Renz
An Army of One
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Cast: John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, Sir John Gielgud, Anne Bancroft.
Synopsis: A Victorian-era doctor (Hopkins) rescues a horribly disfigured man (Hurt) from a circus sideshow where he has been mistreated and exhibited as a freak. Beneath his genetic disfigurement, the man, John Merrick, is revealed to be a person of intelligence and deep sensitivity. With the help of his doctor, Merrick tries to regain the dignity that was taken from him during his years as a sideshow freak advertized as "The Elephant Man".
Amazing make-up effects and brilliant performances by Hurt and Hopkins make The Elephant Man a powerful and moving film. IMO Hurt should have won an Oscar for his performance as Merrick, a man struggling to convince the world of his own humanity. I saw this again recently and was surprised to see that it was directed by David Lynch, who today is best known for off-the-wall works like Twin Peaks, Wild at Heart, Blue Velvet and Eraserhead. The fact that the movie was filmed in black-and-white gives it a more realistic, Victorian tone, I think. Lynch does a first-rate job here directing this story that challenges the audience to examine what it truly means to be "human".
Trivia: Director David Lynch originally tried to do the makeup for the elephant man himself but simply wasn't able to.
This film was executive produced by Mel Brooks, who was responsible for hiring director David Lynch and obtaining permission to film in black-and-white. He deliberately left his name off the credits, as he knew that people would get the wrong idea about the movie if they saw his name on the film, given his fame as a satirist.
Following the death of the real John Merrick, parts of his body were preserved for medical science to study. Some internal organs were kept in jars, and plaster casts were taken of his head, an arm, and a foot. Although the organs were destroyed by German air raids during the Second World War, the casts survived and were kept at the London Hospital. The makeup for John Hurt, who played Merrick in the film, was designed directly from those casts.
The Elephant Man makeup took 12 hours to apply each time.
When a nominees for the 53rd Annual Academy Awards were announced in February 1981, many in the industry were appalled that this movie was not going to be honored for its make-up effects (at the time there was not regular category and winners for make-up were cited with a "special award"). Feeling that the make-up technicians deserved to be rewarded for the film, a letter a protest was sent to the Academy's Board of Governors to ask them to change their minds and give the film a special award. The Academy refused but in response to the outcry they decided a year later to reward make-up artists with their own annual category, and thus the Best Make-Up award was born.
Merrick's condition was undiagnosed at the time of his death. Later studies of his skeleton and the casts made of his body led researchers to believe he suffered from Neuro Fibromatosis (NF), a genetic condition that 1 in 100,000 persons suffer from. The NF Foundation used the movie as a fund raising tool and credited it with making the disease more widely known. Later examination, including CT Scans of the skeleton, now lead researchers to believe he suffered from Proteus Syndrome, a much rarer condition than NF. Attempts to confirm either diagnosis with a DNA sample from a tooth have been unsuccessful.
The writers based this film on the memoirs of Dr. Treves and other true accounts, and avoided the play by Bernard Pomerance and the novel by Christine Sparks. The true name of the Elephant Man was not John Merrick as most people have known, but Joseph Carey Merrick. Merrick was born in Leicester, England on August 5, 1862, and died in the Royal London Hospital on April 11, 1890, at the age of 27.
After the first day of shooting, when actor John Hurt was exposed for the first time to the inconveniences of having his make-up applied and walking around in it, he called his wife, saying, I think they finally managed to make me hate acting.
When Treves sees Merrick for the first time, he sheds a single tear. Anthony Hopkins thought of his sick father at that moment to help him to cry.
Originally offered to Terrence Malick but he passed.
Director Cameo: When Merrick returns to London, he is chased by an angry mob, and flees underground. The shot of the crowd descending the stairs in pursuit features Lynch in full costume.
Trevor Howard was asked to play the Freddie Jones part.
The Elephant Man's name was Joseph, not John, Merrick. When Frederick Treves wrote his memoir, he referred to him as John. His handwritten manuscript reveals that Treves knew that Merrick's name was Joseph, and deliberately crossed out Joseph and replaced it with John. Merrick's surviving correspondence shows he signed his name as Joseph, and contemporary newspaper articles about his case refer to him by his correct name. Why Treves changed his name to John is unclear.
Mel Brooks hired David Lynch to direct the film because he admired Lynch's work in Eraserhead (1977).
