“Shrek Forever After” brought in over $752.6 million at the box office, so it’s safe to say Mitchell’s week of faking sick didn’t impact the film’s overall success. The animated film was a financial hit and Mitchell had the chance to work with a legendary director. As far as I’m concerned, everybody won.
“It was a blast. And then I learned how David Lynch makes a movie,” he said. “He gave me as much direction as he gave Laura Dern. He’s very serious and focused. It was amazing.” David Lynch is the type of director as famed as an individual as the works that he makes, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a creative in the industry who wouldn’t also do what Mitchell pulled off. David Lynch is a one-in-a-million kind of filmmaker, and there’s always something new to learn from him.
“By the way, he’s one of two directors I’ve worked with that’s allowed to smoke on the set,” Mitchell joked. “Smoking is not allowed on sets. But the guy smoked his face off the whole time.” This tracks with what we learned about Lynch on the set of Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans,” where he reportedly smoked 16 cigars while on set for his role as director John Ford. Smoking is super bad for you, there’s no doubt about it, but Lynch doesn’t seem like the type to put much concern about that. Does smoking make him cooler? No, but his devil-may-care attitude certainly does. He’s definitely someone who would probably encourage faking sick to hang out on his set.
