Kristoffer Polaha Shares Emotional Tribute to Visionary Director

Hallmark star Kristoffer Polaha recently shared a long post in tribute to David Lynch, the visionary filmmaker known for groundbreaking works like “Twin Peaks.” Lynch died in January just days before he was going to turn 79. In his post, Polaha revealed that Lynch’s work had such a strong influence on him that he even tried to honor Lynch with his own directorial choices in an upcoming movie.

Polaha Wrote That Imitating the Lynchian Style ‘Is A Lot Harder Than It Looks’

Polaha shared in his Instagram post that in his upcoming movie “Mimics” — his “first attempt as a director” — he gives a nod to Lynch’s work by “creating a Lynchian exploration of the super natural.” He added: “Making something truly weird is a lot harder than it looks.”

Polaha wrote: “Lynch had a huge influence on me as an artist. His dystopian Suburbia. The weird in the mundane and the strange in the everyday. He was unique.”

He said one of the highest points of filming “Jurassic World” was when he talked with Laura Dern about Lynch.

Dern has worked closely with Lynch throughout her career, starting with when she was cast in “Blue Velvet” when she was 17, Variety reported. She starred in his movie “Wild at Heart” in 1990 and headlined his last movie, “Inland Empire,” in 2006. She was also in the much-anticipated 2017 series “Twin Peaks: The Return” as Diane. She and Kyle MacLachlan presented Lynch his Academy Honorary Award in 2019.

Benjamin Ayres Said Lynch Had a ‘Huge Influence on My Life’

In a reply to Polaha’s post, Benjamin Ayres said that Lynch had a big impact on him too.

“Huge influence on my life,” Ayres wrote. “Especially TM. Everything was magic and an exploration of the subconscious. Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive and the beautiful Disney movie The Straight Story. So sad he’s gone but so happy with what he left us.”

Director Brock Heasley replied, “Twin Peaks for me. Don’t know how many times I’ve watched the original series. The killing of Maddie is the single most frightening thing anyone has ever put on film. And it aired on broadcast television. Amazing.”

Polaha also replied to Hallmark star Alicia Witt, who had starred as a child in Lynch’s 1980s film “Dune.”

Witt wrote: “david lynch also showed me who i was. on a core level. an actor. a channeler. how would i ever have know such things existed as a possibility if not for him? from the first moment he directed me in jane jenkins’ casting office in nyc at my audition for Dune, i felt like i was being seen for the first time. finding a power inside my soul like a seed uncoiling. i can remember the feeling, the communication between us, that i’d follow him anywhere in my mind and he’d lead me to not *play* alia, but to become alia.”

Polaha wrote in response: “Beautiful. And my deepest sympathies; he was a huge influence on my work as an artist. I loved him from afar, how lucky for you to dance in his orbit and he in yours.”