David Lynch’s odd experience working with Michael Jackson: “All he wanted to do was talk about the Elephant Man”
It wouldn’t be outrageous to say that David Lynch has significantly helped to bring experimental modes of filmmaking to the mainstream over the past few decades. After finding a cult following with the release of Eraserhead in 1977, Lynch has gone on to make many incredible movies, both compelling and confusing, while also making Twin Peaks, a revolutionary television show.
Whether you find Lynch’s work hard to understand or simply prefer to get lost in his surreal cinematic worlds, the filmmaker is easily one of the most unique and innovative figures in the film industry. From adapting Dune for the big screen to fully indulging in the avant-garde with Inland Empire, Lynch has had an interesting career, to say the least.
One of Lynch’s most surprising projects, however, was making an album promo trailer for Michael Jackson. While his music isn’t the kind you’d associate with Lynch, the filmmaker accepted the task of working with the so-called King of Pop.
Lynch wrote in his book Room to Dream, “I’m in the living room in L.A. and my phone rings and there’s Michael Jackson on the phone, telling me he wants me to do some kind of trailer for his album Dangerous. I said, ‘I don’t know if I can do it; I don’t have any ideas for it,’ but as soon as I hang up and started walking toward the hall, all these ideas came up.”
While working on the video together, Lynch got to speak to the singer, who seemed to have one thing on his mind – The Elephant Man. The filmmaker directed the movie in 1980, receiving significant acclaim for the moving drama starring John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins. Based on the real story of Joseph Merrick, a man who lived in Victorian England with severe bodily deformities, the film shows how he was treated like an animal, abused, and presented as a spectacle.
Jackson had an unusual obsession with Merrick, with tabloids reporting that he even tried to purchase his remains, which the singer later shut down. Still, he claimed to relate to Merrick’s story because of his experience of living with vitiligo. When he got to work with Lynch, having loved The Elephant Man, the director revealed that Jackson spoke at length about Merrick.
Lynch wrote that after filming, “He came out and I met him for the first time and all he wanted to do was talk about the Elephant Man. He tried to buy the bones and the cloak and all his stuff from the museum and he asked me questions about it and was a really nice guy. Then he stood there and we shot it and one minute later he was done.”
It seems as though Jackson had an incredibly deep fascination with Merrick, who is immortalised in history by Lynch’s emotional film, which sees the man prove his humanity to everyone around him. He soon learns that it is everyone else who lacks humanity despite looking more ‘human’ than him. It is an important tale of what it means to be human and the importance of kindness and treating everyone equally, regardless of what they look like. It seems like Jackson related strongly.
