The world got some rather tragic news recently. David Lynch, the brilliant filmmaker behind “Blue Velvet” and “Twin Peaks,” died a the age of 78. Part of what makes it so sad is that Lynch hadn’t made any major projects in recent years, with “Twin Peaks: The Return” in 2017 serving as the most significant entry in his later filmography. In 2020, we got a glimpse at what could have been in the director’s later years in the form of the short “What Did Jack Do?”
Released by Netflix in January 2020, “What Did Jack Do?” is a 17-minute short in which a detective interrogates a monkey. The detective is played by Lynch, the monkey is an actual monkey, and the whole thing is as delightfully weird as it sounds. It all takes place in a locked-down train station, shot in black and white. It feels very true to the artist that Lynch was. More than that though, it was sort of testing the waters for a larger partnership between Lynch and Netflix, one that wouldn’t come to pass.
Around this time, the entire industry was becoming obsessed with pouring tremendous resources into streaming as the future of Hollywood. Disney+ had just launched and Netflix was looking to maintain its lead over the pack. So, their checkbook was open wide. At one point, they nearly funded a long-gestating animated project cooked up by Lynch and screenwriter Caroline Thompson (“The Nightmare Before Christmas”) titled “Snootworld.”
“I like this story. It’s something that children and adults can both appreciate,” Lynch said of “Snootworld” in a 2024 interview. “I’ve never really done a straight animation but with computers today it’s possible to do some spectacular things.” Unfortunately, in the same interview, the filmmaker also confirmed that Netflix ultimately decided not to fund the film.
“I don’t know when I started thinking about ‘Snoots’ but I’d do these drawings of Snoots and then a story started to emerge. I got together with Caroline and we worked on a script. Just recently I thought someone might be interested in getting behind this so I presented it to Netflix in the last few months but they rejected it.”
Netflix wouldn’t spend money on other David Lynch projects
Lynch had been discussing “Snootworld” dating back to at least 2009. It was a passion project of his and, around this time, Netflix was very much in the business of funding passion projects. From Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” to Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio,” it was a big part of the streamer’s business model. Yet, for whatever reason, they opted not to fund Lynch’s “old-fashioned fairytale.” That’s a real shame, but it doesn’t end there.
Rumors began circulating in late 2020 that Lynch had partnered with Netflix on a TV show, tentatively titled “Wisteria.” Another rumored title, “Unrecorded Night,” also began making the rounds. Some believed the series was going to be related to “Twin Peaks.” Mostly, there was just a great deal of excitement around the idea, regardless of what it was. Sadly, this wasn’t meant to be either.
Lynch’s longtime producer Sabrina Sutherland confirmed in a 2024 Q&A on Tulpa Forum that “Unrecorded Night” was indeed going to be made by Netflix at one point, but the pandemic essentially killed it. Here’s what Sutherland had to say about it:
“‘Unrecorded Night’ was a non-‘Twin Peaks’ series that was going to shoot at Netflix but was canceled when the pandemic hit. There’s always a chance we can pick it up again, but David has been enjoying his artwork and music endeavors, so we haven’t gone back to it.”
And so, that was that. Lynch was never the biggest commercial bet in the world and, at a time when the industry was facing uncertainty, Netflix declined to make a big investment in Lynch. That’s a tragedy, not just because we were robbed of another project from a true genius, but because Netflix is perfectly happy to essentially light $200 million on fire for stuff like “The Grey Man” pretty consistently. For less than half of that price, either of these projects could have seen the light of day. Alas, that’s not how things shook out.
“What Did Jack Do?” is streaming now on Netflix.
