The 1988 incident that killed three David Lynch movies for good: “I still want to make them”

The collapse of production company De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG) in 1988 left three David Lynch projects tied up and stalled. Lynch later said the company’s failure contributed to his not making a film for three years, and the projects never reached the screen.

The films were Ronnie Rocket, a long-developed project dating back to after Eraserhead; One Saliva Bubble, a comedy about mistaken identities that had Martin Short and Steve Martin in talks to star; and Up at the Lake, for which no screenplay is known to exist. Lynch was later occupied with Twin Peaks and went on to make other films, including Wild at Heart, Fire Walk With Me and Lost Highway.