David Lynch reveals he can't direct in person due to emphysema, vows to 'never retire'

Filmmaker David Lynch has shared that he may never direct in person again due to his health.

The "Twin Peaks" co-creator and "Eraserhead" director, 78, revealed in the September issue of Sight and Sound magazine that he has been diagnosed with emphysema and can't leave the house anymore.

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

Lynch continued that because of his diagnosis, it would be "very bad" for him to get sick with COVID-19 or even a cold.

For this reason, Lynch said any future directing he does would need to be from his house. Although he said he "wouldn't like that so much," he added that he would try directing remotely "if it comes to it."

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David Lynch: 'There is a price to pay for this enjoyment'

On Monday, Lynch took to social media to share a health update with fans.

"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," he wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

He continued, "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. I want you all to know that I really appreciate your concern. Love, David."

What is emphysema?

According to the Cleveland Clinic, emphysema is a lung disease that is primarily caused by smoking, and symptoms include "shortness of breath, coughing and fatigue." It results from damage to the walls of the alveoli, the clinic notes.

Who is David Lynch?

Lynch has directed films like "Blue Velvet," "Mulholland Drive" and the 1984 version of "Dune." His most recent feature was "Inland Empire," released in 2006. In 2019, he received an honorary Academy Award.

In 2017, Lynch brought back "Twin Peaks," the TV series he created with Mark Frost, for a follow-up on Showtime dubbed "Twin Peaks: The Return." It received rave reviews, and the French film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma declared it the best film of the 2010s, arguing the season qualified as a long movie.

In April, Lynch told Deadline he was looking for a financial backer for an animated movie called "Snootworld." "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 the outlet.

"'Snootworld' is kind of an old fashioned story and animation today is more about surface jokes," Lynch added. "Old fashioned fairytales 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."

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Throughout the pandemic, Lynch provided daily "weather reports" on YouTube, in which he spoke to fans from his house and described the weather in Los Angeles. On Fridays, he would typically proclaim excitedly that "if you can believe it, it's a Friday once again!"

In 2022, rumors swirled that Lynch would be debuting a secret new project at that year's Cannes Film Festival, but he quickly denied the claims.

"I have no new film coming out," he told Entertainment Weekly at the time. "That's a total rumor. So there you are. It is not happening. I don't have a project. I have nothing at Cannes. It's unfortunate. It got built up that people thought, 'Oh, that'd be nice.'"

Contributing: KiMi Robinson