The 1979 lawsuit that almost derailed David Lynch’s career: “You can’t blame them for being upset”
Few directors have spawned such dedicated fans as David Lynch.
When you meet someone who loves the Missoula-born filmmaker, it’s never just a casual interest they seem to harness; to be a Lynch fan is a pretty all-or-nothing endeavour.
I mean, it’s not hard to see why the artist has remained so beloved since the release of his debut feature, Eraserhead. Lynch crafted a cinematic world that was so distinctive, where nothing is quite as it seems, yet, at its core, there is this sense of appreciation for the innate beauty found in the strangeness of life, even when it seems so clouded with pain.
He frequently turned to troubled characters, like Twin Peaks’ Laura Palmer or Inland Empire’s Nikki Grace, but among the terror and very real themes of abuse, Lynch never failed to bring in some absurdist humour and abstract imagery. Dreams often became nightmares, but at the centre of everything was Lynch’s deep awareness of the existence of good that is out there somewhere, despite the prevalence of evil.
This is the sentiment behind The Elephant Man, which reveals the true meaning of humanity through the story of John Merrick, a disfigured man treated like an animal by society. He repeatedly shows himself to be much kinder and more optimistic than the humans who act with animalistic barbarity towards him, and really, this reflection is at the very core of everything Lynch did.
It was The Elephant Man that allowed Lynch to rise to prominence in Hollywood, because while Eraserhead had come a few years before and eventually found success as a midnight movie, it wasn’t exactly a critical favourite. It took a while for many audiences to come round to the surreal film, which left many people confused, more than anything.
Lynch luckily found a fan in Mel Brooks, though, who agreed to produce his next film. Yet, a lawsuit almost stopped The Elephant Man from coming to fruition, which might have derailed Lynch’s career entirely. If he hadn’t made the Oscar-nominated movie, would he have acquired the power to make further hits like Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks?
The issue was that The Elephant Man was already a Broadway play written by Bernard Pomerance, first performed in 1977. When Brooks tried to get this unrelated Lynch-directed tale of the real John Merrick off the ground, the producers of the Broadway play sued them for trying to use the same name. It was also reported that there were plans to turn the play into a movie, so for Brooks and Lynch to swoop in and use the same title would cause issues.
There was little that these producers could do to win the case, however, because they weren’t the sole owners of the title. Brooks argued that, after all, the film was inspired by surgeon Frederick Treves’ book The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences, published in 1923.
“When I put myself in their position, you can’t blame them for being upset,” Lynch once said.
Yet, he knew that he wanted that title, and in the end, the lawsuit was settled, and a disclaimer highlighting the fact that Lynch’s film was unrelated to the play was placed in the end credits. The movie was then a hit for Lynch, who can thank it for truly kick-starting his career in the mainstream.
