among the masses is a fact. your opinion of it is only factually your opinion, and that, of course, nobody cares about for the article (unless you're tom shales or some official [insult deleted] that wikipedia policy savors). my opinion is that if you think you're a "huge Lynch fan" and think OTA sucks, you're probably not a huge lynch fan. one thing's sure: you're a [insult deleted] who presumes his opinion should be at the top of a talk page. bad form. Wbfl 22:15, 3 November 2005 (UTC)
Nothing was mentioned about OTA in the article. You are obviolusly passionate about the work. If you consider it among his best, you should write something about it. Meanwhile, as I mentioned before, this was my first contribution to Wikipedia and was unaware that comments start from the bottom. Your response was unnecessarily harsh. As your opinion is likewise your opinion, I don't take it any more seriously than you regard my views about OTA or ability to write neutrally. I sincerely hope you greet other newbies with more respect than this. Dismal reception and bad form indeed.

--Happylobster 21:40, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

Happylobster, just be glad you don't know wbfl in real life. You obviously didn't deserve that sort of treatment. 04:41, 10 November 2005 (UTC)
maybe there's a place where all the people who use the form "[what you said] indeed" can be dumped. i'll look into it while you figure out this opinion thing that seems to be puzzling you. Wbfl 08:54, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Eraserhead influences

According to Lynch, he never saw a Bunuel film until after Eraserhead (http://www.adherents.com/people/pl/David_Lynch.html). I'm not sure about Maya Deren, but i've never heard Lynch cite her as an influence.

Jules Dassin's "Thieves Highway" was a huge influence on Lynch and you'll find references to it in every film he's made -- The grinding gears in Eraserhead, the downtown soundscapes of that film, Dune & The Elephant Man, orchard visuals in The Straight Story, and most directly Isabella Rosselini reprising Valentina Cortese in Blue Velvet.

I'd go so far as to say Blue Velvet is a scene-for-scene crib of Thieves Highway in theme and all its major details, with Dennis Hopper as Lee J. Cobb. Conte's legless father is mirrored in Jeffrey's stroke-ridden father. Both come back from independent lives of young adulthood to help their struggling families in a stultifying world of greed. Both have the corn-fed woman they love and the Italian demoiselle they sleep with. Both find their lives endangered by a corrupt crime boss. janus_weathervane@yahoo.com

[edit] Maddin

"He is often called "America's Guy Maddin" because of his surreal, visual style."

I've often heard Maddin called the Canadian David Lynch but I've never heard Lynch called America's Guy Maddin. A reference or two please.Rorschach567 15:48, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Current residence

Does anyone know where Lynch currently lives? Word is he has a summer home in Madison, Wisconsin. If no one objects I plan to add this to the Private life section.--Hraefen 04:13, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lynch himself would never have mislead students. Wow! What an insinuation!

I removed the following.

His presentation on September 28, 2005, at New York University [1] was called "misleading" in an editorial in the school newspaper because TM had not been mentioned in advertisements. [2].

If you read the source, there is no indication at all that Lynch himself has been misleading. This critic should go into an article about the University or the journal that announced the event. This has no place in an article about Lynch. -Lumière 03:51, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Jedi

I think it is worth a mention that Lynch turned down the offer to direct Return of the Jedi in favour of doing Dune.

then place it there.


[edit] Marriage No. 3

Someone edited the page to incorporate data on Lynch's recent brief marriage to his longtime girlfriend and collaborator Mary Sweeney, listing the dates of the marriage as May-July 2006. Their divorce filing, after less than 30 days as a married couple, is reported in the issue of Entertainment Weekly that came out on June 16. Why is their divorce listed here as ocurring in the future? Does California (I assume that's where they were married) have a law stating that divorce filings aren't binding until 30 days after papers have been turned in? Or is July a sort of "dateTK" placeholder to be replaced by whatever future date the marriage is officially dissolved by law?Andrewjnyc 02:16, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Federico Fellini influence

I'm SURE I've read this somewhere, but can't find the page again! Bugger.

