Daily Archives: January 19, 2025

David Lynch’s children to honour film-maker with ‘worldwide group meditation’

David Lynch’s children have invited fans of the film-maker to join in a “worldwide group meditation” to honour his legacy “by spreading peace and love across the world”.His children Jennifer, Austin, Riley and Lula Lynch have organised the event to take place for 10 minutes on Monday at 8pm (12pm PST), on what would have been his 79th birthday.
It was announced on Thursday that the acclaimed Oscar-winning director, known for the surreal TV series Twin Peaks and films such as The Elephant Man, Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet, had died age 78.
His children remembered their “beloved dad” as a “guiding light of creativity, love, and peace” as they announced the celebratory event in a joint statement shared on his X account.

David Lynch, our beloved dad, was a guiding light of creativity, love, and peace. On Monday, January 20th—what would have been his 79th birthday—we invite you all to join us in a worldwide group meditation at 12:00pm NOON PST for 10 minutes.
Let us come together, wherever we… pic.twitter.com/Oj3L3FLZSF
— David Lynch (@DAVID_LYNCH) January 18, 2025

“On Monday, January 20th — what would have been his 79th birthday — we invite you all to join us in a worldwide group meditation at 12:00pm NOON PST for 10 minutes”, the family statement added.
“Let us come together, wherever we are, to honour his legacy by spreading peace and love across the world.
“Please take this time to meditate, reflect and send positivity into the universe. Thank you for being part of this celebration of his life.”
The US film-maker’s death comes five months after he revealed he had been diagnosed with emphysema, a chronic lung disease, after “many years of smoking”.
Following his death, the world of film and TV hailed Lynch as a “visionary” film-maker who approached his projects with “two guns blazing”.
Oscar-winning British film-maker Sir Steve McQueen shared his admiration for Lynch’s approach with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday, saying: “He did it his way. He designed nightclubs, he painted, he did what he wanted to do.
“I tip my hat to him, he went out with two guns blazing, he did it, end of story. And he tapped in to the mainstream, which is extraordinary.”
Sir Steve, whose 2013 drama 12 Years A Slave won the best picture Oscar, also said Lynch brought “evil to the forefront of our narrative” within his work.
David Lynch was hailed as ‘visionary’ in his field (Ian West/PA)

The director returned to develop and write Twin Peaks: The Return, released in 2017, as MacLachlan came back to the role.
MacLachlan said he “owed” his “entire career, and life really, to his vision” after Lynch originally cast him in 1984 sci-fi film Dune based on the Frank Herbert novel, before starring in Lynch’s 1986 film Blue Velvet.
Lara Flynn Boyle, who played Donna Hayward in Twin Peaks, said “there goes the true Willy Wonka of film-making” in a statement.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese was also among the film-makers reflecting on Lynch’s back catalogue, including Eraserhead, Wild At Heart, Lost Highway, The Straight Story and Inland Empire, which he said will keep “growing and deepening” as the decades go by.
Scorsese said the word “visionary” has become a catch-all phrase but feels it was accurate in Lynch’s case.
“The word could have been invented to describe the man and the films, the series, the images and the sounds he left behind,” he said in a statement.
Scorsese said Lynch made “everything strange, uncanny, revelatory and new” which were “right on the edge of falling apart but somehow never did”.

The Oscar-winner added that it was a “sad day for moviemakers, movie lovers, and for the art of cinema” following Lynch’s death.
Other stars paying tribute were Italian-born star Isabella Rossellini, British actress Naomi Watts, Sir Ringo Starr, Wolverine star Hugh Jackman, The Police singer Sting and Oscar winner Nicholas Cage.
Mystery movie Blue Velvet launched Lynch into the mainstream but prompted controversy with its violent and sexual content, despite securing him an Oscar nomination for best director.
He was known for the dreamlike, surreal quality of his work, epitomised in 1980 film The Elephant Man – which secured Lynch Oscar nods for best director and best writing, and was loosely based on the life of Joseph Merrick, a severely deformed man who lived in London in the late 19th century.
Following three Oscar nominations, the Academy presented Lynch with the honorary award in 2019 for “fearlessly breaking boundaries in pursuit of his singular cinematic vision”.
Born in Missoula, Montana, Lynch began a career in painting before switching to making short films during the 1960s.
He was also known for the 1970s feature-length film Eraserhead, a black and white, surrealist body horror which follows Henry Spencer as he navigates a strange and gloomy industrial landscape filled with characters such as The Lady In The Radiator.
He also directed 1997’s Lost Highway and 1999’s The Straight Story, and made a foray into music, releasing three of his own studio albums, working with Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer Karen O and Swedish singer Lykke Li.

Inside the rise of the conservative movie industry behind ‘Reagan,’ ‘Am I Racist?’

