In the wake of David Lynch‘s passing, details about his scrapped Netflix series “Unrecorded Night“ surfaced last year, including that it would’ve starred longtime collaborators of the director, Kyle MacLachlan, Laura Dern, and Naomi Watts. But in an interview with Boston Hassle last summer, another close friend and creative compatriot of Lynch’s revealed another name on the cast list: Toby Jones, who would’ve been the series lead.
Sabrina S. Sutherland was reluctant to name Jones during the interview after broaching the topic of the unmade Lynch project. Official plot details remain unknown, but the LA-set “Unrecorded Night” would’ve been an original mystery that explored Old Hollywood and filmmaking. Maybe Jones would’ve starred as a gumshoe or a private eye tasked with solving a decades-long mystery? Or maybe it would’ve been a period piece of sorts, like “Chinatown,” “LA Confidential,” and other Los Angeles noirs? Lynch fans will find out when the script for the project gets published, something Lynch’s daughter Jennifer Lynch teased as a major possibility earlier this week.
Jones and Lynch never worked together, but Lynch did work several times with the actor’s father, Freddie Jones. The late Jones, who passed away in 2019, had roles in “The Elephant Man,” “Dune,” “Wild At Heart,” and lesser-known Lynch TV works like “On The Air” and “Hotel Room.” As for Toby, he’s had a knack for occasionally working on projects with a touch of the Lynchian, like 2012’s “Berberian Sound Studio” and the short-lived TV series “Wayward Pines.”
Sutherland’s comments about “Unrecorded Night” also reveal the project would’ve had an expansive scope similar to 2017’s “Twin Peaks: The Return.” “It was, to me, kind of the culmination of his writing,” Sutherland said about the series. “We took a long time collecting everything and putting it together, and the message and everything in it was very special to him. I think it was something pretty cool and unique. It was going to be this massive, epic thing— kind of similar to “Twin Peaks” in style, in that it would be 20, 25 episodes. It was huge in that respect. It was nothing to do with “Twin Peaks,” though, so let me just say that. It was a completely different story, but it would have been very interesting.”
As for Jennifer Lynch’s intention to publish the “Unrecorded Night” scripts, her comments on Reddit didn’t have any specific details on when fans should expect them to become available. “I beg everyone to wait for this release and not hunt down what will likely be unauthorized versions and would soil the beautiful work Dad created,” wrote Lynch. “Like many millions of people, we are great fans of our father’s work and wish to see it shared and celebrated in every good way. We know there is a wanting, and we feel the need to fulfill Dad’s gifts as best as possible.”
The cinema world still mourns the loss of Lynch, just over a year after his passing. With any luck, a digital or book publishing of the “Unrecorded Night” script will allow fans of the director to discover what would’ve been a career performance for Jones.
