Legendary filmmaker David Lynch has delivered some iconic films throughout his career and is now one of the most celebrated figures in the film industry. With his exceptional talent and keen artistic vision, Lynch has established himself in Hollywood over time. However, this wasn’t always the case as during the initial phase of his career, the director often faced self-doubt.
During the filming of the 1980 historic drama film, The Elephant Man, his artistic ability was questioned by actor Anthony Hopkins who wanted to fire the director from the project. However, later on, when the film was released and acclaimed by the audience, Lynch rose in Hopkins’s eyes and he even appreciated his craft.
David Lynch’s self-doubt during the making of The Elephant Man
American filmmaker, David Lynch made his directorial debut with the 1977 film Erasehead. With the commercial success of his first directorial project, Lynch decided to move forward with his work and took up his second directorial project The Elephant Man.
The 1980 film was a biographical drama based on Joseph Merrick (John Merrick in the film), who lived a difficult life because of his physical deformities. Though the film was a great success, the toil behind making the film cannot be ignored.
Apparently, since the film’s budget was not very huge, Lynch decided to take on a few tasks himself, like doing the makeup for the lead protagonist, John Hurt, who portrayed the character of John Merrick. However, his attempt to personally apply Hurt’s makeup poorly failed. Lynch was disheartened by his failed attempt, which left him with self-doubt. According to The Irish Times, the director claimed,
“I thought it would be better to kill myself because I could hardly stand to be in my body.”
Since his attempt to do Hurt’s makeup failed, he had to hire a professional makeup artist. But by the time the young filmmaker moved on from his self-doubts, he was targeted by Hurt’s costar, Anthony Hopkins, who wanted to get him fired from the project.
Anthony Hopkins’ perspective changed about David Lynch’s involvement in the film
Anthony Hopkins was adamant about removing David Lynch from the project as he thought Lynch was inexperienced and not a great fit to direct a film. He even approached the producer Mel Brooks, and asked him to fire Lynch from the project. However, Brooks supported Lynch and didn’t fire him.
When the film was released, it received eight nominations for the Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor.
Since the film became a huge success, Hopkins realized that Lynch was indeed a good director, and firing him from the project would have been his biggest mistake.
Source: The Irish Times
