Jim Jarmusch Recalls Learning About David Lynch’s Death During An Interview With David Cronenberg

After his latest film, “Father Mother Sister Brother,” won the coveted Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival last Fall, director Jim Jarmusch looks poised to enter a late-career renaissance. But in a new interview with NME, Jarmusch lamented the future of the movie industry, opining that if the late David Lynch couldn’t secure funding for a movie, then the rest of cinema is in crisis

READ MORE: ‘Father Mother Sister Brother’ Review: Jim Jarmusch’s Family Drama With Adam Driver & Cate Blanchett Is Simple But Stirring [Venice]

Jarmusch revealed to NME that he was in the midst of an interview with another auteur, David Cronenberg, when they discovered Lynch had passed away. “We both found out 30 seconds before that we had lost David Lynch – and we were both really hit,” the director recalled. “The thing that we both said was ‘David couldn’t get money for a feature film. He could not get a budget for a fucking feature.’ David Lynch! Cronenberg and I went, ‘Man, we’re f*cked.’”

“F*cked” is a colorful way to put it, but the state of the film world won’t make Jarmusch abandon his signature style. Jarmusch described “Father Mother Sister Brother” to NME as “intentionally very slight.” “I like the small details and the nuances of interactions and relations. I like the things that often aren’t said or, [are said] metaphorically. I like the notes in the music that aren’t played, because they resonate and make the ones that are have a different impact. There are certain expectations people want that I don’t satisfy. It’s not out of intention. It’s just the things I’m interested in… I really like those moments that are not dramatic.”

Will a similar tone be present in Jarmusch’s next film? Not enough details are out about the project to make that prediction, but the director confirmed last year that he’ll shoot it in France, and that it’s “very female.” The French setting for Jarmusch’s upcoming movie likely won’t improve relations between the director and the Cannes Film Festival, however. Jarmusch confirmed that Cannes festival director Theirry Frémaux rejected “Father Mother Sister Brother” for the 2025 edition’s competition, which led to the film premiering at Venice (and winning that festival’s top prize) instead.

Still, given the state of the movie industry, major festivals need to cater to cinema’s foremost auteurs, so expect any enmity between Jarmusch and Frémaux to be water under the bridge at this point. If Jarmusch shoots his next film this year, it’ll almost certainly be ready for a 2027 festival premiere, possibly at Cannes’ 80th edition that year.

Ned Booth

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