Naomi Watts said on Tuesday that she almost quit acting before David Lynch cast her in Mulholland Drive. "He was very instrumental to me. Even being in America, I wouldn't have stayed had I not have met David Lynch,

Watts said "the chips were down" and she was "desperate" for work after "10 years into flunking auditions" in Hollywood before Lynch agreed to work with her.

David Lynch has died at 78. The filmmaker was celebrated for his uniquely dark vision in such movies as “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive” and the TV series “Twin Peaks.”