David Lynch has clarified reports that he plans to give up directing following an emphysema diagnosis.
“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,” Lynch tweeted Monday afternoon. “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.”
The 78-year-old screen legend previously revealed in an interview that he is housebound after being diagnosed with emphysema caused by years of smoking. He added that he cannot risk getting COVID or even a cold by leaving his home.
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Lynch, who helmed such classics as Mulholland Drive, Twin Peaks and Eraserhead, will never direct again—at least not on set, he suggested to the interviewer. “I would do it remotely if it comes to it,” Lynch told Sight and Sound magazine, adding, “I wouldn’t like that so much.”
Lynch said he can “only walk a short distance” before he runs out of oxygen. “I’ve gotten emphysema from smoking for so long, and so I’m homebound whether I like it or not. It would be very bad for me to get sick, even with a cold,” he explained.
Lynch’s last movie was Inland Empire in 2006. His most recent project, the 18-episode TV show, Twin Peaks: The Return, was screened on Showtime in 2017.
In the interview, Lynch explained that his love of smoking eventually came at a price.
“Smoking was something that I absolutely loved, but in the end, it bit me,” he said, explaining that the habit was a part of his “art life.”
“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,” said Lynch. “Meanwhile, it’s killing me. So, I had to quit.”
