''The Elephant Man'' is a 1980 British-American biographical drama film about Joseph Merrick (John Merrick in the film), a severely deformed man in late 19th-century London. The film was directed by

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

, produced by

Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began ...

(who was uncredited, to avoid audiences anticipating the film being in the vein of his comedic works, although his company Brooksfilms is in the opening credits) and Jonathan Sanger, and stars

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned over five decades. Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors. Director David Lynch described him as "simply the greatest actor in t ...

Anthony Hopkins Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor, director, and producer. One of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins has received many accolad ...

, Anne Bancroft,

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Brit ...

, Wendy Hiller, Michael Elphick, Hannah Gordon and Freddie Jones. ''The Elephant Man'' is generally regarded as one of Lynch's more accessible and mainstream works, alongside '' The Straight Story'' (1999). The screenplay was adapted by Lynch, Christopher De Vore and

Eric Bergren Eric Lee Bergren (April 27, 1954 – July 14, 2016) was an American screenwriter. Early life and career Bergren was born 1954 in Pasadena, California. He studied theatre arts at the University of Southern California. Based on works of Frederi ...

from Frederick Treves's ''The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences'' (1923) and Ashley Montagu's ''The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity'' (1971). It was shot in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

and featured make-up work by Christopher Tucker. ''The Elephant Man'' was a critical and commercial success with eight

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director,

Best Adapted Screenplay This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress# ...

, and

Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to the ...

. After receiving widespread criticism for failing to honour the make-up effects, the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion ...

was prompted to create the Academy Award for Best Makeup the following year. The film also won the

BAFTA Awards The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...

for

Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

, and Best Production Design and was nominated for

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...

awards. It also won a French

César Award Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt * César Award, a French film award Places * Cesar, Portugal * Ces ...

for Best Foreign Film.

Plot

Frederick Treves, a

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

at the London Hospital, finds John Merrick in a Victorian

freak show A freak show, also known as a creep show, is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to in popular culture as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with ...

in London's

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

, where he is kept by Mr. Bytes, the brutish ringmaster. His head is kept hooded, and his "owner", who views him as

intellectually disabled Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signifi ...

, is paid by Treves to bring him to the hospital for examination. Treves presents Merrick to his colleagues and highlights his deformed skull, which forces him to sleep with his head on his knees, since if he were to lie down, he would

asphyxia Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can ...

te. On Merrick's return, he is beaten so badly by Bytes that he has to call Treves for medical help. Treves brings him back to the hospital. Merrick is tended to by hospital matron Mrs. Mothershead, as the other nurses are too frightened of him. Mr. Carr Gomm, the hospital's Governor, is against housing Merrick, as the hospital does not accept "incurables". To prove that Merrick can make progress, Treves trains him to say a few conversational sentences and part of the

23rd Psalm Psalm 23 is the 23rd psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "The Lord is my shepherd". In Latin, it is known by the incipit, "". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a boo ...

. Carr Gomm sees through this ruse, but as he is leaving, Merrick begins to recite the whole of the Psalm. Merrick tells the doctors that he knows how to read, and has memorized the 23rd Psalm because it is his favorite. Carr Gomm permits him to stay, and Merrick spends his time practicing conversation with Treves and building a model of a cathedral he can see from his window. Merrick has tea with Treves and his wife, and is so overwhelmed by their kindness that he shows them his mother's picture. He believes he must have been a "disappointment" to his mother, but hopes she would be proud to see him with his "lovely friends". Merrick begins to take guests in his rooms, including the actress

Madge Kendal Dame Madge Kendal, (born Margaret Shafto Robertson; 15 March 1848 – 14 September 1935) was an English actress of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, best known for her roles in Shakespeare and English comedies. Together with her husband, W. ...