To say “Am I Racist?” wasn’t designed to win over Hollywood would be putting it very mildly. Produced by the Daily Wire and fronted by conservative commentator Matt Walsh, the documentary takes a “Borat”-style comedic blowtorch to progressive ideas about systemic racism and diversity training programs. When the film opened in more than 1,500 theaters in September, many mainstream critics simply ignored it, and it received little coverage in traditional media outlets. Yet in a climate of intense political polarization, “Am I Racist?” managed to strike a chord. Even as many on the left dismissed it as offensive and unfunny, the movie opened in the top five at the box office and went on to earn more than $12 million, making it the highest-grossing documentary of 2024.The picture’s success was hardly an isolated blip. In recent years, filmmakers catering to conservative audiences have been finding new ways to bypass Hollywood and connect directly with viewers they feel the mainstream has overlooked. Angel Studios’ “Sound of Freedom,” a faith-based thriller centered on sex trafficking in Colombia, cracked the top 10 at the U.S. box office in 2023, grossing $250 million worldwide to become one of the most successful independent films of all time. More recently, the presidential biopic “Reagan” became a sleeper hit last year, pulling in $30 million — nearly doubling the box office of “The Apprentice,” a scathing drama about the rise of Donald Trump that struggled to find a large audience despite months of buzz and festival screenings. (To be fair, the Dinesh D’Souza documentary “Vindicating Trump” also fizzled, grossing just $1.3 million, suggesting that Trump fatigue may have been a factor.) Penelope Ann Miller and Dennis Quaid as Nancy and Ronald Reagan in the sleeper hit “Reagan.” (Ron Batzdorff / Rawhide Pictures) Mark Joseph, the producer of “Reagan,” sees the success of movies like his as a wake-up call for the traditionally liberal-leaning industry. “Why set out to intentionally leave half the country behind? It makes no sense,” Joseph told The Times via email. The film’s earnest approach to the 40th president, played by Dennis Quaid, garnered little love from critics — “Reagan” earned an 18% rating on Rotten Tomatoes — but its release leaned on alternative marketing strategies, including promotion on podcasts hosted by Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson and Megyn Kelly. “The fundamental question we have to ask ourselves is: Are we making movies for each other or for the audience?” Joseph said.The Daily Wire has emerged as one of the most ambitious players in this space. Founded in 2015 by right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro and producer Jeremy Boreing, the company expanded into film in 2021 with “Run Hide Fight,” a school-shooting thriller that found an audience through the company’s direct-to-subscriber platform, Daily Wire+. Since then, the Daily Wire has released projects like “What Is a Woman?,” a documentary challenging progressive views on transgender identity, and “Lady Ballers,” a satirical comedy about sports and gender. Its upcoming fantasy series, “The Pendragon Cycle,” signals its ambitions to expand into new territory, with a focus on epic storytelling rather than overtly political themes.With Trump preparing to begin his second term as president, the cultural and political winds appear to be shifting in the direction of content that appeals to conservative audiences. At the same time, traditional studios and streamers are already exploring ways to tack toward those right-leaning viewers — or at least avoid alienating them. (Despite Trump’s impending return to office, political speechifying was conspicuously absent at the recent Golden Globes.)The Times spoke with Boreing, Daily Wire’s co-chief executive and the director of “Lady Ballers” and “The Pendragon Cycle,” about what he sees ahead for the conservative film movement and how Hollywood might respond. The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.“Am I Racist?” became the highest-grossing documentary of 2024 despite being largely ignored by traditional media outlets. What do you think drove its success?We would have liked some reviews. For one thing, you can’t overstate the power of the Daily Wire machine to market to an underserved audience. We spent millions on [marketing] and leveraged our own promotional channels, which are worth many millions more. We’re the best in the world at talking to our exact audience online. Conservatives have rightly observed that there’s very little of this kind of content for them. If there is a political documentary, it’s almost certainly going to be the other side that puts it forward. A scene from “Am I Racist?,” the top-performing documentary at the box office in 2024. (Daily Wire) People also root for us. They see us taking on forces arrayed against half the country on their own turf, not just putting something on our streaming platform but releasing it in theaters. A lot of people came to see “Am I Racist?” not expecting much but glad that somebody was taking that position. And the film was good. Matt Walsh is an enormous talent. A decade ago, the left had great comedians who could do that kind of work, but victory made them weak. Those muscles atrophied, leaving a huge opportunity for someone like Matt.When the Daily Wire first decided to enter the entertainment business, what was the driving idea behind that move? How did you see films advancing your mission?Ben Shapiro and I met on a movie deal, so creating culture was always a part of our vision for the Daily Wire. But we didn’t have a clear road map. We were all L.A. guys from the Andrew Breitbart school of “politics is downstream from culture.” At the time, I was running Friends of Abe, which was an open-secret group of around 2,800 Hollywood conservatives. In 2020, we realized we’d already built much of the infrastructure in terms of production savvy, high-level marketing and an SVOD [subscription video on demand] platform for our podcasts. What we hadn’t done was produce films. From a philosophical point of view, I’ve always pointed to the fact that Barack Obama couldn’t have been elected in 2008 as a Democrat if he supported gay marriage, and by 2012, he couldn’t have been reelected if he opposed it. Such a radical shift in values wasn’t achieved politically — it happened culturally, largely due to the success of “Will & Grace.” Culture has the power to set the Overton window [range of acceptable discourse] for politics, and we’ve always wanted to be creators, not just critics, of culture.Some of your projects, like “The Pendragon Cycle,” don’t outwardly appear to be political. Where does politics fit into the vision you’ve laid out?Politics is a consideration but not the most important one. We’re not afraid to be political. We own our biases very openly. “Lady Ballers” is a comedy, but it’s a very opinionated comedy because I wrote and produced it. But other projects, like “Terror on the Prairie,” “Shut In” or “The Pendragon Cycle,” the biggest bet we’ve ever taken — they’re notable for what they don’t say rather than for what they do. They’re not values-first films. Daily Wire’s other productions include “Lady Ballers,” pictured. (Daily Wire) Obviously, we wouldn’t make content that our audience would oppose on some philosophical grounds. But conservative audiences, like anyone else, don’t just watch things based on philosophy. They don’t want films that spit in the face of their philosophy in the third act, but mostly, they just want to be entertained. That’s what we’re trying to deliver.Faith-based movies have long been a staple for conservative audiences, but the Daily Wire is carving out a different niche. How do you decide which stories to tell, and what makes something feel like the right fit for your brand and audience?I would say part of the defining philosophy of the Daily Wire is that we’re not cynical. We try not to make cynical plays. When we do, they always bite us — which, as a religious person, I take as God reminding us, “Hey, remember how you decided not to be cynical?” In our entertainment business, we don’t want to make movies that people want to want to watch; we want to make movies they actually want to watch. We’ve never approached our entertainment as a nonprofit. We’re not saying, “Don’t you want this kind of movie to exist for someone else?” We’re asking, “What do you actually want to see?” If it’s something we’d like to see, that’s usually the most important factor in choosing a project.How do you see the landscape changing for conservative films under another Trump presidency? Do you see traditional studios and streamers trying harder to compete for these audiences?I think there are enormous opportunities for companies like the Daily Wire because our audience now feels, for the first time in a long time, like maybe the country isn’t doomed, that history isn’t completely arrayed against them. The Daily Wire has always taken an optimistic position, unlike many conservative media companies. We’ve always said our goal was to fight the left, yes, but also to build the future. Most organizations fighting the left lean toward despair, while most future-building is done by the left. The Daily Wire walks the line between both. The next chapter is ours to write.Do I think Hollywood studios might try to compete for that audience again? I hope so. I’ve said many times, the best success for the Daily Wire isn’t becoming Disney — it’s for Disney to become Disney again. I’d count it the victory of a lifetime, for the country, my values and our business, if Disney went back to serving the entire audience, not just a faction. Competing for their dollars forces them to be competitive, and we’ve done that.I do think things will change. The business and our strategy will have to evolve. I’m not trying to plan with Matt Walsh the “next anti-woke documentary.” Woke-ism isn’t gone, but it’s on the ropes. I don’t think that’s where the appetite will be in 24 months. We have to keep surveying the landscape, thinking about the best opportunities to represent our audience and create content they actually want to see. More to Read

