David Lynch Finds Hope for ‘Divided’ Country in Final PEOPLE Interview (Exclusive)

In one of his last interviews, director David Lynch said he was “very sorry for us on this planet right now” but believed we could find a way to get along.

“The people of the United States are divided, and one side almost literally and truly hates the other side,” Lynch, who died Jan. 16 at age 78, told PEOPLE in a Nov. 1 interview. “This is no way to live.”

The Twin Peaks director dismissed the ugliness of a partisan society: “There’s so much bull going on these days it’s hard to believe. It’s like a kindergarten. It’s like little ugly kids in a kindergarten and we pee in. our pants, we the place smells, and it’s not pretty, and it doesn’t have to be that way.”

Lynch, a lifelong smoker who was diagnosed with emphysema in 2020, encouraged people to think about the common good.

“We have to get through this together,” said Lynch, the Oscar-winning director of iconic films such as Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet. “There are so many things we all agree on. We can solve these problems by working together. Divided we fall, united we stand. This is a true thing. This life should not be a bad joke. This world should be beautiful, we are supposed to love each other like a family.

At the time of Lynch’s interview in November, his health had deteriorated to the point where he needed oxygen to walk across a room. But despite that — and what he saw as the state of the world — he said he remained “filled with happiness” because of his long-time practice of transcendental meditation. “When you get it from the inside, it doesn’t go away.”