‘My mother shooed me away so she could watch Twin Peaks’
I live in a forested part of the UK that has a dreamlike quality to it. The sound of the owls and the trees resonates deep in the soul. Sometimes violent, sometimes tender, always beautiful. David Lynch has been one of my favourites since my late teens. I was first made aware of Twin Peaks as a child when my mother shooed me away from the living room so she could watch it. I’ll never forget the ghostly music creeping up the stairs into my bedroom. Jay Stephens-Wood, 42, Forest of Dean
‘Lynch found new ways of haunting the present’
I attended an event about 12 years ago where David Lynch answered questions before an audience at the Institute of Education in Bloomsbury. Lynch found new ways of haunting the present. He presented sounds, objects and scenarios and made them glow with a significance that transcended the everyday. He demonstrated that this superpower was available to others through close observation and an understanding eye, and we owe him a lot for that. Allan Forrester Parker, London
‘Everyday surrealism’
My introduction to his work was Twin Peaks, which came out in my late teens. It started out as this oddball soap opera but escalated into such a phenomenon that I watched it each week with my mum and dad, which seems extraordinary now. I doubt they’ve seen any of his other work, but Twin Peaks brought the whole family together to experience everyday surrealism in a way no other primetime TV show has done since.
I was once walking back at night from visiting family on a very sedate Midlands residential street and as I turned the corner, I was totally freaked out to see what I thought was a ghostly, human-sized owl monster, which turned out to be an uncovered ironing board left for collection. I took a photo (above) and I always think it’s the sort of thing that could have come out of the mind of David Lynch. Richard Cooper, 53, Twickenham
‘Lynch’s creation opened up the world ’
David Lynch opened up a whole world of excitement and possibility. I grew up in remote Aberdeenshire. I was extremely shy and never felt as if I fit in. Twin Peaks aired when I was in my teens and it expanded my world. It revealed we can all be anything; intrigue entered into the mundane. I realised that in my life I could feel shy and studious and exciting and mysterious. Lynch’s creation had just opened up the world in wonderful ways and I didn’t need to fit in anywhere. Jess, Aberdeenshire
‘They taught me that a good film is about feelings’
David Lynch changed my life. My mum died when I was 17, and my dad left when I was four. So movies became a source of escapism. Aged 19, I was homeless in Wales, and I had three things in my backpack besides clothes and cereal: Spares by Michael Marshall Smith, Nevermind by Nirvana and Lost Highway by David Lynch. I watched Eraserhead and Blue Velvet as a teenager and he made me want to be a film-maker. They taught me that a good film is about feelings.
When I was 22, I went to film school and I remember watching Inland Empire at the Haymarket cinema in London. Half the audience walked out 20 minutes in. I sat there knowing it was a masterpiece, and I knew right then that I wanted to make those kind of films. In 2009, I made my first short film, Closure, which is super Lynchian. It’s not great, but I had a great time making it! Dan Rodríguez, 42, Spain and UK
‘I realised that Lynch had ventriloquist talents’
In 1989, I was assigned to photograph portraits of 12 musicians for the Village Voice. One of the artists was the singer Julee Cruise. When I telephoned Julee, she asked me if her friend David Lynch could come along. On the day of the photograph, I discovered an abandoned machine room at her hotel with four walls of metal industrial windows and a few cement work tables. The wrap around light was beautiful, but we’d have to avoid being seen by security guards.
I wanted to photograph him with a telephoto lens, so I was at a certain distance from David. Just when I was about to shoot the first frame, I heard a disembodied, very oddly pitched voice with a menacing tone coming from somewhere behind me saying: “You’re in trouble, buddy.” I turned around but nobody was there, but Mr Lynch was smiling. I realised that he had ventriloquist talents and had “thrown” his voice … I thought: ‘Great, now we are in David Lynch territory.’ At the end of the session, he offered me a pre-distribution CD of the music from his then forthcoming Twin Peaks series. It was my favourite CD for a long time. Michel Delsol, New York City, US
‘He spoke about creativity, spirituality, meditation and staying true to who you are’
I was in high school when I found out that my favourite director was going to be at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square, Manhattan, for a book signing. I had to cut school that day just to make the line. I waited for hours with the other fans. Then he came out on stage and spoke to us about everything from creativity, to spirituality, meditation and staying true to who you are. His words made me feel like there was a lot more to me than I knew.
Later, I got to speak to him. I told him how I had cut school for this event, and he chuckled and said: “It’s good to have you here, buddy.” After that day I started learning about meditation and finding your creative spirit. I also took part in the global 10 minute transcendental meditation. It was an inspiring and calming experience, I was deeply connected to myself during the practice and I intend to continue future sessions. Chuck, 39, New York City, US
‘I’m always searching for the possibility of a Lynchian scene’
I was so affected by Eraserhead while studying photography at art school in the 80s. I’ve watched his work ever since and I’m always searching for the possibility of a Lynchian scene when I’m working in industrial settings. Lynch was a unique and uncompromising visual artist who created and crafted parallel worlds to our own that were simultaneously familiar and alien. Steven Eric Parker, 59, North Yorkshire
‘In retrospect our film could be described as a Lynch pastiche’
Lynch came on to my radar in 1999 during lectures at art school that showed snippets of his films. The imagery and atmosphere were exciting and mind-bending for a young artist. In 2004, I collaborated with my friend and fellow art student Hamish on a short film titled The Red Man, which was essentially an ode to Lynch. We worked with non-actors and shot the film on a shoestring budget with MiniDV cameras, which Lynch went on later to use on Inland Empire. In retrospect, The Red Man could be described as a pastiche or fanboy film.
One of the most vivid memories I have of any film is seeing Mulholland Drive on my own in a cinema. The visuals were exotic and hallucinatory and you felt as if you could smell the lush vegetation of LA. I think it is his masterpiece and all of the films he had made before it culminated into this clear and unique vision. Jack Holden, 45, Berlin