, who gives him a copy of ''Romeo and Juliet''; they play some lines from it and Kendal kisses Merrick on the lips. Merrick quickly becomes an object of curiosity to high society, and Mrs. Mothershead expresses concerns that he is still being put on display as a freak. Treves begins to question the morality of his own actions. Meanwhile, a night porter named Jim starts selling tickets to locals, who come at night to gawk at the "Elephant Man". The issue of Merrick's residence is challenged at a hospital council meeting, but he is guaranteed permanent residence by command of the hospital's royal patron,

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

, who sends word with her daughter-in-law

Alexandra Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "p ...

. However, during one of Jim's raucous late-night showings Merrick is kidnapped by Bytes. A witness reports this to Treves, who confronts Jim about what he has done, and Mothershead fires him. Bytes takes Merrick on the road as a circus attraction once again. During a "show" in Belgium, Merrick, who is weak and dying, collapses, causing a drunken Bytes to lock him in a cage at night with some apes and leave him to die. Merrick is released by his fellow freakshow attractions. Upon returning to London, he is harassed through

Liverpool Street station Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the ...

by several young boys and accidentally knocks down a young girl. Merrick is chased, unmasked, and cornered by an angry mob. He cries "I am not an elephant! I am not an animal! I am a human being! I ... am ... a ... man!" before collapsing. Policemen return Merrick to the hospital and Treves. He recovers some of his health, but is dying of

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a type of progressive lung disease characterized by long-term respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation. The main symptoms include shortness of breath and a cough, which may or may not produce ...

. Treves and Mothershead take Merrick, accompanying Princess Alexandra, to see a magical pantomime. Kendal comes on stage afterwards and dedicates the performance to him, and a proud Merrick receives a standing ovation from the audience. Back at the hospital, Merrick thanks Treves for all he has done, and completes his cathedral model. Saying "It is finished", he lies down on his back in bed and dies. He is consoled by a vision of his mother, who quotes Lord Tennyson's "Nothing Will Die".

Cast

as Frederick Treves, a doctor who takes John from the freakshow to work in the hospital *

as John Merrick, an intelligent, friendly and kind-hearted man who is feared by most people in his society because of his severe deformity. * Hannah Gordon as Ann Treves * Anne Bancroft as

as Francis Carr Gomm * Wendy Hiller as Mrs Mothershead * Freddie Jones as Mr Bytes, the evil ringmaster (based on Tom Norman) * Frederick Treves (great nephew of Dr Frederick Treves) as Alderman * Michael Elphick as Jim, the dishonest night porter * Dexter Fletcher as Bytes' boy * Helen Ryan as

Alexandra, Princess of Wales Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 January 1901 to 6 May 1910 as the wife of ...

* John Standing as Fox * Lesley Dunlop as Nora, Merrick's nurse * Phoebe Nicholls (picture)/Lydia Lisle (footage) as Mary Jane Merrick *

Morgan Sheppard William Morgan Sheppard (24 August 1932 – 6 January 2019) was an English actor who appeared in over 100 films and television programmes, in a career that spanned over 50 years. Stage career Sheppard graduated from the Royal Academy of ...

as man in pub * Kenny Baker as plumed dwarf * Pat Gorman as Fairground Bobby *

Pauline Quirke Pauline Perpetua Sheen ( Quirke; born 8 July 1959) is an English actress who has played Sharon Theodopolopodous in the long-running comedy series '' Birds of a Feather'' (1988–1999, 2014–2017). For this role, she won the 1990 British Comed ...

as prostitute *

Nula Conwell Nula Conwell (born 24 May 1959) is an English character actress. Career Conwell is best known for playing W.P.C/W.D.C. Viv Martella in the long-running crime UK series ''The Bill'' from 1984 to 1993, until her character was killed off. She i ...

as Nurse Kathleen, one of Merrick's nurses

Production

Development

Producer Jonathan Sanger optioned the script from writers Christopher Devore and

after receiving the script from his babysitter. Sanger had been working as

' assistant director on '' High Anxiety''. Sanger showed Brooks the script, whereupon he decided to help finance via Brooksfilms, his new company. Brooks' personal assistant, Stuart Cornfeld, suggested

to Sanger. Sanger met Lynch and they shared scripts they were working on (''The Elephant Man'' and Lynch's unrealized ''

Ronnie Rocket ''Ronnie Rocket'' is an unfinished film project written by David Lynch, who also intended to direct it. Begun after the success of his 1977 film '' Eraserhead'', Lynch shelved ''Ronnie Rocket'' due to an inability to find financial backing for ...

