Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos revealed in a recent Instagram post that the late, great filmmaker David Lynch was in the process of creating a new limited series for the streaming giant before his untimely passing. The visionary director, known for his surreal and groundbreaking works such as Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, and Twin Peaks, had pitched the project to Netflix, and they eagerly embraced the opportunity to collaborate with the iconic auteur. Sarandos’ tribute shed light on the mysterious project and his personal relationship with Lynch, highlighting the director’s genius and the impact he had on the world of cinema.
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Sarandos reminisced about his first encounter with Lynch, which took place during the early days of Netflix when the company was primarily a DVD rental service. He reached out to Lynch to acquire copies of Eraserhead, one of his favorite films, and “struck a deal to produce a DVD compilation of the director’s short films”. During this meeting, Lynch surprised Sarandos by screening an early, nearly three-hour cut of his then-upcoming film, Mulholland Drive, in his private screening room. Years later, Lynch approached Netflix with a pitch for a limited series. Sarandos and his team were thrilled at the prospect of embarking on a creative journey with the enigmatic filmmaker.
“It was a David Lynch production, so filled with mystery and risks, but we wanted to go on this creative ride with this genius,” Sarandos wrote. However, the project was ultimately derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic and Lynch’s health concerns, despite Netflix’s commitment to bringing the series to life whenever the director was ready.
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“David Lynch was an unapologetic genius. He didn’t want you to understand his work. He knew that was impossible and it was part of the ride together,” he wrote. The Netflix executive expressed his admiration for Lynch’s “remarkable, visionary, bold and artful” body of work, lamenting the loss of the opportunity to see the director’s final project come to fruition.
The revelation of Lynch’s unproduced Netflix series has left fans and cinephiles wondering what the master of surreal storytelling had in store for his last hurrah. Sarandos himself acknowledged that he will “always wonder about what he had in mind for us with what would have been his last project,” a tantalizing mystery that will forever remain unsolved.
Lynch’s passing has sparked an outpouring of tributes from Hollywood celebrities, including frequent collaborators and admirers such as Patricia Arquette, Isabella Rossellini, Mädchen Amick, Ron Howard, Sting, and Judd Apatow.