Why Are There People Like Frank?: 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Blue Velvet

Arguably the pinnacle of the David Lynch oeuvre, Blue Velvet is one of the most haunting, surreal, beautiful movies ever made. Such Lynchian regulars as Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern star alongside Isabella Rossellini, who gives a head-turning, career-best performance as Dorothy Vallens, and Dennis Hopper, breathing life into one of cinema’s most terrifying villains, Frank Booth.

Lynch captured the dark side of American suburbia and explored the most disturbing corners of the human psyche by juxtaposing the quaint and the familiar with the gruesome and the unsettling. Here are 10 fascinating details from the making of Blue Velvet.

10 Blue Velvet Never Would’ve Gotten Made If David Lynch Directed Return Of The Jedi

When George Lucas was in pre-production on Return of the Jedi, he offered the director’s chair to a handful of filmmakers, David Lynch among them. Lynch turned down the offer and made Dune instead.

The financial and critical failure of Dune is what led Lynch to conceive Blue Velvet as a career comeback. He has since suggested that if he’d taken the job of directing Return of the Jedi, which was guaranteed to be a huge hit, Blue Velvet might have never been made.

9 The Movie Could Have Starred Val Kilmer And Molly Ringwald

Val Kilmer was initially offered the part of Jeffrey, but he turned it down. He’s since said that he was sent an early draft that was basically a hardcore porno. Kilmer would later say that if he was given the script that ended up being shot as the final movie, he would’ve taken the role.

Molly Ringwald was David Lynch’s top choice to play Sandy, but she turned it down, fearing that the film would tarnish her family-friendly image.

8 Roy Orbison Didn’t Want “In Dreams” To Appear In The Movie

On top of the track that this movie gets its title from, Blue Velvet prominently features Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams.” Orbison initially refused to let the filmmakers use his song, so David Lynch found a way to legally use it without Orbison’s permission.

Orbison didn’t find out that his song was used in the film until he caught it at a movie theater in California after its release. Ironically, the movie ended up reviving Orbison’s career, and he eventually shot a video for “In Dreams” with Lynch that utilized footage from the movie.

7 The Prosthetic Ear From The Movie Still Belongs To The Makeup Artist Who Created It

One of the most striking images in Blue Velvet — and the image that initially sparked Lynch’s interest in the idea — is the severed ear lying on a lawn in the heart of American suburbia, found by Jeffrey.

Although there are plenty of myths to the contrary, the prosthetic ear belongs to Jeff Goodwin, the makeup artist who created it. Goodwin initially modeled it after his own ear, but Lynch thought it looked too much like a child’s, so it was altered to look like Fred C. Caruso’s ear instead.

6 David Lynch Laughed While He Was Filming The Movie’s Most Disturbing Scene

Isabella Rossellini was confused during the filming of Blue Velvet’s most disturbing scene — the ritualistic sexual assault scene — because David Lynch was laughing hysterically off-camera. He found the weirdness of the scene to be humorous, but Rossellini didn’t see it that way.

However, in the years since the movie came out, Rossellini has said that she can’t watch this scene without laughing.

5 Willem Dafoe Was Considered For The Role Of Frank Booth

Many actors were considered for the role of Frank Booth, including Willem Dafoe, Harry Dean Stanton, Robert Loggia, and Steven Berkoff. For the most part, the actors’ reasoning for turning down the part was that Frank was too intense and horrible.

Dennis Hopper, on the other hand, emerged as the perfect casting when he told David Lynch, “You have to let me play Frank, because I am Frank!”

4 Frank’s Tank Was Originally Going To Be Filled With Helium

Originally, Frank’s tank was going to be filled with helium. However, experienced drug user Dennis Hopper had a clearer idea of what Frank would use to get high: amyl nitrite, an angina medication used recreationally on the disco scene.

Hopper came to regret suggesting this change, thinking that it would be scarier for Frank to breathe from a tank with no explanation, but David Lynch liked the change because he came to realize that Frank using helium would have an unintended comedic effect.

3 According To Dennis Hopper, David Lynch Never Used The F-Word On The Set — Even When Referring To Dialogue

On the set of Blue Velvet, Dennis Hopper got a kick out of the fact that David Lynch would never use the F-word. He’d gladly filled his script with F-bombs, but if he referred to a swear-laden line of dialogue, he’d simply point to the page and refer to it as “that word.”

2 Helen Mirren Was The Second Choice To Play Dorothy

David Lynch wrote the role of Dorothy with Debbie Harry in mind. However, Harry had grown tired of being offered weirdo role after being typecast by the success of Videodrome, so she turned it down.

Helen Mirren was Lynch’s second choice for the part. Before Isabella Rossellini was cast, Jodie Foster, Helen Hunt, Anjelica Huston, Sissy Spacek, Meryl Streep, and Sigourney Weaver were all considered.

1 The First Cut Of The Movie Was Almost Twice As Long As The Final Cut

The final cut of Blue Velvet has a run time of approximately two hours, but the rough cut came in at exactly double that: four hours long. David Lynch chopped a total of two hours and one minute of footage from that initial cut.

About The Author

Ben Sherlock
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Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He’s currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs around the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

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