David Lynch Reveals Emphysema Diagnosis Has Kept Him From Directing Films In Person: “I’m Homebound Whether I Like It Or Not”

Director David Lynch revealed he’s been diagnosed with emphysema, which may impact his ability to continue directing films.

The Mulholland Drive filmmaker opened up about his diagnosis in a recent interview with Sight & Sound magazine, in which he revealed he’s effectively “homebound” because of the diagnosis, per The Guardian.

“I’ve gotten emphysema from smoking for so long, and so I’m homebound whether I like it or not,” he told the outlet. “I can’t go out. And I can only walk a short distance before I’m out of oxygen.”

Emphysema is a lung condition that causes shortness of breath, according to Mayo Clinic. It can eventually lead to shortness of breath even when a patient is at rest.

The director explained that he’s been isolating to avoid being infected with Covid-19.

“Because of Covid, it would be very bad for me to get sick, even with a cold. So I would probably be directing from my home,” he said.

He added, “I wouldn’t like that so much. I like to be amongst the thing and get ideas there. But I would try to do [a film] remotely, if it comes to it.”

Lynch has not directed a movie or television show since the 2017 revival of Twin Peaks.

The auteur was set to return with a new Netflix series titled Unrecorded Night, but the venture was reportedly canceled during the pandemic. Netflix also reportedly “rejected” a pitch he had for an animated film he began working on two decades ago called Snootworld, per IndieWire.

“Just recently, I thought someone might be interested in getting behind this, so I presented it to Netflix in the last few months, but they rejected it,” he told Sight & Sound. “Old-fashioned fairy tales are considered groaners: apparently, people don’t want to see them. It’s a different world now, and it’s easier to say no than to say yes.”

Lynch is famously the mastermind behind several classics in television and film, including Eraserheads, Inland Empire, and the original Twin Peaks.

Lynch is currently credited as an executive producer on the thriller A Fall From Grace, which is still in development, and The Happy Worker, which is in post-production, per IMDb.

In the interview, Lynch lamented having to quit smoking.

“Smoking was something that I absolutely loved, but in the end, it bit me,” he said. “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.”

John Mulaney recently mentioned that Lynch passed on the chance to appear on his Netflix variety show,  Everybody’s In LA.

“David Lynch passed. He said ‘I don’t understand what this is. I’m working on new art and I have to keep my eye on the donut,’ which was the best pass,” Mulaney shared.