David Lynch, the visionary American filmmaker died on 15 January 2025. A little known fact is that in the late 1970s Lynch visited Nottingham’s Goose Fair looking for inspiration and cast members for his film The Elephant Man…
The death of legendary American filmmaker David Lynch was announced by his family in a Facebook post on 16 January on the official David Lynch Facebook page.
“It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch. We would appreciate some privacy at this time. There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.’ It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.”
David was known as a visionary in American film and directed films including his 1977 breakthrough feature Eraserhead (1977), Dune (1984), Blue Velvet (1986), Wild at Heart (1990), Lost Highway (1997), Mulholland Drive (2001) and Inland Empire (2006). Lynch was also the creator of Twin Peaks, a television series that ran over three seasons (1990-1991 and 2017) and included the feature film Fire Walk With Me (1992). Lynch was also a visual artist, actor and musician and regularly spent time in the UK on various projects.
However, a little known fact is David also paid a visit to Nottingham’s Goose Fair in the late 1970s, shortly after his breakthrough film Eraserhead and when planning his next project. This was revealed in Room To Dream, a 2018 biography he co-wrote with American journalist Kristine McKenna.
It was the late 1970s, and David was in the UK working on pre-production for the 1980 film The Elephant Man. The film is loosely based on the life of Joseph Merrick (referred to throughout the film as ‘John’), a severely deformed man with a congenital disorder who lived in London in the late 19th century. Merrick earned his living as a performer in a carnival of freaks, before going on to become the toast of London and charming Anne Bancroft, a caring actress, before his death at the age of 27.
Nottingham’s Goose Fair is an annual event that takes place in the city to this day and dates back to before 1284, when it was granted Royal Charter status by King Edward I. It’s origins were as a livestock trading event (hence the name) but over the years its offering has changed and in the modern day it’s a large gathering of funfair rides and stalls provided by travelling showmen. For centuries, the fair was held in Nottingham's Old Market Square in the city centre, but it moved to the Forest Recreation Ground in 1928, which is the location it wasn held at when David Lynch visited.
Lynch and the film’s producer Jonathan Sangar were in the UK searching for inspiration for a carnival of freaks for their film. There were two scenes in particular where they wanted to find and feature a cast of carnival freaks to perform alongside English actor John Hurt, who played Merrick.
The casting was proving to be challenging, as the popularity of freak shows had declined sharply in the UK from the early twentieth century onwards. However, they started to look towards Nottingham’s Goose Fair, which still promoted various elements of carnival freakshows as part of its offering at the time. Lynch somehow learned that someone involved in Goose Fair pertained to be the manager of a set of conjoined twins and they planned a road trip to meet him. Producer Jonathan Sangar picks up the rest of the story (quoted directly from Room To Dream).
“David was very excited about this, so we called this guy up and he said ‘Yeah, I’ve got the twins – I manage them.’ So David and I drove up to the Goose Fair, which turned out to be this backwater place with a bunch of dumpy trailers.
“We go to this guy's door and knock, and a fat guy in a dirty t-shirt opens the door, and he and his wife invite us in. This place was straight out of David’s dreams. So the guy says ‘Honey, go get the twins.’ And he went to the far end of the trailer and came back with a big bell jar of formaldehyde and the embryo of a set of dead twins. David was disappointed.”
The biography Room To Dream, by David Lynch and Kristine McKenna, is available to buy from the usual outlets.
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