"In a way, there's no original ideas -- it's just the ideas that you caught." -- David Lynch

I think I could seriously listen to David Lynch talk for hours. It's not that I always understand what he's talking about -- or want to understand what he's talking about -- it's just that I love his passion, the way he carries himself and his commitment to being the kind of artist he wants to be, on his terms. Sure, he always seems to be playing in a sandbox on some distant planet, but I gather that's because there's a constant creativity party going on inside his head. In the video posted above (courtesy of TheAtlantic.com), Lynch talks about ideas -- where they come from, how to catch them, how to use them to create and so on and so forth.

One interesting point he touches upon is how some artists feel suffering is necessary in "order to make it real through their own experiences." Lynch points out that, "in reality, the artist doesn't have to suffer to show suffering -- they just need to understand the suffering. Any kind of suffering cramps the flow of creativity." Lynch points to the painter Vincent Van Gogh as an example, saying his paintings were beautiful and memorable not because he suffered in life, but because of his talent and love for the craft.

Watch Lynch explain it in the ways only he can ... and, who knows, maybe this video will help spark an idea in you.

While David Lynch prepares to team up with Werner Herzog to make a guerilla-style murder drama, his daughter is doing quite well on her own, thank you very much. indieWIRE reports that Surveillance, the first film by Jennifer Chambers Lynch in 15 years, has been picked up by Magnet Releasing for distribution in the US. The thriller will be playing out of competition at Cannes next week in one of the three Midnight screening slots.

Surveillance is set in the Santa Fe desert, where a blood-curdling killing spree has been unleashed, according to the official synopsis. The FBI arrives and listens to three eyewitnesses, including an eight-year-old girl whose family was brutally murdered. It becomes clear that the little girl knows something about the FBI agents ... and then two more bodies are found.

Creepy, eh? But not nearly as creepy as Lynch's first film, Boxing Helena, in which a surgeon held a woman captive and started amputating her limbs, all in the name of love. Based on the premise, Surveillance sounds much more straightforward, but perhaps the younger Lynch has some surprises up her sleeve.

The film stars Julia Ormond and Bill Pullman (David Lynch's Lost Highway) as the FBI agents, Pell James, Ryan Simpkins, and Kent Harper as the witnesses, and Michael Ironside as the local police chief. French Stewart and Cheri Oteri are also featured. Harper co-wrote the script with Lynch. Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, plans a fall theatrical roll-out.

I'm not sure what they're putting in the water over in Cannes, but some pretty wild deals are beginning to emerge from that fest in France. Only a day after Werner Herzog signed to direct Nicolas Cage in a remake of Bad Lieutenant comes word from The Hollywood Reporter that Herzog and David Lynch have teamed up on a film called My Son; a murder drama to be tentatively shot next March. Based on a true story, My Son will tell of a "San Diego man who acts out a Sophocles play in his mind and kills his mother with a sword." HR says the film will jump between the murder scene and this disturbed man's story. Nice family film from two completely sane directors.

Additionally, and this shouldn't come as a surprise (considering the two guys we're talking about), My Son will be shot guerrilla-style with digital video. Herzog, who co-wrote My Son with Herbert Golder, will first shoot Bad Lieutenant in July before directing the Victorian-era drama The Piano Tuner for Focus Features. One can only imagine what the finished product will look like when you've got Herzog and Lynch working together on the same movie -- especially one with a nutty storyline like this one. Not for nothing, but I think I'd rather watch the documentary of them making this film rather than the film itself. You?

Being in Canada when the first Lost Highway DVD came out, I never imagined that it was a States-free release. And, since I didn't have the best home entertainment system in the late '90s, I never noticed the pan and scan. Just the mere fact that I didn't have to rewind it was good enough for me. But now, ten years later, Lost Highway is getting a new release -- one that isn't confined to the land of the maple leaf, and one that should screen well with its widescreen anamorphic, 2.35:1 aspect ratio.

