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Now, there’s been a lot of talk about Hollywood’s current love of remakes and reboots. Banking on something that’s already been successful once—or twice, in some cases—is always a safe bet. In today’s world, familiarity feels easy and comforting, and nostalgia is a powerful tool. I get it, though I wish we’d see more original ideas being produced, too.
The thing is, Hollywood isn’t the only one with this issue. The Brits, too, are big fans of remakes, though it feels slightly more overwhelming now than ever before. Four new high-profile remakes (that we know of) will premiere on BBC, ITV, BritBox, and PBS Masterpiece this year alone, including the Bergerac remake, Lynley, Maigret, and The Forsyte Saga. All Creatures Great & Small is still going strong, too, and while the new All Creatures is undoubtedly one of the most heartwarming dramas currently on TV, it is still undeniably a remake.
Now, there’s been a lot of talk about Hollywood’s current love of remakes and reboots. Banking on something that’s already been successful once—or twice, in some cases—is always a safe bet. In today’s world, familiarity feels easy and comforting, and nostalgia is a powerful tool. I get it, though I wish we’d see more original ideas being produced, too.
The thing is, Hollywood isn’t the only one with this issue. The Brits, too, are big fans of remakes, though it feels slightly more overwhelming now than ever before. Four new high-profile remakes (that we know of) will premiere on BBC, ITV, BritBox, and PBS Masterpiece this year alone, including the Bergerac remake, Lynley, Maigret, and The Forsyte Saga. All Creatures Great & Small is still going strong, too, and while the new All Creatures is undoubtedly one of the most heartwarming dramas currently on TV, it is still undeniably a remake.
What on Earth is going on with Noel Fielding and ‘The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin’?
The Noel Fielding-starring highwayman comedy The Completely Made-Up Adventures Of Dick Turpin dropped on Apple TV+ last year and it was a fun watch. It didn’t set the world on fire but provided a good showcase of Fielding’s comedic talents. Now, however, it’s been canceled under bizarre circumstances. Fielding, who also served as co-writer and executive producer, has gone AWOL.
British tabloid newspaper The Sun had all the details first. When the cast and crew returned to work after a Christmas break, they were reportedly told the show was on hold due to “the illness of a key cast member.” That’s Fielding, but no one seems to know what’s happened, what the illness is, and why he isn’t returning to work. The Sun claims he has gone to France, but no reason for this has been given.
I first “met” David Lynch when I was around 12 through his technicolor nightmarescape Wild at Heart. I remember watching the film and saying to my mother it was a version of The Wizard of Oz. She told me to stop imagining things. A few years later when I wanted to be an actor and one of the many movie magazines I subscribed to arrived featuring an interview with Mr. Lynch, I’d never felt so vindicated to read his own words linking his horror romance to Vincent Minelli’s classic musical. “The way your head works is God’s own private mystery,” Sailor (Nicholas Cage) says to Lula in Wild at Heart, and that felt like a line tailored about me too. Especially when people around me didn’t appreciate the unique way I recognize the world.
By the mid 1990s I’d also figured out Wild at Heart hadn’t even been my first foray into the Lynchian experience. I’d been obsessed with his 1985 Dune adaptation (and the book because of it) as well as the hauntingly tragic 1980 film The Elephant Man which made me cry and cry. In the meantime I’d also found myself strangely fixated on and profoundly disturbed Blue Velvet’s (1986) psychosexual themes even as I didn’t remotely understand them as a teenager. All I knew is that there was something about David Lynch’s storytelling that spoke to me of outsiders like myself, and ways to find beauty in the ugliest situations as we expose those grotesque truths.
Lynch felt like home long before I found myself in Twin Peaks. But Twin Peaks was the true game changer for me.
I grew up a Third Culture Kid — a fancy term for someone who moved around during their developmental years and was raised in places that weren’t their parents’ home countries. My mother is a white woman from Wisconsin, my father a Tamil and Sinhalese man from Sri Lanka. When I was introduced to Twin Peaks my sense of “home” was relegated to imaginary towns like Derry in the Stephen King-verse. But that little mountain town of Twin Peaks weirdos just hit differently to 19-year-old me. Even though there were few people who looked like me on screen, it still felt like a place I belonged. I devoured the nearby Hollywood Video’s VHS collection of the only two seasons at that time in 1998, and the extraordinary companion prequel Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. For a while when people asked me where I was from I’d say Twin Peaks. They’d think the actual towns in California with that same moniker. I’d be sure to correct them with, “No, David Lynch’s.”
