Naomi Watts said on Tuesday that she almost quit acting before David Lynch cast her in Mulholland Drive. "He was very instrumental to me. Even being in America, I wouldn't have stayed had I not have met David Lynch,

“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.

David Lynch has died at 78. The filmmaker was celebrated for his uniquely dark vision in such movies as “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive” and the TV series “Twin Peaks.”