David Lynch - Classic or Dud

with its Aussie soap stars, Mulholland Drive is like a lost episode, at least outdoingFire walk with Me me in episodic tension or edge (but to be fair, what can be expeced from a prequel)

Mulholland Drive is a great film for Lynch, yanking him out of his US weirdo cult niche and projecting world class ideas onto the world stage. I fail to see how it could stand a chance at BAFTA with Princess Ann on the board however (Oscars and Globes out-of-th-qn i assume).

His outsiderness, and his adoption finally by Cannes, like a Roman Polanski.

Most certainly did -- his third film after Eraserhead and The Elephant Man.

Did anyone ever see that interview he did for scene by scene - i loved the bit where he's talking about "the eye of the duck" to describe the key scene in his films.

Also i highly recommend the book "Lynch on Lynch" - so much fun!

Umm. This movie is two years old. Why are we speculating on its award chances?

*waiting for backlash*

crosspost

Yeah, quite right. I read the book a year before the movie came out so my timing was perfect there...

although, N. has had my copy of the cinema one for nearly a year, now.

cremaster's opulent mythboredom reminded me a lot of dune

the biggest persecution complex on this board

this is a hotly contested position

What are we bidding on?

https://www.juliensauctions.com/en/auctions/julien-s-auctions-turner-classic-movies-present-the-david-lynch-collection

If I was in any financial state to be doing this right now, I would want to bid on his theremin

https://www.juliensauctions.com/en/items/1426433/david-lynch-tony-bassett-no-1-electronics-theremin

I bid on a dozen items, thinking there was no way I was going to win all of them. It took less than 12 hours to not only get outbid on everything but have the current bids catapult over the "estimated" bids too. Ah well.

We didnt buy the silverdome when we had the chance

I wonder if stuff like the outdoor furniture and the rug will actually get used since they're clearly worn from heavy usage. Given the cost, I guess whoever ends up with them will store them somewhere, but it feels kind of weird owning a worn and soiled rug and treating it like a Dead Sea Scroll.

One of the rugs in question, at this point one of the more affordable ones, but you can buy a brand-new, high quality bamboo rug of equal size for less than https://www.juliensauctions.com/en/items/1426609/david-lynch-bamboo-rug00.

*less than $100. (That was a weird typo.)

They're going to make a ridiculous amount of money off of this.

"Goddammit, why did we throw away the cleaning supplies and all the stale items in the pantry? That would've been pure profit!"

I can’t believe the sale of a beloved figure’s personal effects so soon after their death has only elicited ‘how much?’ and not ‘WTF?’

ha yeah I was def thinking how they must’ve started cataloging and photographing this stuff uncomfortably soon after he kicked it

Well, a close friend of mine had to deal with his parents suddenly dying not too long ago, and I was with him every step of the way, something he encouraged because not only did it help him, he thought it was information I could really use someday since it would've been overwhelming to learn on the fly (as it turned to be for him). I realize Lynch isn't like most people financially speaking, but he wasn't like, say, Prince or Elvis Presley where he had an enormous operation and revenue stream that was up and running even after death. They probably had to start cleaning out his belongings, unload any real estate, etc. because if you don't deal with those thing, it creates a lot of problems and a lot of cost that are going to fall on the survivors' shoulders.

A lot of the stuff they're selling is likely enticing to private collectors, but it's not something a museum or another archive will want to acquire unless they're truly unique or valuable. And if you're trying to settle bills and other things left behind, it's not unusual to sell what you can to put the money towards those costs.

I will add, it is sad, really sad, to see his instruments, gear and art tools get sold. Just watch something like Olivier Assayas's Summer Hours or Kenneth Lonergan's play The Waverly Gallery. It's a life that's over, and all these things that were part of his creative existence, they're no longer producing the things he put into the world. They're all being dispersed, and it's sad to think of some of them just sitting on a collector's shelf or behind glass rather than being used. That's a common, sad reality when people die - even if they're someone pretty anonymous, if something you remember them using like a chair or glasses turned out to be precious and was forever stored in a case rather than be used or touched, it feels sad, like a reflection of their own death.

(Full confession, had I somehow won what I bid on, I sure as hell would've used them.)

Hilarious pic. As someone noted, Atlas Shrugged is the most creased spine.

From the personal library of David Lynch pic.twitter.com/nFSKukPoec

— Lee (@leeartr) May 29, 2025

Zibaldone is just sending me...

A fitting post from an old friend after Lynch passed:

David Lynch-related story from last year. It's not a serious anecdote and it's a little embarrassing but... here goes. On July 8 I was in Los Angeles and drove to the Bill Pullman residence from LOST HIGHWAY (the first photo). The house, which belonged to Lynch, is not immediately recognizable -- in the movie Lynch frames it in a way to hide certain architectural details, like the triangles at the top. And there's some disrepair. The house right next door to this one also belonged to Lynch and at the time was used as his office or primary residence from what I gather. Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone emerge from this other house and leave a rocking chair on the curb. I called my friend Kyle; we came back half an hour later and put the (obviously discarded) chair into the trunk of my friend Felipe's car. We thought this chair could have belonged to David Lynch-- why not take it as a souvenir? Later we showed the image (the second photo) to a friend of ours who worked for a time with Lynch, in his house, and she confirmed, "That's his chair!!" Are you sure? "100%." Is this reliable information? I still don't know. But I want to believe it. Today the chair claims a spot on Kyle's patio in Echo Park. And when I come over, I sit in it.