--- In his new book Catching the Big Fish Lynch states that Fellini and Kubrick were the two biggest influences in film.

-- Well done whoever posted this! I knew there was more than one reference to it! leopheard 22:42, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mel Brooks quote

The sentence "Due to his peculiar style and focus on the American psyche, producer Mel Brooks once called Lynch "Jimmy Stewart from Mars."" is perhaps not very relevant in the very beginning of an article. It has more the flavor of "trivia" information. Moreover, the reference to James Stewart is usually thought to be due to Lynch's physical resemblance with Stewart. This point is missing from the way the quote is presented now. Although being a Lynch fan and somewhat knowledgable about his film, I will not edit in the article before discussing. Any thoughts on this quote? --HJ 20:05, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

Lynch on Lynch claims that this quote is wrongly attributed to Mel Brooks; another reason to remove it from the beginning. 70.112.100.11 06:46, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Transcendental Meditation?

Please, does any one have more detailled or more recent information about Lynch's relation toward tr. meditation? it is hard to believe for me. Any links, quotes or newspaper articles etc.? Thanks

I visited a lecture at Yale university in New haven Ct (o5) and heard lynch talking about tr. meditation and something he called the "unified force." He had a special foundation related to a school in which meditation was a primary source of inspiration and knowledge. He also had a subject hooked up to all of these electrodes to monitor his brain waves while meditating. It was strange but very cool. 149.152.191.253 16:53, 20 March 2007 (UTC)Emily
No big news, really... You'll just have to watch Twin Peaks and Special Agent Dale Cooper's addiction to meditation and its endorsement to see that's nothing new in Lynchland. Everybody knows Lynch is a longtime TMer. As for the link try David Lynch Foundation. Orlando F 22:20, 18 May 2007 (UTC)


[edit] The early days of David Lynch

Someone just tagged it with a citation needed. What kind of citation is needed? If no good reason, I'll remove it tomottow afternoon. I personally see no justification for it. Rsm99833 08:43, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Eraserhead a reaction to fatherhood?

"The film also reflects the director's own fears and anxieties about fatherhood, personified in the form of the bizarre baby, which has become one of the most notorious props in film history."

I have read in one of the many biographies on Lynch that when the above statement was made to him (more or less) he replied "Everybody has a baby. So why doesn't everybody make Eraserhead?" Either way, surely this comment is opinion? Desdinova 01:15, 11 October 2006 (UTC)
Desdinova, you are correct. Lynch does not comment this way. The above interpretation was generated, and somehow became "fact." As those who know and love his work are aware, Dave declines to state "meaning." He says, "That's what psychology is for." Gotta love him! 76.166.123.129 01:40, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] INLAND EMPIRE one-sheet

The one-sheet posted for INLAND EMPIRE is not an official one-sheet. It contains incomplete and incorrect information regarding the film. The official one-sheet can be viewed at the official Web site for INLAND EMPIRE [3], or the Wikipedia article for INLAND EMPIRE [4]. Chrisnu 22:42, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Isabella Rossellini

Isabella Rossellini appeared in Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart - as well as having dated David Lynch from 86 to 1991. Why no mention of her?

her book "Some of Me" ISBN 0-679-45252-4

"David Lynch came out of it a genius, and I came out of it a fat girl. I'm sorry that the only comment I get about the part is the way I look." -Isabella Rossellini, on the critical response to her role in Blue Velvet. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.174.191.156 (talk) 02:17, 14 January 2007 (UTC).

[edit] paintings

Given the fact that the man has many hundreds of paintings, had numerous personal exhibitions, actually studied art and started out as a painter, and also has done plenty of work in photography.. shouldn't he be referred to as at least a "filmmaker and painter" in the lead, rather than simply "filmmaker"? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 85.140.110.199 (talk) 23:11, 5 March 2007 (UTC).

