David Lynch has emphysema, can no longer direct in person

The Twin Peaks director, 78, says he will not retire but is homebound due to his fear of contracting Covid-19.

‘I enjoyed smoking very much – but there is a price to pay for this enjoyment,’ Lynch said in a post on X. Picture: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images

Visionary American filmmaker David Lynch has announced that he has been diagnosed with emphysema, a lung disease caused by smoking, which now prevents him from directing in person.

Lynch, 78, who co-created the seminal mystery series Twin Peaks and directed cult classics such as Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet, confirmed the diagnosis in a social media post on Tuesday. Despite his illness, he assured followers that he will “never retire.”

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “Yes, I have emphysema from my many years of smoking. I have to say that I enjoyed smoking very much, and I do love tobacco – the smell of it, lighting cigarettes on fire, smoking them – but there is a price to pay for this enjoyment, and the price for me is emphysema.

Naomi Watts and Laura Elena Harring in a scene from Mulholland Drive.

“I have now quit smoking for over two years. Recently I had many tests, and the good news is that I am in excellent shape except for emphysema. I am filled with happiness, and I will never retire.”

News of his diagnosis was initially revealed in an interview featured in the September issue of the monthly film magazine Sight and Sound. He told the magazine that he is “homebound” due to his fear of contracting Covid-19, as it would be “very bad for me to get sick,” he said.

He added that the disease has impacted his mobility, “I can’t go out. And I can only walk a short distance before I’m out of oxygen.”

David Lynch recieving Golden Lion lifetime achievement award received at the 63rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in 2006. Picture: AP Photo/Luca Bruno

Lynch’s last directing credit was in 2017 on the critically acclaimed Showtime series Twin Peaks: The Return, a redux of his 90s hit Twin Peaks. His last film was 2006’s Inland Empire.

Last year, Lynch made a cameo appearance Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical film The Fabelmans.

As a film director, Lynch has received three Oscar nominations for Best Director for the Joseph Merrick biopic The Elephant Man (1980), Blue Velvet (1986), and Mulholland Drive (2001). His 1990 film Wild at Heart won him the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.