David Lynch was planning return to work before death, says Naomi Watts

Naomi Watts has talked about her final meeting with David Lynch, prior to his death in January, aged 78. She revealed that the late director was still planning future projects.

• READ MORE: David Lynch – 1946-2025: a true visionary who reinvented cinema

The director, famous for visionary films like The Elephant Man and Eraserhead, passed away at his daughter’s home in Los Angeles after being evacuated during the city’s wild fires. In a statement on Facebook, the family shared: “There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, “Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole”.

Australian star Watts received her Hollywood breakthrough from Lynch, winning acclaim thanks to her performance in 2001’s Mulholland Drive. The pair remained friends, and would work together again in 2002 short film Rabbits, 2006 film Inland Empire, and 2017 series Twin Peaks: The Return. The latter would be Lynch’s final project.

In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, the actor would reveal she last saw the filmmaker in later November of last year, meeting Lynch at his house with fellow collaborator Laura Dern. “We had a beautiful lunch at his house,” she recalled.

“I knew he’d been unwell but he was in great spirits. He wanted to go back to work — Laura and I were like, ‘You can do it! You could work from the trailer.’ He was not, in any way, done. I could see the creative spirit alive in him”.

When asked about the nature of that last lunch, she said: “There’s a lot I could share but I want to be private about it because of his family. But it was a really powerful meeting that filled me with just so much love and hope”.

She said that she, Lynch, and Dern all took a picture together, before she accidentally took another photo that became very precious to all of them. She said the photo was: “His house — he really loved that space. Blue skies, hope, magic, just dreamy. I sent him a text and he wrote back the most incredible David response”. Again, out of respect, she declined to say what the text contained.

Tributes to Lynch flooded in from across the film industry following his death. In a statement, Steven Spielberg said: “The world is going to miss such an original and unique voice. His films have already stood the test of time and they always will”.

The post David Lynch was planning return to work before death, says Naomi Watts appeared first on NME.