David Lynch hasn’t taken on a feature film or TV project since releasing his groundbreaking “Twin Peaks: The Return” in 2017, but it hasn’t been for lack of trying. First, it was reported back in April that Netflix rejected his pitch for an animated film called “Snootworld.” And now his longtime producer Sabrina Sutherland has shed some light on “Unrecorded Night,” his planned Netflix series that was scrapped during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Loyal Lynch fans will recall that rumors began to circulate in 2020 that the auteur was planning to direct a new series that was developed under the working titles “Wisteria” and “Unrecorded Night.” Many regular Lynch collaborators, including Kyle MacLachlan and Mark Frost, went on to cryptically post images of wisteria flowers on their social media accounts, fueling speculation that Lynch was getting the band back together. Some even speculated that the show would be a Texas-set series that takes place within the “Twin Peaks” universe, as some savvy fans used GPS to infer that a diner shown in the final episode of “The Return” could have theoretically been located on Wisteria Street in Odessa, Texas.
But while the planned series was very real, it appears that its rumored connection to “Twin Peaks” was simply fan speculation. In a recent Q&A on the Lynch fan site Tulpa Forum, Sutherland shared some details about the abandoned project and offered a glimmer of hope that it might still see the light of day.
“Unrecorded Night was a non-‘Twin Peaks’ series that was going to shoot at Netflix but was canceled when the pandemic hit,” said Sutherland during the online Q&A. “There’s always a chance we can pick it up again, but David has been enjoying his artwork and music endeavors, so we haven’t gone back to it.”
Another pastime of Lynch’s is restoring his catalog of films for Criterion. He takes the process very seriously, with Sutherland saying, “He feels that he as the director should be the one making sure everything is correct rather than just allowing the distribution company to make those technical and artistic decisions. He has loved using DolbyVision for his film projects as well as other new technical advances to improve the digital look to make the film look like it should. Some of the old standard-def DVDs are not good now in comparison.”
He also seems to still enjoy his snacking. During the press tour for Steven Spielberg’s “The Fablemans”, Lynch admitted that one of the stipulations for his playing famed Hollywood director John Ford be that he receive a bag of Cheetos in his dressing room. According to Sutherland, Lynch still enjoys the occasional crispy cheese snack, but manages to moderate his intake rather well.
“David only eats Cheetos when we go to the lab for mastering/color timing,” said Sutherland, adding, “He will eat a small bag while we work – that along with Peanut M&Ms. He really doesn’t eat that kind of stuff often. He has a good, healthy diet usually. He only jokingly said this to Spielberg, but he was happy that he really had that on hand when we went to the shoot. He was a happy camper that day!”
