Editing David Lynch (section)

===2000–2009: ''Mulholland Drive'' and beyond ===
[[File:Mulholland drive(lynch)--.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Four people stand beside each other facing off-camera, from left to right: a blonde woman wearing a tan dress suit, a man with salt-and-pepper hair wearing a blazer over white shirt and slacks, a brunette wearing red pants and a black top, and a dark-haired man wearing a black leather jacket over black clothes.|Lynch (second from left) at the [[2001 Cannes Film Festival]] promoting ''[[Mulholland Drive (film)|Mulholland Drive]]'']]
In 1999, Lynch approached [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] again with ideas for a television drama. The network gave Lynch the go-ahead to shoot a two-hour pilot for the series ''Mulholland Drive'', but disputes over content and running time led to the project being shelved indefinitely. With $7 million from the French [[production company]] [[StudioCanal]], Lynch completed the pilot as a film, ''[[Mulholland Drive (film)|Mulholland Drive]]''. The film, a nonlinear surrealist tale of [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]]'s dark side, stars [[Naomi Watts]], [[Laura Harring]], and [[Justin Theroux]]. It performed relatively well at the box office worldwide and was a critical success, earning Lynch [[Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director|Best Director]] at the [[2001 Cannes Film Festival]] (shared with [[Coen brothers|Joel Coen]] for ''[[The Man Who Wasn't There (2001 film)|The Man Who Wasn't There]]'') and Best Director from the New York Film Critics Association. He also received his third Academy Award nomination for Best Director.<ref name="oscar-db">{{cite web|title=Academy Award Database: Lynch, David|url=http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=13035139382341|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113073650/http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=13035139382341|archive-date=January 13, 2012|publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|access-date=April 23, 2011}}</ref> In 2016, the film was named the [[BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century|best film of the 21st century in a BBC poll]] of 177 film critics from 36 countries.<ref name="Brown-2016">{{cite news |first=Mark |last=Brown |title=Mulholland Drive leads the pack in list of 21st century's top films |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=August 22, 2016 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/aug/23/mulholland-drive-david-lynch-21st-century-top-films-bbc-poll |access-date=August 23, 2016 |archive-date=August 22, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822235543/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/aug/23/mulholland-drive-david-lynch-21st-century-top-films-bbc-poll |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Roger Ebert]], who had dismissed much of Lynch's earlier work, wrote: "At last his experiment doesn't shatter the test tubes. The movie is a surrealist dreamscape in the form of a Hollywood film noir, and the less sense it makes, the more we can't stop watching it."<ref>{{cite news| last=Ebert| first=Roger| title=Mulholland Drive| date=October 12, 2001| work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mulholland-drive-2001}}</ref>

With the rising popularity of the Internet, Lynch decided to use it as a distribution channel, releasing several new series he had created exclusively on his website, davidlynch.com, which went online on December 10, 2001.<ref>{{cite web|first=Enrique|last=Rivero|url=http://www.hive4media.com/news/html/Product_article.cfm?article_ID=2849|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020604204833/http://www.hive4media.com/news/html/Product_article.cfm?article_ID=2849|title=Director David Lynch Has Do-It-Himself DVD|website=hive4media.com|archive-date=June 4, 2002|date=March 28, 2002|access-date=September 10, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2002, he created a series of online shorts, ''[[DumbLand]]''. Intentionally crude in content and execution, the eight-episode series was later released on DVD.<ref>{{cite news|title=It's Just Lynch|url=http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/screen/its_just_lynch-38410479.html|access-date=August 16, 2012|newspaper=Philadelphia Weekly|date=January 4, 2006|first=Leo|last=Charney|agency=Review Publishing Limited Partnership|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912101457/http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/screen/its_just_lynch-38410479.html|archive-date=September 12, 2012}}</ref> The same year, Lynch released a surreal sitcom, ''[[Rabbits (film)|Rabbits]]'', about a family of humanoid rabbits. Later, he made his experiments with [[DV (video format)|Digital Video]] available in the form of the Japanese-style horror short ''[[Darkened Room]]''. In 2006, Lynch's feature film ''[[Inland Empire (film)|Inland Empire]]'' was released. At three hours, it is his longest film. Like ''Mulholland Drive'' and ''Lost Highway'', it lacks a traditional narrative structure. It stars [[Laura Dern]], [[Harry Dean Stanton]], and [[Justin Theroux]], with cameos by [[Naomi Watts]] and [[Laura Harring]] as the voices of Suzie and Jane Rabbit, and a performance by [[Jeremy Irons]]. Lynch called ''Inland Empire'' "a mystery about a woman in trouble". In an effort to promote it, he made appearances with a cow and a placard bearing the slogan "Without cheese there would be no ''Inland Empire''".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Lynch-dives-within-The-cult-director-discusses-2651144.php |title=Lynch dives within |first=Neva |last=Chonin |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=February 7, 2007 |access-date=March 21, 2011 |archive-date=January 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118202403/http://articles.sfgate.com/2007-02-07/entertainment/17233482_1_inland-empire-bird-feeders-squirrels |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:David Lynch (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|Lynch in Moscow in 2009]]
In 2009, Lynch produced a documentary Web series directed by his son Austin Lynch and friend Jason S., ''Interview Project''.<ref>{{Cite magazine | last=Hart | first=Hugh | title=David Lynch's Interview Project Probes American Dreams | url=https://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/05/david-lynchs-interview-project-probes-american-dreams/ | magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] | date=May 30, 2009 | access-date=August 30, 2011 | archive-date=January 13, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113075430/http://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/05/david-lynchs-interview-project-probes-american-dreams/ | url-status=live }}</ref> Interested in working with [[Werner Herzog]], in 2009 Lynch collaborated on Herzog's film ''[[My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done]]''. With a nonstandard narrative, the film is based on a true story of an actor who committed [[matricide]] while acting in a production of the ''[[Oresteia]]'', and stars [[Grace Zabriskie]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Kay|first=Jeremy|date=June 22, 2010|access-date=September 1, 2011|work=[[The Guardian]]|title=Werner Herzog: a killer at the table|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jun/22/werner-herzog-david-lynch|location=London|archive-date=February 12, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140212235304/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jun/22/werner-herzog-david-lynch|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2009, Lynch had plans to direct a documentary on [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]] consisting of interviews with people who knew him,<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report_david-lynch-to-shoot-film-about-tm-guru-maharishi-mahesh-yogi-in-india_1313317 |title=David Lynch to shoot film about TM guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India |work=Daily News & Analysis |date=November 18, 2009 |access-date=November 29, 2010 |archive-date=November 21, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091121020439/http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report_david-lynch-to-shoot-film-about-tm-guru-maharishi-mahesh-yogi-in-india_1313317 |url-status=live }}</ref> but nothing came of it.