By You can add David Lynch to the list of directors lamenting the current state of film. (Previously we’ve heard Steven Soderbergh deliver a state of cinema speech and Steven Spielberg and George Lucas suggest industry implosion.) In a recent interview with The Independent, Lynch said the following about the business and his future in it:
It’s a very depressing picture. With alternative cinema–any sort of cinema that isn’t mainstream–you’re fresh out of luck in terms of getting theater space and having people come to see it. Even if I had a big idea, the world is different now. Unfortunately, my ideas are not what you’d call commercial, and money really drives the boat these days. So I don’t know what my future is. I don’t have a clue what I’m going to be able to do in the world of cinema.
He added, “Television is way more interesting than cinema now. It seems like the art house has gone to cable.” Lynch’s last film was 2006’s Inland Empire, though earlier in the year it was revealed that he was writing a new script described as “typically dark.”
If Shane Carruth proved anything with Upstream Color, there’s a DIY model out there that Lynch can pursue outside of the blockbuster-obsessed studio system, and this DIY model would give him total creative freedom just like on Eraserhead. Plus, if he wanted to raise money, there’s Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Lynch has a name and a huge following, so maybe he shouldn’t feel so down about the future.
[The Independent via The Playlist]