It wouldn’t be until 1999, after my first relationship with an abusive partner that Lynch’s groundbreaking Fire Walk With Me really sunk in. At the time nobody was talking about domestic violence or sexual abuse in such frank and nuanced ways, and Lynch captured the experience perfectly in detailing the final horrifying days before Laura Palmer ended up on the beach, wrapped in plastic. I bonded with so many women over Laura and her ordeal as we swapped our personal horror stories of assault and found community in survivors. Courtenay Stallings’s 2020 Laura’s Ghost: Women Speak About Twin Peaks collected stories from women in the Twin Peaks world, myself included, as we shared how meeting Laura Palmer helped us confront the monsters of our pasts and heal. David Lynch’s creation had become a kind of sanctuary for us, where we could exist alongside the terrible things that had happened to us — and find surprising comfort there among kindred.
But this is not to say that my relationship with David Lynch and Twin Peaks in particular has always been an easy one. With the revival of Twin Peaks: The Return in 2017 I wrote a series of performative reflections on the third season called “Beyond the Red Room,” from the perspective of a Brown woman living in that very white town. These pieces are heartfelt and vulnerable; they also pull back the red curtain on some harsh truths about racism in the community. A handful of Peakies appreciated my perspective. But the majority showed up with pitchforks and torches to burn me out of town. I lost count of the number of times I was incited to suicide, or threatened with murder. It was an out of body experience to be told by Peakies I needed to conform to their interpretations of the show, or else.
This cultic behavior made no sense in support of a man who blew his own whistle out the side and made the most beautiful music, unlike anything we’d ever heard. Conformity wasn’t David Lynch’s MO. Falling in line wasn’t something he did. Nor was it something I will ever do. But for my own safety, a line had indeed been drawn between me and my imaginary home, one that would make my relationship with not just Twin Peaks but also Lynch himself complicated.
When my friend texted me that Lynch had joined David Bowie in the Stardust Realm on January 15, 2025, I made a sound I’d only made once before last year, after the anesthesia wore off from elbow reconstruction surgery: a primal, guttural, wail of agony that shreds my vocal cords and leaves me breathless in sorrow.
Lynch only made a handful of films in his career, and the small number serves to highlight his incredible influence on the art of cinema. Mulholland Drive remains one of the most brutal and haunting love stories put to screen. Inland Empire is the deconstruction of self after trauma. Lost Highway is the horror of domestic violence told through Lynch’s signature surrealist lens. And while The Straight Story is indeed a straight-forward narrative made for Disney audiences, Lynch’s motifs are ever present for those of us in the know. Eraserhead is a genre of its own entirely.
And each of these films hold a specific and fundamental place in my creation of self that to imagine a world without Lynch in living form is like losing a father I actually love, admire, and who did far more good for me becoming the artist I am than my biological one. I was sure 2025 would be the year I’d finally meet Mr. Lynch in person. So I could tell him how I connected his work to Keanu Reeves through River’s Edge and how my upcoming “critical Reeves theory” hinges on my Brechtian analysis of Twin Peaks and The Return. I wanted to give him my book, shake his hand and tell him how he’s the one who made me. That his gum would always be in style.
Alas, Mr. Lynch has returned to the ether from where he once said his ideas emerged. He’s been an indispensable glowing orb in the firmament of our lives for decades. Now he’s become the very air we breathe. I’m heartbroken he’s gone, but I also feel his transcendental clarity running through me — in my lungs, my heart, my soul. His magic will drift to us from the White Lodge now as the magicians long to see. Rest gently, Mr. Lynch. I’ll see you in 25 years.
The post The Magician Longs to See: An Elegy for David Lynch, ‘Twin Peaks’ Visionary and Hollywood Legend appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.
Balancing a full-time creative career with the demands of today’s hustle culture can be challenging. However, time isn’t the only obstacle diverse talents face in maximizing their creative potential. Gaining access to resources and funding can also be a daunting hurdle, limiting their ability to develop or complete new projects.
In an effort to support the next generation of artists and innovators, CÎROC Ultra-Premium Vodka has unveiled the Blue Dot Creative Residency, a program aimed at providing financial capital, mentorship, and space for individuals working in entertainment, music, art, and fashion. The new initiative is designed to support creatives looking to expand into different fields and broaden their platforms by exploring uncharted ventures.
According to a press release, “the innovative program will deliver an environment of creative ease by providing them with direct funding, resources, and access needed to invest back into passion projects that shape the culture of tomorrow.”
As part of the residency, participants will gain collaboration opportunities with industry leaders who will help them develop artistic expression. The program also includes “(Ease)capes” to allow members to recharge and find inspiration during key cultural events. Throughout the year, the program will support and help talent distribute and showcase their projects across different verticals, from movie theatre partnerships to commission-free art galleries. The residency will culminate in the unveiling of innovative projects across various mediums.
CÎROC, a vodka company owned by DIAGEO, celebrated the launch of the Blue Dot Residency with an exclusive culinary experience honoring diverse creatives during Miami Art Week. Held at the iconic Rubell Museum, artists, creators, and tastemakers came together for a multi-sensory experience that fused art, music, and food.
