An Evening With David Lynch, KCRW Broadcast
By: Audrey Rock
Beverly Hills, California (The Hollywood Times) 10/12/2017
In mid-September at dusk, outside a mountaintop estate in Beverly Hills, David Lynch emerged from his vehicle, flanked by a modest entourage, and strode toward a few waiting guests at the front of the private residence he would be gracing for the evening. Wearing his classic black suit, his hair swept dramatically into a wave as though it were one of his foreboding thoughts developing into a scene in front of their very eyes, he was the incarnation of a living legend. Electric, and, strangely low-key.
Lynch was there for a KCRW broadcast with Jason Bentley, and private donors were invited to listen in after a garden reception. It was an untouchable late summer night, and as the sun went down on the mirrored infinity pool and guests enjoyed quarter-glasses of Sauvignon Blanc over reverent conversation, Lynch prepared indoors with a photographer and security detail.
The guest list didn’t top 50, which made access to the iconic “Twin Peaks” director exceptionally intimate. Such an opportunity is rare, even in these circles; and anticipation, though purposely muted, was high.
As the sky turned purplish and the mic crackled, Lynch and Bentley took their seats on the pavilion overlooking the canyon. Lynch’s demeanor for the interview vacillated between heavily brooding and playful. His eyes constantly searched, either for the right word or the correct imagery.
His hands moved, not in a fidgeting fashion, but searching–flexing and relaxing against each other–particularly during the segments in which Bentley pulled out moving clips of music from “Twin Peaks.”
Did he feel good about the upcoming Festival of Disruption, Bentley asked? “I feel really good about it,” answered Lynch. “We live in strange times, and this festival raises money for the David Lynch Foundation for consciousness-based education and world peace. And we try to give transcendental meditation to any person who wants it anywhere in the world.” (The Festival of Disruption begins this weekend). “You’ll have a good time if you show up,” said Lynch.
Meditation was a major theme touched on repeatedly by Lynch; the cool, placid surroundings attested silently to his belief in its importance. “It’s unbounded intelligence there, creativity, happiness, love, power, and peace; within each one of us,” he said.
The conversation turned toward music, with Bentley pointing out that there are now two new “Twin Peaks” compilation albums available, and Lynch paused to point out an owl flying above. It’s the kind of thing he doesn’t let simply pass, whether or not a broadcast recording is in progress. “Look at that owl!” he exclaimed, craning his neck to see. The audience followed suit, and with the clouds becoming chalkier by the minute it was, well…cinematic.
Bentley played soulful, throaty smoky pieces by Otis Redding, 9-Inch Nails, and Rebekah Del Rio; Lynch himself went into a trance under the now deeply streaked sky of hot pink and blue, framed by speaker boxes and a hot ray of light slicing down on him from the upper rear, making him momentarily resemble one of his sinister “Twin Peaks” characters.
He rubbed his forefinger and thumb together compulsively–attempting to hold onto big thoughts without gripping them too tightly.
“Sound and picture, going together, rolling together, through time, is cinema to me,” he said. “Sound is at least 50% of the picture.” His sound designer credit, he explained, is very important to him for this reason. Lynch went into a question and answer period after the program that spanned his interests from fine art painting to furniture making.
It was all be re-broadcast on KCRW this morning. Guests then mingled with Lynch on the patio and enjoyed dessert while a photographer captured the remainder of the evening.
The Festival of Disruption will take place October 14-15th at the Theatre at ACE Hotel. Performers are hand-picked by David Lynch, who is known for his eclectic and robust taste in music.
For more information, visit www.festivalofdisruption.com.
To hear Bentley’s interview with Lynch in full, click here: https://www.kcrw.com/music/shows/morning-becomes-eclectic/david-lynch-2017-10-11
About David Lynch
David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American director, screenwriter, producer, painter, musician, actor, and photographer. He has been described by The Guardian as “the most important director of this era”. AllMovie called him “the Renaissance man of modern American filmmaking”, while the success of his films has led to him being labelled “the first popular Surrealist”.
Born to a middle-class family in Missoula, Montana, Lynch spent his childhood traveling around the United States, before going on to study painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where he first made the transition to producing short films. He moved to Los Angeles, where he produced his first motion picture, the surrealist horror film Eraserhead (1977). After Eraserhead became a cult classic on the midnight movie circuit, Lynch was employed to direct a biographical film about a deformed man, Joseph Merrick, titled The Elephant Man (1980), from which he gained mainstream success. He was then employed by the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group and proceeded to make two films: the science-fiction epic Dune (1984), which proved to be a critical and commercial failure, and then a neo-noir crime film Blue Velvet (1986), which stirred controversy over its violence but grew in critical reputation later on.
Next, Lynch created his own television series with Mark Frost, the popular murder mystery Twin Peaks (1990–1991). He also created a cinematic prequel, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), a road movie Wild at Heart (1990) and a family film The Straight Story (1999) in the same period. Turning further towards surrealist filmmaking, three of his subsequent films operated on “dream logic” non-linear narrative structures: the psychological thriller Lost Highway (1997), the neo-noir “love story” Mulholland Drive (2001) and the fragmented mystery film Inland Empire (2006). Meanwhile, Lynch embraced the Internet as a medium, producing several web-based shows, such as the animated DumbLand (2002) and the surreal sitcom Rabbits (2002). Lynch and Frost reunited for the Showtime limited series Twin Peaks: The Return (2017), with Lynch co-writing and directing every episode.
Other endeavours of his include: his work as a musician, having released two solo albums—Crazy Clown Time (2011) and The Big Dream (2013)—and music for a variety of his films, including “Ghost of Love” for Inland Empire; the David Lynch Foundation, which he founded to fund the teaching of Transcendental Meditation in schools; painting and photography; writing two books—Images (1994) and Catching the Big Fish (2006); and directing several music videos and advertisements, including the Dior promotional film Lady Blue Shanghai (2006).
Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations[4] for Best Director and a nomination for best screenplay. He has won France’s César Award for Best Foreign Film twice, as well as the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement at the Venice Film Festival. The French government awarded him the Legion of Honor, the country’s top civilian honor, as a Chevalier in 2002 and then an Officier in 2007. Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive are widely considered by critics to be among the greatest films of their respective decades. (Wikipedia)