''). Lynch told Sanger that he would love to direct the script after reading it, and Sanger endorsed him after hearing Lynch's ideas. However, Brooks had not heard of Lynch at the time. Sanger and Cornfeld set up an '' Eraserhead'' viewing at a

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

screening room; Brooks loved it and enthusiastically agreed for Lynch to direct. By his own request, Brooks was not credited as executive producer to ensure that audiences would not expect a comedy after seeing his name attached.

Filming

The budget was $5 million, $4 million of which was raised from

Fred Silverman Fred Silverman (September 13, 1937 – January 30, 2020) was an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at all of the Big Three television networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as '' ...

of NBC. The remainder came from

EMI Films EMI Films was a British film studio and distributor. A subsidiary of the EMI conglomerate, the corporate name was not used throughout the entire period of EMI's involvement in the film industry, from 1969 to 1986, but the company's brief conne ...

. For his second feature and first studio film, albeit one independently financed, Lynch provided the musical direction and sound design. Lynch tried to design the make-up himself too but the design didn't work. The makeup, now supervised by Christopher Tucker, was based on direct casts of Merrick's body, which had been kept in the Royal London Hospital's private museum. The makeup took seven to eight hours to apply each day and two hours to delicately remove.

would arrive on set at 5am and shoot his scenes from noon until 10pm. After his first experience of the inconvenience of having to apply the makeup and perform with it, he called his girlfriend, saying, "I think they have finally managed to make me hate acting." Because of the strain on the actor, he worked alternate days. Lynch originally wanted Jack Nance for the title character. "But it just wasn't in the cards", Lynch says; the role went to Hurt after Brooks, Lynch and Sanger saw his performance as

Quentin Crisp Quentin Crisp (born Denis Charles Pratt; – ) was an English raconteur, whose work in the public eye included a memoir of his life and various media appearances. Before becoming well-known, he was an artist's model, hence the title of ...

in '' The Naked Civil Servant''. The film is bookended with

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

sequences centred around Merrick's mother and her death. Lynch used

Samuel Barber Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. The music critic Donal Henahan said, "Probab ...

's '' Adagio for Strings'' to underline the climax and Merrick's own death. Composer John Morris argued against using the music, stating that "this piece is going to be used over and over and over again in the future... And every time it's used in a film it's going to diminish the effect of the scene."

Post-production

Following their return from England with a print, Lynch and Sanger screened ''The Elephant Man'' for Brooks, who suggested some minor cuts but told them that the film would be released as they had made it.

Lawsuit

A West End play of the same name was enjoying a successful Broadway run at the time of the film's production. The producers sued Brooksfilms over the use of the title.

Reception

Box office

''The Elephant Man'' was a box office hit, grossing $26 million in the United States. In Japan, it was the second highest-grossing foreign film of the year with

theatrical rental A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is fre ...

s of ¥2.45 billion, behind only ''

The Empire Strikes Back ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based on a stor ...

''.

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, it has an approval rating of 92% based on 59 reviews, with an average score of 8.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "David Lynch's relatively straight second feature finds an admirable synthesis of compassion and restraint in treating its subject, and features outstanding performances by John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100 based on 16 critic reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews".

