AVC: Some notable filmmakers have returned to their works years later with re-edits, because just as a viewerâs relationship to a piece of art can change over time, so too can a creatorâs. Was a new narrative cut something you ever considered with Inland Empire?
DL: No. But Duneâpeople have said, âDonât you want to go back and fiddle with Dune?â And I was so depressed and sickened by it, you know? I want to say, I loved everybody that I worked with; they were so fantastic. I loved all the actors; I loved the crew; I loved working in Mexico; I loved everything except that I didnât have final cut. And I even loved Dino [De Laurentiis], who wouldnât give me what I wanted [laughs]. And Raffaella, the producer, who was his daughterâI loved her. But the thing was a horrible sadness and failure to me, and if I could go back in Iâve thought, well, maybe I would on that one go back in.
AVC: Really?
DL: Yeah, but I mean, nobodyâsâŠitâs not going to happen.
AVC: Well thatâs interesting, because in the past you were always much less open to it.
David Lynch: Yeah, I wanted to walk away. I always say, and itâs true, that with Dune, I sold out before I finished. Itâs not like thereâs a bunch of gold in the vaults waiting to be cut and put back together. Itâs like, early on I knew what Dino wanted and what I could get away with and what I couldnât. And so I started selling out, and itâs a sad, sad, pathetic, ridiculous story. But I would like to see what is there. I canât remember, thatâs the weird thing [laughs]. I canât remember. And so it might be interestingâthere could be something there. But I donât think itâs a silk purse. I know itâs a sowâs ear.