However, there's a reason that I didn't include it as a feature on my post about new DVD releases -- it's still not that great. Sure, it isn't pan and scan, but is that really enough? After ten years and all this time, you'd think that there would be a release with some features and perks to make the disc worth it -- especially since the UK has a 2-disc edition.

DVD Beaver has an excellent comparison up about the myriad of Lost Highway discs to hit the various regions -- from aspect ratios and comparison screencaps to bitrate graphs. Where the UK release from 2006 has interviews with Lynch, Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, and Robert Loggia, plus some featurettes, this new North American release has... a keep case. Wait. There is, also, subtitles in English, Spanish, and French, so it has that over the old UK Cinema Club release. But, the review also states that the colors don't seem to mesh with the other releases.

All in all, it's not the greatest option for Lynch fans. If you're itching to have it on your shelves in any form, by all means, pick it up, but you might want to try for the UK version if you want something to really delight your inner, impatient fan.

Now this shall be a hotly debated remake. Variety has just announced that Peter Berg will be directing the latest version of Dune for Paramount (as previously rumored). It will be produced by Kevin Misher, who has spent the last year trying obtain rights from Frank Herbert's estate.

Dune has been made twice already -- most famously by David Lynch, less so by the Sci-Fi Channel. This time, they are looking for writers who can adapt the definitive version for movie audiences. However, just a glance through any "geek" forum shows fans are already worried that the studio's belief that "its theme of finite ecological resources [is] particularly timely" is already missing the point.

The Lynch version is a film that people either love or despise. Most critics despised it upon release, but it has a fairly large fan following. (I know one guy who considers loving it a dating criteria.) Well, except me -- it's been so long since I have seen it that I fall into neither camp, especially since I watched it at 2am through very bleary eyes. I must remedy that so I can discuss this properly. So I'm not entirely convinced a remake is a bad idea -- after Lord of the Rings, no book is considered impossible, and it would please many Herbert fans to see a more loyal adaptation. Then again, there are so many sci-fi books I would love to see tackled that I'm disappointed to see them simply pick up Dune again. Perhaps it is the beginning of a trend.

Warning: Foul language can be heard in the video above.

Earlier this month, I shared David Lynch's thoughts about watching movies on cell phones -- something he's such an uber, super fan of. This, however, wasn't the first mini Lynchian rant about technology and media. Cinema Blend has thrown up the above clip, which was filmed last year during the AFI Dallas Film Festival. After a ridiculously long delivery of the question -- how does Lynch feel about product placement? -- the filmmaker shortly, and succinctly answers. Ah, he makes me smile.

I can only hope more of these come out of the woodwork, or that Lynch makes some more himself. He could weigh in on sexuality, special effects, boozing celebs, Oscar nominations and winners, blowing budgets...

What would you like to hear him rant about?

Why can't all special features and spoofs look as nice as the ones David Lynch is involved with? I've watched a lot special features over the last few months and only the ones that feature Mr. Lynch have really looked good -- having depth and life in the midst of information -- whether we're talking the great smoke, coffee, and pie-laced chatter on the latest Twin Peaks set, or this clip above, which is part of the Inland Empire special edition.

In it, the filmmaker discusses seeing his long, epic, and delightfully strange film on a cell phone. Or rather, he completely chastises it, saying: "You will never, in a trillion years, experience the film. You'll think you have experienced it, but you'll be cheated." But that's just the soft, beginning punch from Lynch. You can tell the whole idea irks him a bit because he throws out some language by the end that shows just how much he thinks cell phone movie watching is crap. Enjoy!

Warning: Yes, I said "language," so this is NSFW if you don't want a certain piece of profanity coming from your computer speakers.

'Tis the season to get away from your family, bundle up with a gallon of moonshine (preferably one with "XXX" written on the label), and watch endless hours of movies! What follows is not a comprehensive or "Best Of" list. These are simply seven DVD box sets that any film buff would be thrilled to find in his or her stocking this Christmas. Most of them were released in the past few months, and a couple have been out a while but just got amazingly cheap. Have a few gifts left to buy? Consider picking one of these up. You don't even have to get off your fat ass, if you click on the titles you'll be taken to the links on Amazon. I've included items to suit every budget, and they've been arranged in order of price. Naturally, the more expensive the set you purchase, the more you love the person you're buying it for. That's just the way it works.

