"Whereas my producer literally worked on this thing for 10 years and because I gave that presenter credit to David Lynch, she to this day never gets credit. It really kills me"
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A small, pained sentence that accidentally opens onto the whole economy of “credit” in film: it’s never just courtesy, it’s currency. Zwigoff isn’t talking about awards-season vanity; he’s describing how reputations get minted and how labor gets erased. The rawness of “literally” and “this thing” gives it the texture of an old grievance that hasn’t been processed into a clean anecdote. It’s not polished because the injury isn’t.
The intent is corrective: he’s trying to rebalance a narrative where a famous name (David Lynch) functions like a magnet, pulling attention, praise, and myth toward itself. Lynch, in this telling, becomes less a person than a brand-effect: the kind of auteur aura that can eclipse the actual producer who spent a decade doing the unglamorous work of persistence, logistics, and belief. Zwigoff’s “because I gave that presenter credit” is quietly damning. Even when he tries to do the right thing in the room, the machinery of recognition routes the benefits to the celebrity in the vicinity.
Subtext: filmmaking is a collective art that gets sold as singular genius. The phrase “she to this day never gets credit” lands like a moral audit, not a complaint. And “It really kills me” isn’t just empathy; it’s complicity. He’s admitting that even a director with some cultural capital can’t easily override the myth-making system he’s operating inside, where women’s producing labor is especially prone to being treated as invisible infrastructure rather than authorship.
The intent is corrective: he’s trying to rebalance a narrative where a famous name (David Lynch) functions like a magnet, pulling attention, praise, and myth toward itself. Lynch, in this telling, becomes less a person than a brand-effect: the kind of auteur aura that can eclipse the actual producer who spent a decade doing the unglamorous work of persistence, logistics, and belief. Zwigoff’s “because I gave that presenter credit” is quietly damning. Even when he tries to do the right thing in the room, the machinery of recognition routes the benefits to the celebrity in the vicinity.
Subtext: filmmaking is a collective art that gets sold as singular genius. The phrase “she to this day never gets credit” lands like a moral audit, not a complaint. And “It really kills me” isn’t just empathy; it’s complicity. He’s admitting that even a director with some cultural capital can’t easily override the myth-making system he’s operating inside, where women’s producing labor is especially prone to being treated as invisible infrastructure rather than authorship.
Quote Details
| Topic | Work |
|---|
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