Producer Mel Brooks (yes, that Mel Brooks) handpicked Lynch to direct this based-on-real-life film after seeing ERASERHEAD. The title character is John Merrick (Hurt), who lived in the Victorian era and was left horrendously misshapen by a congenital disease. Merrick spends much of his life as a sideshow freak (the “Elephant Man”) until a doctor (Hopkins) offers him the chance to finally live as a human being. Shot in gorgeous black and white, THE ELEPHANT MAN is a classic historical drama bearing Lynch’s distinct artistic stamp.