David LynchlaunchedNaomi Watts' stateside acting career when they collaborated on the iconic film,Mulholland Drive, together. And, it seems, the lauded and genius director was still working on ways for the two to continue their partnership in the weeks leading up to his death. It’s a touching bit of insight into the unique and singular way Lynch worked with his favorite creative collaborators — one rife with a bit of grief for what could have been when the director passed away on July 18, 2025.
In a new interview with theLos AngelesTimes, the actress divulged a few precious details about her last lunch with the director and fellow actress/Lynch muse, Laura Dern. A meal that took place not just because they were all friends, but also because Lynch was cooking up a new project idea that would reunite the trio on screen again. According to Watts:
“We had a beautiful lunch at his house. 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 Almost Made a Movie With One of the Biggest Pop Stars of All Time
The late Lynch never got the opportunity for the singer turned actress to star in one of his creations.
Calling the loss “so deeply, deeply upsetting,” she went on to add that, “I had a really lucky and strong start afterthe David Lynch launch,” before noting that she not only considered the director a creative partner, but a dear friend. “I thought I would see him in a couple of weeks [after that last lunch] because I was here in L.A. 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.”
Naomi Watts' New Movie ‘The Friend’ Also Tackling The Grief Of Losing A Mentor/Friend
If it seems like Watts' life is filled with grief and love right now, it’s because it is: the actress' new movie,The Friend, has a deep similarity to her current situation given Lynch’s passing — minus one 150-pound dog, of course. The film, based on a 2018 National Book Award-winning novel of the same name by Sigrid Nunez, follows a writer named Iris (Watts) who reluctantly adopts the Great Dane that once belonged to her late friend and mentor, Walter (played by Bill Murray). It’s a story about love and hope and grief, and it’s also, no doubt, a prescient story for the actress to be promoting, given the recent passing of her own friend and mentor.
As private as she has been about her own grieving process, however, the actress did provide some final thoughts about her last memories of Lynch after taking “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 L.A. and David Lynch. 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.”
She is, of course, keeping the details of David’s perfect response to herself. Some things deserve to be treasured and protected, and, no doubt, some last words from David Lynch are exactly that.