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

wrote: "Mr. Hurt is truly remarkable. It can't be easy to act under such a heavy mask ... the physical production is beautiful, especially Freddie Francis's black-and-white photography." A small number of critics were less favourable.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave it 2/4 stars, writing: "I kept asking myself what the film was really trying to say about the

human condition The human condition is all of the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered and analyzed f ...

as reflected by John Merrick, and I kept drawing blanks." In the book ''The Spectacle of Deformity: Freak Shows and Modern British Culture'', Nadja Durbach describes the work as "much more mawkish and moralising than one would expect from the leading postmodern surrealist filmmaker" and "unashamedly sentimental". She blamed this mawkishness on the use of Treves' memoirs as source material. ''The Elephant Man'' has since been ranked among the best films of the 1980s in ''Time Out'' (where it placed 19th) and ''Paste'' (56th). The film also received five votes in the 2012 ''

Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...

'' polls.

Accolades

''The Elephant Man'' was nominated for eight

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

, tying ''

Raging Bull ''Raging Bull'' is a 1980 American biographical sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, produced by Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler and adapted by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin from Jake LaMotta's 1970 memoir '' Raging Bull: M ...

'' at the

53rd Academy Awards The 53rd Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1980 and took place on March 31, 1981, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 7:00 p ...

, including Best Picture, Actor in a Leading Role (Hurt), Art Direction-Set Decoration ( Stuart Craig, Robert Cartwright, Hugh Scaife), Best Costume Design, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Music: Original Score, and Writing: Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium. However, it did not win any. Industry experts were appalled that the film was not going to be honoured for its make-up effects when the

announced its nominations at the time. A letter of protest was sent to the Academy's Board of Governors requesting to give the film an honorary award. The Academy refused, but in response to the outcry, they decided to give the make-up artists their own category. A year later, the Academy Award for Best Makeup category was introduced with '' An American Werewolf in London'' as its first recipient. It did win the

BAFTA Award for Best Film The BAFTA Award for Best Film is given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and presented at the British Academy Film Awards. It has been given since the 1st BAFTA Awards, representing the best films of 1947, but until 1 ...

, as well as other

for Best Actor (Hurt) and Best Production Design, and was nominated for four others: Direction, Screenplay, Cinematography and Editing. The film is recognized by

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Lead ...

in these lists: * 2005: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes: ** John Merrick: "I am not an animal! I am a human being. I am a man." – Nominated

Home media

The film has been issued many times on VHS,

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, ...

, CED,

LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diameter typical ...

and DVD. The first DVD was released on December 11, 2001 by Paramount Home Entertainment. The version released as part of the David Lynch ''Lime Green Box'' includes several interviews with Lynch and Hurt, and a Joseph Merrick documentary. This material is also available on the exclusive treatment on the European market as part of Optimum Releasing's ''StudioCanal Collection''. The film has been available on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

since 2009 throughout Europe and in Australia and Japan but not in the US (however the discs will play in both region A & B players). A 4K restoration (created from the original camera negative, supervised by Lynch) was carried out for the film's 40th anniversary, and was released in a director-approved special edition in both Blu-ray and DVD formats from

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scho ...

in the United States on September 29, 2020. The restoration was also released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray (including a remastered Blu-ray) in the UK in April 2020. A tie-in novelization by Christine Sparks was published by

Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains p ...

in 1980.

Soundtrack

The musical score of ''The Elephant Man'' was composed and conducted by John Morris, and it was performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1980, the company

20th Century Fox Records 20th Century Fox Records (also known as 20th Fox Records and 20th Century Records, or simply 20th Century Fox Film Scores and Fox Records) was a wholly owned subsidiary of film studio 20th Century Fox. The history of the label covers three dis ...

published this film's original musical score as both an LP album and as a cassette in the United States. Its front cover artwork features a masked John Merrick against a backdrop of smoke, as seen on the advance theatrical poster for the film. In 1994, the first

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in O ...

