David Lynch was one of the few directors to have an adjective named after him. “Lynchian” refers to anything surreal yet mundane, typical yet dreamlike. It’s hard to define, but you know it when you see it. After the legendary filmmaker tragically passed away this week at age 78, fans began to plumb the Lynchian depths, revisiting his entire oeuvre from Eraserhead to Twin Peaks: The Return, to that time he directed a PlayStation 2 commercial.
But just as interesting as the projects Lynch created are the projects that never happened. In the ‘80s, he wrote a screenplay for an adaptation of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, but decided in the end the story worked best as a book. As recently as 2024, he was looking for funds for an animated movie titled Snootworld.
