David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive is getting a new 4K UHD Collector’s Edition

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, STUDIOCANAL and CRITERION are releasing a brand new 4K restoration of the iconic 2001 surrealist mystery-drama, supervised by David Lynch himself.

20 years after the film’s original World Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001, where David Lynch was awarded the Best Director prize (famously shared with Joel Coen for The Man Who Wasn’t There), the brand-new 4K restoration premiered as part of this year’s CANNES CLASSICS selection. The 4K restoration will be released as a 4K UHD Collector’s Edition with new artwork by Krzysztof Domaradzki on 6th December 2021.

MULHOLLAND DRIVE, one of director David Lynch’s (Twin Peaks, Inland Empire) essential films, is also arguably one of the greatest films of the 21st century. It stars Naomi Watts (21 Grams, The Impossible) in her breakthrough double-role as Betty / Diane as well as Laura Harring (Love in the Time of Cholera, The Punisher), Justin Theroux (American Psycho, The Girl On The Train) and Melissa George (Hunted, Triangle). MULHOLLAND DRIVE is a dreamlike journey, as well as a captivating commentary on Hollywood, receiving continued acclaim from critics and viewers alike since its initial release.

In Los Angeles, the City of Angels, a mysterious femme fatale wanders on the sinuous road of Mulholland Drive, clearly injured and suffering from amnesia. She finds shelter at Betty’s house (Watts), an aspiring actress just arrived from her hometown and in search of stardom in Hollywood. Initially intrigued by the stranger who calls herself Rita (Harring), Betty discovers that her handbag is full of dollar bundles. The two women get to know each other better and decide to investigate, in order to discover Rita’s true identity…

This 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition includes 4K restoration (approved by David Lynch) on UHD and Blu-ray in inner digipack, 2 posters and set of 5 artcards, booklet including essays from Anna Smith and David Jenkins packaged in an outer clamshell box featuring all-new artwork.

Special Features include:

• Back to Mulholland Drive
• On the Road to Mulholland Drive
• Interview with Laura Harring
• Interview with Mary Sweeney
• Interview with Angelo Badalamenti
• Introduction by Thierry Jousse
• In the Blue Box

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A first restoration of MULHOLLAND DRIVE was undertaken by Criterion back in 2016. The original 35 mm negative was scanned and graded in 4K. The 4K graded scan was converted to 2K before doing the restoration. At the time, there was no 4K UHD available, so the film was only released in 2K (Blu-Ray).

For this latest restoration, STUDIOCANAL and Criterion decided to mark the 20th Anniversary by restoring the film in 4K and premiering the film in Cannes. A process that often takes two years was condensed into several months with the help of David Lynch, who supported the restoration team. As the 2016 restoration was already approved by Mr. Lynch, it was possible to use these grading parameters and apply them to the 4K scan of the original negatives. Then a new and exclusive HDR grading was supervised by Mr. Lynch, with the unique objective to offer to the public all the detail of the theatrical version on the new 4K Dolby Vision edition. This new version will therefore offer much more detail than ever before. The sound was also remastered from the original 5.1 audio tracks through the director and his team’s supervision. The 4K release will be available to watch in cinemas, along with UHD BD and Digital editions.

When the film was selected for the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, Mr. Lynch again reviewed the film’s grading and made some tweaks for the cinema version. He was delighted with the restorative work.