The comedy movie David Lynch almost made with Steve Martin
There’s no other way to put it: David Lynch is one of a kind. Throughout his career, Lynch has produced some of the strangest masterpieces in the history of American cinema. Ranging from his bizarre debut feature Eraserhead to his magnificent TV show Twin Peaks, Lynch is a true master.
While Lynch’s films are often categorised as surreal psychological thrillers or even horror works, there’s a very specific comedic undercurrent in almost all of them. This strange sense of humour is evident in most of his movies, including his hilarious critique of Hollywood in Mulholland Drive as well as his outrageous portrayal of parenthood in Eraserhead.
Since his formative years, the revered American auteur has sought inspiration from the absurdity around him. In fact, Eraserhead was actually a consequence of his time in a bad neighbourhood in Philadelphia, where he witnessed unimaginable acts of violence and hate. That’s why he regularly cites the city as his biggest influence.
Lynch’s ability to strike the perfect balance between humour and darkness is the reason why his films are so nuanced. At one point, the director was even ready to make a Steve Martin comedy which sounds crazy enough on paper. One of his many unrealised projects, this unlikely collaboration never saw the light of day.
Titled One Saliva Bubble, Lynch co-wrote this script with Mark Frost in 1987. At the time, he was already getting a lot of attention due to the incredible impact of Blue Velvet. Reportedly, an executive at Warner Bros. had asked Lynch and Frost to make a film based on the life of Marilyn Monroe, but they chose to focus on One Saliva Bubble instead.
Although most details about the project will probably be lost forever, it was rumoured to have been set in a small town in Kansas, which is completely disrupted by a secret government project. Due to some of the confidential activities conducted there, the personal identities of the residents are interchanged.
Steve Martin was supposed to star in the lead role, but Martin Short was attached to the project too. In his autobiography, Short wrote: “We bought the house on the basis of the income I was about to make from two pending movies. You can guess what happened next. Practically the second we signed the mortgage, one of the two movies, a David Lynch film with Steve Martin entitled, One Saliva Bubble, fell through.”
