Martin Scorsese has said the death of "visionary" director David Lynch is a "sad day for moviemakers, movie lovers, and for the art of cinema".
Lynch, whose work included surrealist TV series Twin Peaks and films such as The Elephant Man, Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet, died at the age of 78.
It came five months after Lynch revealed he had been diagnosed with emphysema, a chronic lung disease, after "many years of smoking".
Scorsese led filmmakers reflecting on Lynch's back catalogue, including Eraserhead, Wild At Heart, Lost Highway, The Straight Story and Inland Empire, which he said will keep "growing and deepening" as the decades go by.
"I hear and read the word 'visionary’ a lot these days - it’s become a kind of catch - all description, another piece of promotional language," he said in a statement given to the PA news agency.
"But David Lynch really was a visionary - in fact, the word could have been invented to describe the man and the films, the series, the images and the sounds he left behind."
Scorsese said Lynch made "everything strange, uncanny, revelatory and new" which were "right on the edge of falling apart but somehow never did".
"He put images on the screen unlike anything that I or anybody else had ever seen… And he was absolutely uncompromising, from start to finish.
"It's a sad, sad day for moviemakers, movie lovers, and for the art of cinema.
"…We were lucky to have had David Lynch," he added.
Other stars paying tribute were Italian-born star Isabella Rossellini, British actress Naomi Watts, Ringo Starr, Wolverine star Hugh Jackman, The Police singer Sting, Oscar winner Nicholas Cage, and actors from Twin Peaks.
Lynch gave former partner and collaborator Rossellini her breakthrough role in neo-noir mystery thriller Blue Velvet before the pair worked together on Wild At Heart.
"I loved him so much," the actress, who was Bafta-nominated for her supporting role in Conclave earlier this week, said.
Watts said that Lynch "put me on the map" with her 2001 break-out film Mulholland Drive, about the dark side of Hollywood, which earned him the award for best director at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival alongside an Oscar nod.
"It wasn't just his art that impacted me - his wisdom, humour, and love gave me a special sense of belief in myself I’d never accessed before," she added.
Watts said Lynch "seemed to live in an altered world, one that I feel beyond lucky to have been a small part of" as she revealed she was "in pieces" over his death.
Two-time Oscar nominee Watts also featured in Lynch’s film Inland Empire as Suzie Rabbit, a role she played in his 2002 project Rabbits, as well as the revival of his hit series Twin Peaks, starring as Janey-E Jones in 2017.
Her Inland Empire and Mulholland Drive co-star Justin Theroux said on Instagram: "David was kind. David was laughter. David was loving. I love you David."
Sting, who starred in Lynch’s Dune as the red-haired cruel antagonist Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, wrote: "David was a modern giant of the avant garde. I am so proud to have worked with him on the first Dune movie."
Lara Flynn Boyle, who played Donna Hayward in Lynch's Twin Peaks, said "there goes the true Willy Wonka of filmmaking" in a statement.
"I feel like I got the golden ticket getting a chance to work with him. He will be greatly missed," she added.
Cage, who starred in the 1990 road trip film Wild At Heart which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, described Lynch as "one of the greatest artists of this or any time".
"I never had more fun on a film set than working with David Lynch. He will always be solid gold," he also said.
Source: Press Association
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