(CD) issue of the film score was made by the company

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

, which specializes in

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

s and

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrac ...

albums. Track listing for the first U.S. release on LP Side one #"The Elephant Man Theme" – 3:46 #"Dr. Treves Visits the Freak Show and Elephant Man" – 4:08 #"John Merrick and Psalm" – 1:17 #"John Merrick and Mrs. Kendal" – 2:03 #"The Nightmare" – 4:39 Side two #"Mrs. Kendal's Theater and Poetry Reading" – 1:58 #"The Belgian Circus Episode" – 3:00 #"Train Station" – 1:35 #"Pantomime" – 2:20 #"Adagio for Strings" – 5:52 #"Recapitulation" – 5:35

Cultural influence

The Jam The Jam were an English mod revival/ punk rock band formed in 1972 at Sheerwater Secondary School in Woking, Surrey. They released 18 consecutive Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in December 1 ...

's former bassist

Bruce Foxton Bruce Douglas Foxton (born 1 September 1955) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Foxton's music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as bassist and backing vocalist of mod revival band the Jam. ...

was inspired strongly by the film, and in response wrote the song "

Freak A freak is a person who is physically deformed or transformed due to an extraordinary medical condition or body modification. This definition was first attested with this meaning in the 1880s as a shorter form of the phrase "freak of nature" ...

" with the single's cover making a reference to the film. Actor Bradley Cooper credits watching the film with his father as a child as his inspiration to become an actor. Cooper played the character on Broadway in 2013. In season 3, episode 21 of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...

'', "

Black Widower "Black Widower" (originally titled "The Return of Sideshow Bob") is the twenty-first episode of the third season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 9, ...

", Lisa daydreams of Aunt Selma's new boyfriend as the Elephant Man. The 1992 film '' Batman Returns'' parodies the iconic line "I am not an animal. I am a man." In one scene, the Penguin, after being called Oswald, angrily yells "I am not a human being! I am an animal!" British TV presenter

Karl Pilkington Karl Pilkington (born 23 September 1972) is an English presenter, comedian, actor, voice-artist, producer and author. After working with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as producer on their XFM radio show, Pilkington became a co-host of ' ...

often has cited it as his favourite film. Pilkington's love for the film brought many new features to his various podcasts and radio shows. Musician

Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of alternative rock band R.E.M. He is known for his vocal quality, poetic lyrics and unique stage presence. Pos ...

loves the film and cites it as an inspiration for the R.E.M. song "Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)". Another R.E.M. song, "

New Test Leper "New Test Leper" is a song by R.E.M., included on their tenth studio album, ''New Adventures in Hi-Fi'', which was released in 1996. It wasn't released as a single; its only non-album issue was on a 1996 Germany-only-released Warner Bros. Recor ...

", quotes the line "I am not an animal." Musician

Nicole Dollanganger Nicole Ann Bell (born September 8, 1991), known professionally as Nicole Dollanganger, is a Canadian singer-songwriter and artist. Dollanganger's music is characterized by a feminine, high-pitched vocal style, minimal instrumentation, and lyrica ...

featured a sample of the film in her 2012 song "Cries of the Elephant Man Bones". Musician

Mylène Farmer Mylène Jeanne Gautier (; born 12 September 1961), known professionally as Mylène Farmer (), is a Canadian-born French singer, songwriter, occasional actress, writer, and entrepreneur. Having sold more than 30 million records in France, she is ...

's song "

Psychiatric Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psy ...

" from the 1991 album '' L'Autre...'' is a tribute to the film and

's voice is sampled throughout the song, repeating several times: "I'm a human being, I'm not an animal".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elephant Man, The (film) 1980 films 1980s biographical drama films American biographical drama films British biographical drama films 1980s English-language films American black-and-white films British black-and-white films Films about disability Films about sideshow performers Circus films Films adapted into plays Drama films based on actual events Films based on non-fiction books Films directed by David Lynch Films produced by Mel Brooks Brooksfilms films Paramount Pictures films Films scored by John Morris Best Foreign Film César Award winners Films set in London Films set in the 1880s Films shot in London Films shot at Shepperton Studios Best Film BAFTA Award winners Cultural depictions of Joseph Merrick EMI Films films Films based on multiple works 1980 drama films Films about prejudice 1980s American films 1980s British films