David Lynch Can No Longer Direct in Person Because of Decades of Smoking

David Lynch’s directing career may have come to a premature end due to his health issues.

Lynch, who turned 78 earlier this year, told Sight & Sound in a new interview that he is “homebound whether I like it or not” due to health issues stemming from his decades-long smoking habit.

“Smoking was something that I absolutely loved, but in the end, it bit me,” Lynch explained. “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,” he added. “So I had to quit.”

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Quitting or not, Lynch explained that the years of smoking have left him with emphysema. (“And I can only walk a short distance before I’m out of oxygen,” he noted.) Those sorts of breathing issues also make you far more susceptible to respiratory illnesses, which also keeps Lynch at home and hopefully away from things like Covid.

As a result of all those precautions, Lynch explained, he also couldn’t direct a new movie in person, although he says if the right project comes along he would “try to do it remotely.”

At present, Lynch’s most recent feature film as director was 2006’s Inland Empire. His last major effort as a filmmaker was technically for television; 2017’s Twin Peaks: The Return. We’ll just have to wait and see whether that changes, and hope for the best for Lynch and his health.

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