Emmanuelle review – dismal remake of 1974 French erotic film

The original Emmanuelle, a tale of a young woman’s erotic adventures in Bangkok, was a tawdry, trashy romp, a French-sploitation sexcapade that should have been filed away in a drawer marked: “It was different in the 70s, honestly.” Instead – inexplicably – it has been disinterred by director Audrey Diwan (quite the change of pace after her harrowing Venice prize-winning abortion drama Happening). Diwan relocates the action to Hong Kong and remakes Emmanuelle as a glossy but dispiriting treatise on the emptiness of the corporate world, punctuated by lots of panting, lip-chewing abandon.Noémie Merlant (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) plays Emmanuelle, whose job seems to entail being bitchy in various luxury hotels. Her taste for the high life is only matched by her appetite for anonymous carnal activities. But what Emmanuelle craves most is the one thing she can’t have: enigmatic flood defences engineer (no, really) Kei Shinohara (Will Sharpe, wearing the pained expression of someone who has just found an errant toenail clipping in his Egyptian cotton hotel bed linen). Beyond ill-advised.

In UK and Irish cinemas

Robbie Williams breaks silence on Better Man after film flops in US and UK

Robbie Williams has broken his silence over Better Man – after the film flopped in the US. The star, who is married to ITV The X Factor judge Ayda Field, has spoken out over Better Man after it failed to hit dizzy heights in the United States. Robbie said: “There is so much that didn’t…