David Lynch taking on North American distribution duties for INLAND EMPIRE?

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Hot on the heels of the reviews of David Lynch's INLAND EMPIRE hitting the net (and the press release from the director or Sitges talking about why the film was pulled from his fest) comes the Hollywood Reporter announcing David Lynch's deal with Studio Canal to distribute his film in North America. Himself.

Of course he's going to go through "well-known theatrical and home video partners," too be announced later, but the story is Studio Canal letting Lynch figure out what to do with his 3 hour epic DV chunk of bizarreness for US and Canadian distribution. Of course, he's going to have to find someone to theatrically release said 3 hour epic DV chunk of bizarreness (with Lynch retaining all the rights), but the hope is his chosen cut will be what we see here in America and our brothers to the North get to see up there, eh. Release is likely before the end of the year, with a big awards push for Laura Dern.