Isabella Rossellini, who had her breakout role in David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” and went on to date the man for five years, paid tribute to the late director following his death.
“I loved him so much. Thanks for all your kind messages,” Rossellini wrote on Instagram on Friday morning, posting a photo of her with Lynch.
Also starring Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper and Laura Dern, the neo-noir mystery film “Blue Velvet” premiered in 1986 and follows a college student who returns home to see his ill father only to stumble upon a vast criminal conspiracy. Despite mixed reviews from critics, the movie earned Lynch his second Academy Award nomination for Best Director. It was later credited as establishing Rossellini as a serious actor after her work as a model.
The two collaborated again four years later on 1990’s “Wild at Heart.” Also starring Dern in addition to Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe, Crispin Glover, Diane Ladd and Harry Dean Stanton, the black comedy crime drama follows a young couple, Sailor Ripley and Lula Fortune, on the run from both Lula’s mother and the men she hired to kill Sailor. “Wild at Heart” later controversially won the Palme d’Or at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival and secured both an Oscar and a Golden Globe nomination for Ladd.
Between both films, Rossellini and Lynch were in a relationship from 1986-1991.
Rossellini is just one star who has paid her respects to the late Lynch. Another of the director’s frequent collaborators, MacLachlan, wrote that he owes “my entire career, and life really, to his vision.” Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, James Gunn, Kumail Nanjiani, Melanie Lynskey and Patton Oswalt have also all posted tributes to the iconic director.
On Thursday, it was announced that Lynch had died at the age of 78. Members of the director’s family broke the news on Facebook.
“It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch,” the post read. “We would appreciate some privacy at this time. There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.’ It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.”
