David Lynch has been nominated for four Academy Awards throughout his career, for the films The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, but only now can we finally call Lynch an Academy Award-winning filmmaker. And that’s because Lynch was awarded with his well-deserved Honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards in Hollywood last night!
Lina Wertmüller, Geena Davis and Wes Studi were also presented with Honorary Oscars this past weekend. Academy President John Bailey explains, “These Governors Awards given by the Academy each year recognize individuals who have devoted themselves to a lifetime of artistic accomplishment and brought outstanding contributions to our industry, and beyond.”
The official press release detailed Lynch’s achievements as follows:
Born in Missoula, Montana, in 1946, Lynch is a filmmaker, musician and artist. He wrote, produced and directed his first full-length feature film, “Eraserhead,” in 1977. With editing, scoring and sound design also led by Lynch, the film continues to draw a large cult following. Its success brought Lynch the opportunity to direct “The Elephant Man” (1980), which received eight Oscar nominations including Directing and Adapted Screenplay for Lynch himself. His prolific career has included two more Directing nominations – for “Blue Velvet” (1986) and “Mulholland Drive” (2001) – and additional directing credits for “Dune” (1984), “Wild at Heart” (1990), “Lost Highway” (1997), “The Straight Story” (1999) and “Inland Empire” (2006).
You can watch Isabella Rossellini’s intro along with Lynch’s acceptance speech below.