The Big Picture

• David Lynch's unique storytelling style makes his work emotionally impenetrable to some viewers, but captivating to others.
• Mel Brooks believed Lynch's emotional and sexual turmoil added depth to The Elephant Man, defending him against criticism.
• Despite early clashes, Lynch's direction ultimately led The Elephant Man to critical and commercial success, earning Oscar nominations.

While David Lynch is without a doubt one of the most successful cult filmmakers of all time, he’s only occasionally flirted with more mainstream sensibilities. Lynch has never professed to “explain” his work and often shies away from giving audiences a traditionally satisfying story. While this has made his work intensely rewatchable and worthy of discourse among some film fans, it’s made it completely emotionally impenetrable to others. While Lynch notoriously stepped away from big-budget filmmaking after the failure of his 1984 adaptation of Dune, there was a brief instance where he appealed to a larger commercial audience with a more straightforward biopic. Although it would become one of the biggest hits of his career, Lynch would have been fired from The Elephant Man if Sir Anthony Hopkins had it his way.

How 'Eraserhead' Led David Lynch To Make 'The Elephant Man'

Based on the nonfiction novel The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity by Ashley Montagu, The Elephant Man explores the incredible life of Joseph Merrick, an English man who was born with severe physical deformities. While he was a man of both great intelligence and consummate kindness, Merrick was ostracized by society for his deformities and callously referred to as “The Elephant Man.” A film that dealt with such a tragic true story required a sensitive voice behind the camera. It would be disrespectful to stigmatize Merrick’s story in any way, and the film could be accused of perpetrating the same societal hatred it aimed to criticize.

The story had attracted the attention of the comedy genius Mel Brooks, who felt that a film adaptation had the potential to contain powerful rhetoric about the importance of acceptance and the horrors of systematic hatred. While he grew invested in seeing Merrick’s story given justice, Brooks chose not to direct the film himself given his association with the comedy genre. Having earned a massive worldwide audience thanks to the success of his 1974 comedic masterpieces Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, Brooks developed the production company Brooksfilms. However, he feared that his name was too closely associated with the parody genre and that it could lead audiences to make incorrect assumptions about the tone and intent of the film.

Brooks chose to remain on the project uncredited, as he wanted the film to succeed on its own merits. However, Brooks was essential in selecting Lynch to direct the film. Lynch’s first film, Eraserhead, had been produced under unusual circumstances but succeeded in earning a strong following on the “midnight movie” circuit. The film’s baffling tonal shifts, strange moments of body horror, and satire of parental anxieties indicated that Lynch was a filmmaker with immense potential. Brooks was keen to take advantage of this, and felt that Lynch was the perfect person to tell the story; while a more commercial filmmaker may have leaned too heavily into the sentimentality, Lynch was able to step into the shoes of Merrick and make him a relatable protagonist.

Why Anthony Hopkins Didn’t Like David Lynch

While Eraserhead had been one of the most popular cult movies of the 1970s, Lynch had been awarded complete creative freedom given the independent approach. The Elephant Man represented Lynch’s first film produced within the studio system, which came with its own set of rules and regulations that he had to observe closely. While Lynch was able to add his stylistic touches to the film’s script by collaborating with screenwriters Christopher De Vore and Eric Bergren, the film’s makeup effects created numerous headaches on set. John Hurt had to undergo a complete physical transformation to play Merrick, and applying makeup to his body during every day of filming made The Elephant Man’s production even more stressful.

While Lynch had first attempted to personally apply the makeup effects, he was forced to hire an advanced artist with expertise in the field. While his attempts to personally get involved with as much of the production as possible is admirable, Lynch’s unique creative process caused him to clash with Hopkins, who was cast as Merrick’s doctor and eventual best friend, Frederick Treves. Although The Elephant Man is cited as one of Hopkins’ greatest performances ever, he felt that Lynch was unprofessional and ill-equipped for a film of its scale. Hopkins called Brooks in an attempt to get Lynch fired and replaced by a more seasoned filmmaker.

Why Mel Brooks Defended David Lynch

Despite Hopkins’ justifiable concerns about the direction that the film’s production was heading, Brooks chose to stick up for Lynch and keep him attached to The Elephant Man. An ardent defender of the film, Brooks stated that Lynch’s unique mannerisms were a benefit to the story, as he “projects his own emotional and sexual turmoil into his work and assaults us with the feelings he's being assaulted by." Brooks ended up being correct in his assumption, as The Elephant Man became a significant commercial and critical success, earning Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Director for Lynch. The film has inspired further interest in Merrick’s story, and even convinced Bradley Cooper to take an interest in acting.

Although the success of The Elephant Man indicated that he was capable of breaking through to a mainstream audience, Lynch would retreat from Hollywood projects and choose to develop his own arthouse films. Although he had once been considered to potentially direct Return of the Jedi for Lucasfilm, Lynch’s decision to work on Dune (and the creative barriers he faced in its production) led him to abandon any attempts at blockbuster filmmaking. Save for one bizarre dream sequence, The Elephant Man is somewhat of an outlier when compared to Lynch’s more surrealist work. However, it’s a film that benefits from his more idiosyncratic tendencies and succeeded in giving Lynch a platform that would lead him to future masterpieces.

The Elephant Man is available to stream on Pluto TV in the U.S.

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