David Lynch has been diagnosed with emphysema

The 78-year-old filmmaker told Sight + Sound magazine: "I've gotten emphysema from smoking for so long and so I'm homebound whether I like it or not. ... And now, because of COVID, it would be very bad for me to get sick, even with a cold...

" I can't go out. And I can only walk a short distance before I'm out of oxygen."

Asked about the possibility of making another movie, he said: "I like to be amongst the things and get ideas there. But I would try to do it remotely, if it comes to it.

"I wouldn't like that so much."

But the 'Blue Velvet' filmmaker later clarified his comment on X and insisted he will "never" stop working.

He wrote: "I am filled with happiness, and I will never retire," he continued. "I want you all to know that I really appreciate your concern."

In both the interview and on X, David spoke of how much he had "loved" smoking tobacco, but he quit more than two years ago.

He told the magazine: "Smoking was something that I absolutely loved, but in the end, it bit me.

"It was part of the art life for me: the tobacco and the smell of it, and lighting things and smoking and going back and sitting back and having a smoke and looking at your work, or thinking about things; nothing like it in this world is so beautiful. Meanwhile, it's killing me."

And on X he wrote: "I have to say that I enjoyed smoking very much, and I do love tobacco ? the smell of it, lighting cigarettes on fire, smoking them ? but there is a price to pay for this enjoyment, and the price for me is emphysema."

David also reassured fans he is in "excellent shape except for emphysema."