Laura Dern has revealed her university offered her an ultimatum after she was offered a role in David Lynch’s 1986 film Blue Velvet.
The Oscar-winning actress, 57, was forced to give up her place at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) when she chose to appear in the noir-horror, which saw her play a police chief’s daughter.
The character develops an interest in a university student, played by Kyle MacLachlan, after he comes to her father having discovered a human ear in a vacant lot in their hometown in North Carolina.
The Jurassic Park star admits she is still angry about it, with the irony being the institution now requires film students to watch Blue Velvet as part of their master’s programme.
Appearing as a guest on the Where Everybody Knows Your Name, podcast hosted by Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson, Dern said: “I was 17, so excited to get into UCLA. I was there for two days, and I had auditioned and got offered the role in Blue Velvet.”
She went on to explain that she was “ecstatic” about getting a role in the flick as she “worshipped” Lynch, who had already been nominated for an Oscar for his film The Elephant Man six years earlier.
The head of Dern’s university department was not as overjoyed, telling her she could “absolutely not” have the time away from her studies when she went to speak to them about it and told her she was “insane” for even considering it.
“I said, ‘I have this opportunity and he said, ‘Well, I’ll look at the script if you want to give me the script, but, you know, you’re not going to get a leave of absence. It’s not going to happen. It’s not a medical emergency,’” she recalled.
After reading the Blue Velvet script, he refused to back down, telling her: “First of all, if you make this choice, you are no longer welcome at UCLA. You’ll be out. But secondly, having read this script, that you would give up your college education for this is insane.”
The move ended up being the right one for Dern as the role catapulted her to fame and saw the start of a long term collaboration with Lynch – who received a best director Oscar nomination for the film.
Reflecting on it now, she said: “Obviously, it was an incredibly shocking script.”
Adding: “I will just end by saying after my two days, today, if you want to get a masters in film at that school, when you write a thesis there are three movies you are required to study. And you know what one of them is? [Blue Velvet].”
Not holding back, she confessed that this “p***es me off”.
