Laura Dern appeared on a recent episode of Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson’s “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” podcast (via People) and remembered being forced to drop out of UCLA film school after she won the role of Sandy Williams in David Lynch’s 1986 masterpiece “Blue Velvet.” While Dern had already appeared in films such as “Mask,” it was “Blue Velvet” that served as her acting breakthrough and kicked off a career-spanning collaboration with Lynch.
“I was 17, so excited to get into UCLA,” Dern said. “I was there for two days, and I had auditioned and got offered the role in‘Blue Velvet.’”
Dern was “ecstatic” over getting the film as she “worshipped” Lynch, who was already an Oscar-nominated filmmaker at that point in his career, thanks to 1980’s “The Elephant Man.” But when Dern went to speak to the head of her college department about getting a leave of absence so she could make “Blue Velvet” she was met with a resounding “absolutely not.”
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“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,’” Dern said about her conversation with the head of UCLA’s film department at the time.
The department head was able to read the “Blue Velvet” script, and Dern remembered being called into his office and being told: “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.”
“Obviously, it was an incredibly shocking script,” Dern admitted before revealing: “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?”
“Pisses me off,” Dern quipped.
“Blue Velvet” would go on to change Dern’s career. The neo-noir mystery stars Kyle MacLachlan as a college student who returns to his seemingly-idyllic suburban town and discovers a severed ear in a yard. He launches his own investigation and crosses path with a seductive lounge singer (Isabella Rossellini) and a psychopathic gangster (Dennis Hopper). Dern stars as the local police chief’s daughter who has an eye for MacLachlan’s character. The film earned an Academy Award nomination for best director.
Watch Dern’s full interview on the “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” podcast in the video below.