[edit] The external links section

The section's rather out of control and really needs to be weeded down to pretty much just Mr. Lynch's official sites. Some of the stuff listed there looks to me like they might have actually been references to write parts of the article. If that's the case, they should be moved to the appropriate reference section. If you can put it in as an inline footnote, that would be even better. Thanks! —Elipongo (Talk|contribs) 09:03, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Transcendental Meditation

References to Transcendental Meditation should be capitalized as it is a trademark. Also, editors should avoid generalizing Transcendental Meditation as "any form of meditation that is transcendental in nature" (note that this can come through in the writing, not just because it's not capitalized). It is a specific meditation technique invented by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and, apparently, Lynch means this particular meditation technique. --24.57.157.81 23:50, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

Not "apparently": absolutely for sure. Orlando F 22:20, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Neutrality

I think the second article with almost orgiastic descriptions of Lynch's presumed talents as a filmmaker is unencyclopedic and not remotely neutral. 209.77.79.7 00:54, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] POV

I love David Lynch, but the POV in this article needs to be dealt with. Seriously, I can't understand why people don't realise that stating the truth will reveal what they all want to hear anyway. It's rather pathetic to use weasel words and gloss over everything that doesn't appeal to you. Grow up. Wouldn’t you like an objective article that asserts that he is a great film maker rather than ignorantly fobbing off everything else in order to make him look good? 195.92.168.165 06:55, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

please cite specific POV issues--71.97.157.120 02:42, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

The film is consistently ranked as one of the greatest American films ever made, and has become a hugely influential motion picture, the impact of which is still being felt in Hollywood and popular culture. (No citation, I had to look fairly hard to find any list of American films that Blue Velvet appears on, total hyperbole.) and became a huge critical and commercial success. (Blue Velvet made a little over 2 million dollars)

Just read through it, it was clearly written by someone that adores Lynch. As an outsider, I would assume that the man is the greatest thing to ever happen to film. This is one of the clearest examples of POV issues I've seen in any article on the website. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.145.115.186 (talk) 19:59, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Nov 13th Appearance in Berlin

This seems like a really important thing to bring up in this article: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k357ErdUQyk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_5VPd93Ytk Unfortunately I just don't know enough about the man to put this in a fair context and was hoping someone who could would pick this up and add it to this article appropriately. Pellucid (talk) 20:46, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] GA review

As much as i love Lynch, i am quickfailing this article for the same reasons that i failed Inland Empire (film); it's too poorly sourced. Please see Wikipedia's policy: no original research. And, again, please take a closer look at what is a good article? before renominating. Thanks for your work so far. -Yamanbaiia (talk) 00:22, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Dark Carnival

  • Beginning on October 24, 2007 someone from the IP address 24.205.250.203 has repeatedly added the following to the "personal life" section, at the end of the sentence about Lynch's views on the September 11th attacks:
...as well as his interpretation of the Dark Carnival.

With the last line wikilinked to [[Insane Clown Posse]]. This has been removed a few times, and the last time this IP added this, he included a citation connecting this statement with the New York Times article David Lynch’s Shockingly Peaceful Inner Life, which does not mention his appearance on that television show in any context. I haven't seen the entire program, only the brief clip where he discusses Loose Change, but I believe that this article has been the victim of vandalism, and nobody's checked on it since it was last added. I'm removing this remark from the article. (Ibaranoff24 (talk) 13:58, 26 December 2007 (UTC))

[edit] Tm

The entry on DL and TM is wrong. The David Lynch Foundation was not, and is not, designed to fund research into TM or any of the unified field stuff. It's designed to fund TM training in schools, collages, universities, etc. Basally, he runs around Hollywood "luvies" and gets money from them to pay for TM training in schools. Initial TM training is neither cheap or free, costing at the moment $2500 for the first session. because he is such a believer in it he setup the foundation to help finance its training in schools, operantly supplying a lot of the money himself.

However, it's actually more controversial then it sounds as TM training in schools has been long banned in certain states.

I can change this if you want but it would be better if it was someone already editing the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.2.169.209 (talk) 21:36, 21 March 2008 (UTC)