Lynch To Venice: Lionize Me!

By Dennis Michael, FilmStew.com, Monday July 10 11:33 AM ET

The iconoclastic filmmaker has finally accepted his invitation to be a guest of honor at the Venice International Film Festival

After several weeks without a reply, filmmaker David Lynch has agreed to attend this year's Venice Film Festival and receive the Golden Lion for Career Achievement at the 63rd annual event, according to Daily Variety.

Officials for the Venice Festival had unofficially announced their intentions to give Lynch the honor, but they were kept in suspense for several weeks until Lynch himself gave them the go ahead. It would have been surprising if he hadn't. Not only is the Golden Lion one of the highest awards in film, but Lynch is readying his next movie Inland Empire to be shown out-of-competition at the festival on September 6th.

Inland Empire refers to the dusty hot suburbs east of Los Angeles, but the real location apparently didn't work for the filmmaker. The movie, which stars Laura Dern, Jeremy Irons and Harry Dean Stanton, is being shot in digital HD - in Poland.