David Lynch & Kino Lorber Voice Frustrations With Each Other Over Troubled Blu-Ray Release Of ‘Lost Highway’

David Lynch is one of the best filmmakers of all time, without a doubt. But he’s also one of the more difficult filmmakers around, as well. No offense to the director, but Lynch has never been one to bite his tongue or hold back opinions when it comes to his work and the work of those around him. And when it comes to his own films, the writer-director clearly has his own thoughts about how they should be released. Unfortunately, that sometimes comes at the detriment of distributors.

Tomorrow, Kino Lorber is set to release their Blu-ray version of the classic David Lynch film, “Lost Highway.” The release has been subject to controversy about the director’s lack of involvement and approval. The film is said to boast a new restoration of the 1997 film, as well as a scant selection of extras. However, thanks to Lynch, folks buying the “Lost Highway” Blu-ray might be in for a surprise.

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Recently, Lynch took to Twitter to voice his dissatisfaction with the upcoming “Lost Highway” release.

“Dear Twitter Friends, A Blu-ray of LOST HIGHWAY will be released very soon. It was made from old elements and NOT from a restoration of the original negative. I hope that a version from the restoration of the original negative will happen as soon as possible,” tweeted the filmmaker.

This came after the news was released that Kino Lorber was set to restore the film based on the negative, but that never came to pass. If this seems like a plea to fans to not purchase the Kino Lorber release, then you’re probably right. You see, according to the distributor, Lynch made it very clear that he wanted nothing to do with this release, which came at the shock and frustration of Kino Lorber.

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In a recent message board post, the distributor described the troubled release in detail and explained how the director’s reluctance to contribute to the Blu-ray stripped it of everything that Kino Lorber was trying to accomplish.

The statement reads:

“We reached out to Mr. Lynch via email to oversee and color grade a new 4K transfer (from the original camera negative) and get his approval on the dozen or so extras we had planned to include. Once we knew he was not interested in working with us, we had no choice, but to go ahead with the current Universal master and the few extras we had already produced and acquired. To our surprise, the master in question was a very good one, so we were happy to release it with some extras. We found out later that the extras and packaging also had to be approved by him (not the norm) and we sent email after email without one response. We delayed the release by a month, hoping we could at least get him to approve the trailer, the essay and our packaging, at this point we knew the interview and commentary were not possible, but after a few more weeks, we dropped the essay, the trailer and changed our front art to the previously approved DVD art. The BD only includes the film on a dual-layered BD50 disc, maxing out the feature at 30mbps with 5.1 surround and 2.0 lossless audio. We were planning to take the high road and not play the blame game, but after his tweet this weekend, we felt like we had to respond.

We’re still huge David Lynch fans and are proud to release one of his masterpieces on Blu-ray.”

At this point, with no Lynch-approved “Lost Highway” release on the schedule, film fans can decide for themselves if they want to purchase the Kino Lorber release. Both sides have made their arguments and it’s now up to the public to decide whether or not it’s worth the expense.

If you do want to purchase the Blu-ray, it’s available for purchase on the Kino Lorber website.

Dear Twitter Friends, A Blu-ray of LOST HIGHWAY will be released very soon. It was made from old elements and NOT from a restoration of the original negative. I hope that a version from the restoration of the original negative will happen as soon as possible.

— David Lynch (@DAVID_LYNCH) June 22, 2019