David Lynch Says Netflix ‘Rejected’ His Animated Feature ‘Snootworld’: It Would Have Been ‘Spectacular’

Samantha Bergeson
·2 min read
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David Lynch is claiming Netflix didn’t want to greenlight his “wacky” animated feature, “Snootworld.”

The “Twin Peaks” and “Blue Velvet” auteur told Deadline that his long-awaited animated debut has been two decades in the process. Lynch co-wrote the script with “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “The Addams Family” scribe Caroline Thompson; the feature has a strict three act structure, with Lynch penning act two.

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Lynch revealed that Netflix allegedly “rejected” the project most likely since “old fashioned fairytales are considered groaners.” IndieWire has reached out to Netflix.

“I don’t know when I started thinking about Snoots but I’d do these drawings of Snoots and then a story started to emerge,” Lynch told Deadline. “I got together with Caroline and we worked on a script. Just recently I thought someone might be interested in getting behind this so I presented it to Netflix in the last few months but they rejected it.”

He added of the project, “‘Snootworld’ is kind of an old fashioned story and animation today is more about surface jokes. Old fashioned fairytales are considered groaners: apparently people don’t want to see them. It’s a different world now and it’s easier to say no than to say yes.”

Lynch added that his daughter Jennifer Lynch also turned down helming “Snootworld” since the “American Horror Story” filmmaker has “so many things in the pipeline that she ultimately thought it would be better for me or someone else to direct it.”

Lynch is still looking for financiers for the feature, which he has stayed mum about directing or not. Lynch has not directed a film since “Inland Empire” but did helm revival series “Twin Peaks: The Return” 2017. The auteur will be producing “Snootworld,” which he teased as a wide-appealing film.

“I like this story. It’s something that children and adults can both appreciate,” Lynch said. “I’ve never really done a straight animation but with computers today it’s possible to do some spectacular things.”

Lynch’s “Snootworld” co-writer Thompson told Deadline that the storyline is admittedly “wackadoo” and chaotic.

“It takes my breath away how wacky it is,” Thompson said. “The Snoots are these tiny creatures who have a ritual transition at aged eight at which time they get tinier and they’re sent away for a year so they are protected. The world goes into chaos when the Snoot hero of the story disappears into the carpet and his family can’t find him and he enters a crazy, magnificent world.”

Despite allegedly turning down “Snootworld,” Netflix has been partnering with other auteurs for animated turns, including “Orion and the Dark” written by Charlie Kaufman and the animated “Pinocchio” helmed by Guillermo Del Toro.

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