“My heart is broken. My Buddy Dave…” began Mulholland Drive star Naomi Watts on Instagram about the death of that movie’s filmmaker David Lynch. “The world will not be the same without him. His creative mentorship was truly powerful,” she wrote.

Naomi Watts recently recalled her days working with David Lynch and how the late director helped her movie career. The King Kong actress appeared on Live with Kelly and Mark, discussing her past experiences and how the director of Eraserhead played a significant role in her life.

Find out where to watch 'Twin Peaks,' 'Blue Velvet,' other other David Lynch films. Plus, the two David Lynch movies you can't stream.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — David Lynch, the filmmaker celebrated for his uniquely dark vision in such movies as “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive” and the TV series “Twin Peaks,” has died just days before his 79th birthday.

Naomi Watts revealed on “Live With Kelly and Mark” (via Entertainment Weekly) that she nearly quit acting before she met the late David Lynch, who cast her as the lead in 2001’s “Mulholland Drive.” The film’s critical acclaim and global success turned Watts into a star after “10 years” of “flunking auditions.

Naomi Watts remembers David Lynch and how “instrumental” he was in her Hollywood career. In a new interview, the Mulholland Drive star revealed how the filmmaker kept her from quitting acting. “[Lynch] was very instrumental to me even being in America,

Oscar nominee Naomi Watts shared she almost quit Hollywood, but credited late director David Lynch with saving her career by casting her in the 2001 film Mulholland Drive: “I wouldn’t have stayed.”