We used to have an identical chair. My wife used it for rocking and nursing our baby.

ugh mandles

(that's not my friend, fwiw)

I didn’t realize Lynch had such in an interest in LBJ. That could’ve been an interesting biopic if he wanted to make it.

I knew I sensed the work of Henry Rollins in Lynch's films

he also had Behold A Pale Horse by Bill Cooper, the conspiracy theory book linked to anti government militias sometimes

Henry Rollins told some great stories on his podcast about working with Lynch on Lost Highway

Yeah, they traded a lot of music, much to Rollins and Lynch's delight. (They were mutual fans.)

Also gave some insight into how someone like Lynch can feasibly make movies - they may get name stars but they have very tight budgets.

His compound's up for sale - $15 million asking price.

I hope the buyer preserves his workshop, at least in a way that can allow it to be recreated if they have no interest in keeping it intact and in use. Wouldn't be unprecedented - in the last few years, I was stunned to see Martin Scorsese's original family home's living room reconstructed from the original furniture (which he preserved) and a recreation of Hal Willner's studio at the NYPL.

(Willner's studio was also put together from his actual belongings, of which there were MANY since it was his working studio until his untimely death from COVID.)

Yeah they should turn it into a museum.

Link to the Zillow listing for pics, etc.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7017-Senalda-Rd-Los-Angeles-CA-90068/20803620_zpid/

Am I wrong in thinking that's a low listing price?

I can contribute 5k to the ilx crowdfund

We failed to buy the silverdome let’s not make the same mistake twice

Michael Jordan's former mansion sold for less than $10 million after languishing on the market for a long time. Given the location (and as part of that, the cost of upkeep and insurance) for Lynch's compound, I think $15 million may be a bit optimistic.

Yeah, take out the "Lynch" factor and this is a very optimistic price.

Am I wrong in thinking that's a low listing price?

― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Saturday, September 13, 2025 7:26 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

as someone on the market to buy in LA now, though at a tiny fraction of that sticker price, $1364/sqft is pretty high. obviously with the amenities and history I understand why it’s a bit inflated

but the market is really bad for sellers right now. If it closes any time soon I doubt they’ll get the asking price

yeah, i was going off memory of an old friend trying to sell their Washington Heights place some 5-6 years back and forgot about market changes/wildfires/etc.

It looked like a lot of cement rooms (and per the description more bathrooms than bedrooms) - I kind of wonder if it was more suitable to turn it into a school or some kind of arts center or artist studios rather than to use it as another home.

It's 3 separate houses, with some outbuildings. I wonder if it'll be divided back into 3 properties and re-sold individually.

Even though this seems high from a real estate perspective, I was just looking back over his estate sale, and every last item was bid up massively over the expected price, which makes me think $15M is totally reasonable or possibly way less than what it will end up selling for.

Market is bad for sellers across the board, or just LA? Last I saw something like 30% of all house sales are cash, which is insane. Everyone I know that recently sold in Chicago sold at or over asking in just a day or two.

think it’s across the board. had read that sellers vastly outnumber buyers to a degree that hasn’t been seen in a while. and if you’re on Redfin a lot it’s pretty obvious — houses/condos on the market for months, closing price frequently below asking etc

I think I must just live in a particularly heated market.

We sold our house in LA at list price in June in about 3 1/2 weeks, and everyone I tell that to is shocked.

15 million is a lot for that, I think as far as the location goes it’s iconic in a Lynch sense but it’s not necessarily the most sought after area either. Not just bc these days people are more likely to reflect on the possibility of a fire sweeping through the hills, but also it’s just not the best use of 15 million if you’re lucky enough to have it. Being Hollywood adjacent is not the lure that a lot of people might imagine it to be, not in 2025 anyway.

The fact that it's a "compound" with 3 houses may give a "sum is worth more than the parts" aspect to some buyers, but a famous ex-owner doesn't give that much of a boost.

With estate sale auction items you can put them on the wall/bookshelf/counter/music room without upending your life by moving.

Apparently the main building was designed by Lloyd Wright. Son of Frank Lloyd Wright. Which raises the question of whether Frank Lloyd Wright's grandson was just called Wright. But alas no, he was Eric Lloyd Wright.

There's a bunch of photos of the place from when Lynch was alive, and they seem to have tarted it up since he's left. In particular the exterior doesn't look great when it's damp:
https://www.reddit.com/r/davidlynch/comments/11g9dkx/david_lynchs_la/

The screening and editing rooms are interesting. I wonder if they still have the equipment, or if it was auctioned off? It raises the question of whether he used the screening room to have final say on the picture quality of his films, or if it was just for fun. It's a pretty substantial room:
https://i.redd.it/snxgjakgtrof1.png

There's a bunch of photos of the place from when Lynch was alive, and they seem to have tarted it up since he's left. In particular the exterior doesn't look great when it's damp:

I'm not a structural engineer or anything, but is it a cause for concern over the long run when water reveals so many cracks in the cement?

Nm, found this: https://www.a1concrete.com/concrete-repair-learning-center/concrete-crack-types