The Alien Quadrilogy ($33.99)

Pretty much the gold standard for DVD box sets. This collection's price recently took an incredible drop. It was worth every penny of the $80 bucks I paid for mine years ago, so you can better believe it's worth $34. The set gives you several versions of each film in the beloved Alien series -- Alien (one of the best suspense movies ever made), Aliens (one of the best action movies ever made), Alien 3 (David Fincher's misunderstood take is a stronger movie with each viewing), and Alien: Resurrection (Nobody's perfect). An unprecedented amount of extra goodies that includes the amazing Director's Cut of Aliens, extremely cool fold-out packaging, and the absence of Alien Vs. Predator make this set a must-own. I've owned it for four years, and still haven't seen everything in there. Plus, don't you just love the word "Quadrilogy?"

With The Mist coming out this week, which just so happened to get a solid review from our James Rocchi, a new interview with Stephen King has gone up on VH1, via MTV News. The discussion focuses on his relationship with long-term collaborator and Mist director Frank Darabont. In his review, James says: "The plot is vintage King, placing ordinary people in an extraordinary circumstance." This is precisely what King discusses -- praising why Darabont has been successful with his adaptations, via his "adult sensibility," and why some other directors aren't taking on his novels.

Specifically, he says: "A lot of times, filmmakers don't really seem to understand ordinary people. I think there's a reason that David Lynch has never made a Stephen King film, or John Waters, because they don't really get ordinary people. But Frank does." I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that's because they both do their own work, not adapt a popular novelist for mass appeal. Waters has made his career from unique stories about the quirks of society, so let's focus on Lynch. I presume King never watched The Straight Story, Twin Peaks, or most of his other work for that matter.

Reducing Lynch to someone who doesn't understand ordinary people is like someone reducing King down to a plebian, gory horror writer. Take Straight Story, Twin Peaks, or even the wilder works like Lost Highway. The two creators are much more similar than King would care to admit. The difference is that he tackles ordinary people with extraordinary happenings rationally and clear-cut, while Lynch is the postmodern artist of the theme. There's lots of "ordinary" people in Lynch's work -- it's just that he spins the arc in a different manner, one that's not always understandable. Alvin Straight is as "ordinary" as they come. As is many of the Peaks characters, or others. Most just go mad in maddening circumstances. Hmm. Sounds familiar.

I've said my peace, but what do you think? Is King the paragon of the ordinary, or are Lynch and he more alike than he realizes?

Well, it's official. The Writers Guild of America is going on strike tomorrow. Here's hoping the strike ends quickly and that all parties come away happy. And writers? Use this time off to study my choices for the seven best screenplays of the 2000's:

The 40 Year Old Virgin by Judd Apatow & Steve Carell

The blending of improvisation and the written word gives Apatow's two classic comedies -- Knocked Up would be the other -- a feeling of authenticity that is all too rare in today's film world. Apatow takes the strategy of writing for specific performers and their strengths, and it really pays off. Scoff if you want at a sex comedy making the list, but for a movie to be this incredibly funny -- while keeping an oddly touching romance and a spot-on character study afloat -- the screenwriters deserve high praise.

About Schmidt by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor

One of the saddest comedies ever made, and one of the most truthful and painful portraits of old age. Payne and Taylor specialize in scripts about people on the verge of cracking, depressed souls who tend to find the smallest redemption possible. Payne/Taylor characters never go from Point A to Point B over the course of the screenplay, they go from Point A to Point A.1. The small, gradual changes in their characters are reflective of the way actual humans (as opposed to movie humans) work. Warren Schmidt's personal growth is so minor that it is confined to the last thirty seconds of the film, but when it comes it's an emotional punch in the gut.