Laura Dern claims she was forced to drop out of UCLA after landing Blue Velvet role – and now the college teaches the David Lynch film: ‘P****s me off’
Laura Dern said she was forced to drop out of college after landing her breakout role in David Lynch’s 1986 film Blue Velvet. Now the role is being taught in school.
Dern, 57, famously played detective’s daughter Sandy Williams in the neo-noir mystery thriller that was the result of a decades-long collaboration with Oscar nominee Lynch, 78.
While he was on the Podcast Where Everyone Knows Your Name This week, the now 57-year-old actress said she was enrolled at UCLA when she landed the role in 1985.
“I was 17, so excited to go to UCLA. I was there for two days, and I auditioned and got offered the part in Blue Velvet,” she told co-hosts Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson, according to PEOPLE.
It was a big moment for Dern, who was completely “ecstatic” after having “adored” Lynch for years.
Laura Dern, 57, said she was forced to drop out of college after landing her breakthrough role in David Lynch’s 1986 film Blue Velvet. Now the film is being taught in schools; it’s set to air in February
Dern, 57, famously played Sandy Williams in the neo-noir mystery thriller that was the result of a decades-long collaboration with Oscar nominee Lynch, 78
By then, the writer-director had already received critical acclaim for films such as The Elephant Man (1980), which earned him his first-ever Oscar nomination, and the surreal horror film Eraserhead (1977).
He also gained wider recognition after directing the film adaptation of the popular science fiction novel Dune, despite it being a commercial flop.
But Dern immediately hit a roadblock when she requested a leave of absence from the head of UCLA’s film department so she could shoot Blue Velvet.
She said the department head replied, “Absolutely not.”
“I said, ‘I have this opportunity,’ and he said, ‘Well, I’ll look at the script if you’ll give me the script, but you know what, you’re not going to get a leave of absence. That’s not going to happen. It’s not a medical emergency,'” Dern recalled.
Dern was called back to his office the next day, after reading the controversial script with his own eyes.
But he had more bad news for the budding actress.
“First of all, if you make this choice, you are no longer welcome at UCLA. You’re out,” she recalled the department head telling her.
He also called Dern, who studied psychology with a minor in journalism, “crazy” for putting the R-rated project above her own education.
During her appearance on the podcast Where Everybody Knows Your Name , the actress, now 57, said she was enrolled at UCLA when she landed the role in 1985; it aired in January
It was a big moment for Dern, who was totally “ecstatic” after years of “adoring” director Lynch; Dern featured in Blue Velvet (1986)
“But secondly, if you read this script, it’s madness that you would give up your college education for this.”
Dern eventually starred in Blue Velvet, for which Lynch received a nomination for Best Director at the 1987 Academy Awards.
Dern acknowledged it was “an incredibly shocking script” — especially for the time — before revealing that Blue Velvet is now part of the curriculum at UCLA’s film school.
‘I’ll just end by saying after my two days, today, if you want to get a master’s degree in film at that school, there are three films that you have to study when you write a thesis. And do you know which one is which?’
She added: “It pisses me off.”
Blue Velvet was recorded on location in Wilmington, North Carolina, from August to November 1985.
“The discovery of a severed human ear in a field leads a young man (Kyle MacLachlan) to investigate a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer (Isabella Rossellini) and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child,” the film states. official description.
Dern’s character Sandy Williams finds herself in a love triangle with Jeffrey Beaumont (MacLachlan) and Dorothy Vallens (Rossellini).
Blue Velvet opened in theaters on September 19, 1986, and also starred Dennis Hopper, Angelo Badalamenti and Brad Dourif.
The film was given an R rating for its frontal nudity, graphic violence and a rape scene, which caused a lot of controversy after its release.
By then, the writer-director had already received critical acclaim for films such as The Elephant Man (1980), which earned him his first-ever Oscar nomination, and the surreal horror film Eraserhead (1977); Lynch will be seen in 2017
But Dern immediately hit a roadblock when she asked for a leave of absence from the head of UCLA’s film department so she could shoot Blue Velvet. And he turned it down; seen in Blue Velvet (1986) with co-stars Kyle Maclachlan and Frances Bay.
Dern acknowledged it was “an incredibly shocking script” — especially for the time — before revealing that Blue Velvet is now part of the curriculum at UCLA’s film school; seen in February
Blue Velvet divided critics, with many calling it a cult masterpiece, while more mainstream critics like Roger Ebert infamously gave it only one star.
Dern developed a close creative bond with Lynch, who later cast her in two more of his films: Wild At Heart (1990) and Inland Empire (2006).
Outside of the David Lynch universe, Dern, the son of Oscar nominees Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd, has starred in several successful films, including Jurassic Park and Jaws.
Dern won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Marriage Story (2020) and has received a total of three Academy Award nominations in her career.
She also had success on television when she starred opposite Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman in two seasons of the HBO drama series Big Little Lies.
The third season is currently in pre-production.