David Lynch memorabilia including scripts and props sell for more than £3m

Independent

19-06-2025

A collection of memorabilia linked to late director David Lynch has sold for more than £3 million at auction.
More than 450 items of memorabilia were sold in the Los Angeles auction, hosted by Julien's Auctions and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) at the Peninsula Beverly Hills, where they fetched a combined 4.25 million dollars (£3.16 million).
The item which sold for the highest price was a group of 11 scripts from Lynch's unfinished film project, Ronnie Rocket: The Absurd Mystery Of The Strange Forces of Existence, which fetched 195,000 dollars (£145,206).
Other lots included three scripts from the production of Mulholland Drive, which made 104,000 dollars (£77,443), with a note on one script reading: 'We are very concerned about preserving the integrity of this screenplay. Please do not let anyone read this script – it is for your use only.'
Other Mulholland Drive items sold at the auction included prop menus from Winkie's diner, which sold for 7,800 dollars (£5,808), and an original diptych featuring portraits of Naomi Watts and Laura Harring as their roles Betty Elms and Rita in the film, which made 16,250 dollars (£12,100).
A red leather director's chair with Lynch's name emblazoned on the back sold for 91,000 dollars (£67,762), after it had been on a tour of locations across Los Angeles such as Mulholland Drive's scenic overlook and Winkie's diner, as well as the diner frequented by Lynch during his life.
Catherine Williamson, managing director of entertainment at Julien's Auctions, said: 'Every object in this collection served as a window into Lynch's surreal and uncompromising creative world – whether from his ground-breaking films, television work, or personal studio.
'The global response to the auction speaks not only to the cultural importance of his legacy, but to the profound admiration and reverence he inspires among fans, collaborators, and collectors alike.'
Script copies of the pilot episode of Lynch and Mark Frost's Twin Peaks TV series, with its original name Northwest Passage crossed out and replaced with Twin Peaks, sold for 91,000 dollars (£67,762) at the auction, while scripts from its prequel film Fire Walk With Me, made 78,000 dollars (£58,082).
Lynch's personal 35mm print of his debut feature film Eraserhead sold for 52,000 dollars (£38,721).
The US director died aged 78 earlier this year, five months after he revealed he had been diagnosed with emphysema, a chronic lung disease, after 'many years of smoking'.