David Lynch would struggle to make films in social media landscape, say collaborators

David Lynch in 1999 with Mary Sweeney at the premiere of The Straight Story, which she wrote. Photograph: Zuma Press/Alamy

A film-maker as unique as David Lynch would struggle to emerge in present-day Hollywood because of audiences’ shorter attention spans and the influence of social media on their ability to concentrate, according to collaborators of the director.

Lynch, who died in January 2025 and would have been 80 on Tuesday, was celebrated for his complex, funny and unnerving films and TV work, including Twin Peaks, Eraserhead and Mulholland Drive, all made in his distinctive “Lynchian” style.