Naomi Watts recalls David Lynch was in “great spirits” and ready to get back to work before death

Naomi Watts is remembering David Lynch, the man who facilitated the break in her career over 23 years ago.

According to the actress, the late director wanted to make a comeback before his demise. Speaking with the Los Angeles Times, she revealed that she and Laura Dern were ready to collaborate with him again in late November 2024.

“We had a beautiful lunch at his house,” Watts said. “I knew he’d been unwell but he was in great spirits. He wanted to go back to work — Laura and I were like, ‘You can do it! You could work from the trailer.’ He was not, in any way, done. I could see the creative spirit alive in him.”

David Lynch died on January 16, 2025. He succumbed to a cardiac arrest, with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease listed as an underlying cause. During the interview with the Los Angeles Times, Naomi Watts said his loss was “so deeply, deeply upsetting.”

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Naomi Watts reflects on her friendship with the late David Lynch, calls him her "buddy Dave": Read more

Naomi Watts, known for starring in Lynch's Twin Peaks: The Return and Inland, divulged that she was slated to meet him once again after their lunch date, though it ultimately never happened.

“There’s a lot I could share, but I want to be private about it because of his family. But it was a really powerful meeting that filled me with just so much love and hope," she said.

Reflecting on her final encounter with the director, who gave her career the break it needed by casting her in the 2001 neo-noir mystery Mulholland Drive, Naomi Watts said:

"I took an accidental picture. We took a picture of all of us, but then my camera remained open, and I bumped it — it was a picture of the perfect architecture of his house and two palm trees. It just screamed LA and David Lynch.” She continued, “I sent the picture of the three of us and then that random picture that said so much. It was a perfect blue sky. His house — he really loved that space. Blue skies, hope, magic, just dreamy. I sent him a text and he wrote back the most incredible David response.”

Naomi Watts, who also starred in Lynch's 2002 short Rabbits, took to Instagram to mourn the loss of her friend back in January, as she penned:

“My heart is broken. My Buddy Dave… The world will not be the same without him. His creative mentorship was truly powerful. He put me on the map. The world I’d been trying to break into for ten plus years, flunking auditions left and right. Finally, I sat in front of a curious man, beaming with light, speaking words from another era, making me laugh and feel at ease. How did he even ‘see me’ when I was so well hidden, and I’d even lost sight of myself?!”

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In the past, as reported by Deadline, Naomi Watts has referred to Lynch as “a real mentor and a friend,” adding that “was very instrumental to me even being in America. I wouldn’t have stayed had I not met David Lynch.”