David Lynch Says Illness Is Pushing Him Toward Retirement

David Lynch says he’s facing probable retirement, as long-term illness prevents him from being in situations where he may get sick. Lynch made the comments in a recent interview with Sight and Sound , where he said he’s homebound out of necessity now.

“I've gotten emphysema from smoking for so long, so I'm homebound whether I like it or not,” Lynch said. “Because of Covid, it would be very bad for me to get sick, even with a cold.”

Related: Martin Scorsese Wants to Bring Daniel Day-Lewis Out of Retirement

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

David Lynch’s most recent project aired in 2017, an 18-part sequel to the hit 1990s thriller that, despite airing two decades later, managed to win critics and audiences over. Lynch’s most recent movie premiered in 2006 – Inland Empire, a psychological thriller about an actress who takes on the personality of a character she plays. Inland Empire’s Lynchian qualities – the surrealism, the mysteries wrapped in mysteries – didn’t win critics over quite as strongly, but it grossed just over $4 million at the box office, on a budget of approximately $3 million.

Related: Trap First Impressions Say It’s M. Night Shyamalan’s Best Film Since The Village

Lynch isn’t completely ruling out some kind of remote film production, but he said the idea holds little appeal for him.

“I would probably be directing from my home … I wouldn’t like that so much. I like to be amongst the thing and get ideas there. But I would try to do [a film] remotely, if it comes to it.”