Duran Duran has paid tribute to the late American filmmaker David Lynch, whose brilliant and bizarre films laid the inspirational groundwork for a young Nick Rhodes.
Writing on the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame-inducted band’s Instagram, Rhodes remembers Lynch as “a creative superhero” from “the moment I first saw his film Eraserhead as a teenager.”
The keyboardist continues, “His imagination, innovation, style and humour will remain an enormous inspiration.”
Duran Duran has a special connection with the auteur, who died has following a battle with ill health. Back in 2011, Lynch directed the Duran Duran episode of American Express’ “Unstaged” concert series. “The stranger it is, the more beautiful it will be,” Rhodes, the group’s founding keyboardist, told Billboard.com at the time. “What appeals to us very much about working with David is that we like the way he thinks about things and how he’s always gone out on a limb to make things different than anybody else. He works completely outside of the system, and that’s what we try to do. I think the combustion between us and David should create something that nobody’s ever seen before, something mysterious and magical and surprising.”
A new cut of Duran Duran: Unstaged was released in cinemas in 2014, starring the original band members Rhodes, Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor and Roger Taylor, plus guest performers Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance), Beth Ditto (Gossip), Kelis and Mark Ronson. The following year, Duran Duran delivered a three-song finale at a concert tribute to the music of Lynch.
Lynch’s death at 78 comes just five months after he announced that he was housebound over fears he’ll contract COVID-19 after being diagnosed with emphysema from many years of smoking.
