David Lynch (1946–2024)

The filmmaker has died at the age of seventy-eight. The Guardian has an obituary. The Criterion Channel has a large selection of movies and extras.

From a statement by Lynch’s family: “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.‘”

I’ll footnote that for anyone who might wonder: “Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole” is from an old bit of folk poetry known as “The Optimist’s Creed.” It’s perhaps best known as the motto of the Mayflower Shops, a New York chain that served coffee and doughnuts. The Mayflower version reads like so:

As you ramble on thru Life, Brother,
Whatever be your Goal,
Keep your eye upon the Doughnut,
And not upon the Hole.

From a 2024 interview, some sobering words from David Lynch himself, who suffered from emphysema:

“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.”