The bizarre request David Lynch made on the set of Steven Spielberg movie ‘The Fabelmans’
Steven Spielberg gained international attention when his summer blockbuster, Jaws, was released in 1975. He quickly followed it with Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977 and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in 1982, turning him into one of Hollywood’s most prominent and successful filmmakers. Meanwhile, David Lynch made waves in the underground midnight movie circuit with his debut feature Eraserhead in 1977, which launched his filmmaking career and cemented him as a cult favourite.
Spielberg has primarily stuck to blockbusters, helming movies such as Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park and the Indiana Jones series. On the other hand, Lynch’s work, although successful, resides in the surreal, often inaccessible to mainstream audiences. Regardless of their differences, the two have become some of cinema’s most influential figures.
Spielberg’s latest feature, The Fabelmans, is an ode to cinema based on his childhood and early days of directing, examining dysfunctional family dynamics. Starring Paul Dano, Michelle Williams, Seth Rogan, Judd Hirsch and Gabriel LaBelle, the film is dedicated to Spielberg’s family, although the director initially feared creating a movie based on people from his life. He began working on a script called I’ll Be Home with his sister Anne back in 1999 but doubted the idea.
He explained: “My big fear is that my mom and dad won’t like it and will think it’s an insult and won’t share my loving yet critical point of view about what it was like to grow up with them”. In 2002, he still had similar feelings towards the project: “It’s so close to my life and so close to my family – I prefer to make films that are more analogous. But a literal story about my family will take a lot of courage. I still think I make personal movies even if they do look like big commercial popcorn films.”
Spielberg finally decided to go ahead with the project, stating that before his parents passed away in 2017 and 2020, they had been “nagging” him to create a film based on their lives. Since its release in November, the film has grossed over $18million, although it is yet to be released worldwide.
In one standout scene, Lynch appears in the role of John Ford, the legendary director behind westerns such as The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and a filmmaker who significantly influenced Spielberg. The sequence is based on Spielberg’s actual experience of meeting Ford when he was 15, who said to the young aspiring filmmaker, “So I hear you want to be a picture-maker?” Then he quizzed Spielberg, who recalled Ford saying, “When you’re able to distinguish the art of the horizon at the bottom of a frame or at the top of a frame, but not going right through the centre of a frame when you’re able to appreciate why it’s at the top and why it’s at the bottom, you might make a pretty good picture-maker. Now get the fuck out of here!”
Spielberg revealed that it took three weeks to get Lynch on board to play Ford at the suggestion of co-writer Tony Kushner’s husband, Mark Harris. He also credited Jurassic Park star and frequent Lynch collaborator Laura Dern with calling the eccentric director numerous times to ask the favour. In response, Lynch, in his typical bizarre fashion, agreed to play the role under one condition – Cheetos had to be provided on set.
We’re guessing that Spielberg ensured that Lynch’s odd request was met, as he plays the role of Ford magnificently well, with the sequence winning Best Scene at the St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award.
