David Lynch Tributes: Steven Spielberg, Nicolas Cage, Concord Korine, and Extra Bear in mind the Visionary Auteur

David Lynch revolutionized cinema — and now, Hollywood is paying tribute to the legendary auteur, who died Thursday on the age of 78.

Lynch made his function debut in 1977 with “Eraserhead,” and his expansive profession included options “Mulholland Drive,” “Dune,” and “Blue Velvet,” in addition to iconic sequence “Twin Peaks.” Lynch’s household confirmed on social media that he died at age 78.

“It’s with deep remorse that we, his household, announce the passing of the person and the artist, David Lynch. We’d recognize some privateness right now,” the assertion reads. “There’s a giant gap on this planet now that he’s not with us. However, as he would say, ‘Preserve your eye on the donut and never on the opening.’ It’s a lovely day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the best way.”

Lynch introduced in August 2024 that he was identified with emphysema. Nevertheless, he instructed Sight & Sound journal that whereas he couldn’t go away his home resulting from his weakened immune system, he nonetheless hoped to direct remotely.

Lynch’s last movie was “Inland Empire,” which was launched in 2006. He additionally directed 2017 sequence “Twin Peaks: The Return,” and not too long ago debuted {a partially} animated music video for “Elegant Everlasting Love,” which he directed as a part of new collaborative album “Cellophane Recollections.” Lynch was set to shoot Netflix sequence “Unrecorded Night time” in 2020 earlier than the present was scrapped as a result of pandemic; Netflix later handed on his long-gestating animated movie “Snootworld,” which he co-wrote with “The Nightmare Earlier than Christmas” and “The Addams Household” scribe Caroline Thompson.

“I liked David’s movies. ‘Blue Velvet,’ ‘Mulholland Drive’ and ‘Elephant Man’ outlined him as a singular, visionary dreamer who directed movies that felt handmade,” Steven Spielberg stated in an announcement supplied to IndieWire. “I obtained to know David when he performed John Ford in ‘The Fabelmans.’  Right here was considered one of my heroes — David Lynch enjoying considered one of my heroes.  It was surreal and appeared like a scene out of considered one of David’s personal motion pictures.  The world goes to overlook such an unique and distinctive voice. His movies have already stood the check of time and so they all the time will.”

Concord Korine additionally remembered Lynch, telling IndieWire “David Lynch was considered one of our nice artists, a Mount Rushmore-level director, actually a GOAT. He modified lots of people’s lives. There’ll by no means be one other one like him, as a result of he made movies at some extent in historical past the place nothing like that had ever been skilled earlier than. We reside in a time the place the whole lot has been seen. Lynch invented a brand new language. He was a as soon as in a technology expertise who absorbed the embers of America’s wildness. He embraced his personal interior logic and filtered it by way of a unconscious magic. He created worlds and unmatched vibrations. He hit on issues that have been inexplicable and sacred and past articulation.  He’s a treasure. His work will reside eternally.”

Nicolas Cage, who starred in Lynch’s “Wild At Coronary heart,” instructed Deadline that the director was a “singular genius in cinema, one of many best artists of this or any time.”

Cage stated, “He was courageous, sensible, and a maverick with a joyful humorousness. I by no means had extra enjoyable on a movie set than working with David Lynch. He’ll all the time be stable gold.”

The American Movie Institute, the place Lynch was an alum of the AFI Class of 1970, remembered the filmmaker.

“David Lynch was an American unique. And the tales are true – as a foundational Fellow on the American Movie Institute, he lived within the stables of Greystone whereas filming his AFI Thesis Movie, ‘Eraserhead’,” the AFI assertion reads. “Throughout the many years, David’s impression on cinema proved indelible in his movies and his artwork – and he all the time gave again to AFI – supportive of the storytellers who wrote their very own guidelines and reached for one thing totally different.”

The AFI assertion continues, “Throughout a seminar on campus, he shared this timeless recommendation with Fellows: “Inform the tales which are inside you. Every individual has these tales that come alongside. Simply keep true to these concepts and benefit from the doing of it. He’ll reside on in our goals.”

Under are extra tributes to the late, iconic Lynch.