BLACK ENTERPRISE spoke to Victoria David, brand director of CÎROC, about the Blue Dot Creative Residency and the culinary celebration that the spirits company hosted last month.
Tell us more about the Blue Dot Creative Residency and its mission to empower diverse creatives.
The Blue Dot Creative Residency is about redefining what it means to support creativity. Centered around four key verticals—entertainment, music, art, and fashion—the program helps creators expand their craft into new frontiers. We created this residency to eliminate the barriers that many creatives face, such as lack of time, resources, or financial support, and instead provide a space where they can breathe, reflect, and innovate.
Through direct funding, mentorship, and access to a network of influential collaborators, we aim to give creators the tools they need to turn their passion projects into cultural touchstones. This isn’t just a program; it’s a cultural movement designed to inject more joy, vitality, and innovation into the creative landscape.
What inspired CÎROC to create this initiative?
At CÎROC, we’ve always been about celebrating culture and creativity, but we saw an opportunity to do more. Today’s creators are navigating an unprecedented amount of pressure to perform, and the grind culture that dominates our world often stifles their ability to innovate. We were inspired by the insight that creativity thrives when we take a step back to recharge. This residency reflects a pivotal shift for CÎROC as we embrace the philosophy that leisure isn’t just a luxury—it’s the key to unlocking extraordinary ideas. By creating a space where creators can focus on joy and experimentation, we’re helping to foster that mindset.
What role did you play in the ideation and execution of the program?
As brand director, my role has been to bring this vision to life by ensuring the residency stays true to CÎROC’s legacy while paving the way for its future. Our team collaborated to build a program that speaks to the evolving needs of creatives today. From identifying the barriers they face to designing a support system that addresses those challenges, our focus has been on ensuring this initiative isn’t just impactful but also sustainable. I’m especially proud of how we’ve integrated mentorship and collaboration into the program because it reflects CÎROC’s belief in the power of connection to fuel creative breakthroughs.
What makes the Blue Dot Creative Residency meaningful for you personally?
This residency is deeply meaningful because it represents the best of what CÎROC stands for—empowering people to celebrate their full potential. I’ve always believed in the transformative power of creativity, and this program gives us a chance to support artists in a way that truly makes a difference. Watching creators rediscover their passion, take risks, and create work that leaves a lasting impact on culture is inspiring. It reminds me why I fell in love with this industry—because, at its best, creativity has the power to change the world.
Why was it important for CÎROC to launch the initiative during Miami Art Week?
Miami Art Week is more than just an event; it’s a celebration of the boundless possibilities of creativity. For CÎROC, this was the ideal stage to introduce the residency because it allowed us to engage directly with a community of artists and tastemakers who embody the spirit of innovation. By launching in a setting that thrives on bold ideas and collaboration, we were able to set the tone for what this program is all about: creating space for creatives to breathe, explore, and ultimately shape the cultural zeitgeist. The kickoff at the Rubell Museum wasn’t just a launch; it was a statement about where CÎROC is headed as a brand.
CÎROC’s “Night at the Museum” was an incredible, multi-sensory culinary experience that blended art, music, and food. What was the inspiration behind this event and what message did you aim to communicate with attendees?
The “Night at the Museum” was inspired by CÎROC’s mission to celebrate creativity and a desire to have our guests truly embrace fostering deeper connections. Held at the Rubell Museum during Art Basel, it marked the launch of the Blue Dot Creative Residency and reflected CÎROC’s evolution from the hustle of nightclubs to moments that are more meaningful and inspirational. Through a fusion of art, music, and culinary excellence, the experience created a fully immersive environment where we showcased how CÎROC is shaping culture and supporting creators who redefine what it means to innovate and inspire.
What impact have you made at CÎROC since being named brand director?
Since stepping into this role, my focus has been on evolving the way CÎROC shows up in culture. We’ve moved beyond nightlife to celebrate the full spectrum of creativity and leisure. From launching CÎROC Limonata, the No. 1 vodka innovation in the U.S (Nielsen Total US x AOC P52W through 11.16.24), to aligning with cultural milestones like Culture Con, my goal has been for the brand to create meaningful connections with audiences. The Blue Dot Creative Residency is a continuation of that work, showcasing how CÎROC is redefining luxury and creativity for a new era. It’s not just about products, it’s about the impact we have on culture and the creative communities we serve.
In what other ways does CÎROC plan to make meaningful connections with Black creatives?
We recognize that diverse creatives are some of the most influential voices shaping culture, and we’re committed to amplifying their impact. Whether it’s through partnerships, cultural activations, or spotlighting emerging talent, our goal is to create spaces where diverse creatives feel valued, supported, and inspired to push boundaries.
The Blue Dot Creative Residency is open to U.S. residents 25 years old and above working in creative fields like music, art, film, and fashion. Applications will open soon. For updates, visit www.CÎROC.com.