Laura Dern, now an acclaimed actress with an Oscar, an Emmy, a BAFTA, and multiple Golden Globes to her name, recently opened up about her brief and tumultuous time at UCLA. In an interview on Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson’s podcast, “Where Everybody Knows Your Name,” Dern shared the story of how she was asked to leave the prestigious university after being cast in David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” at just 17 years old.
“I was 17, so excited to get into UCLA,” Dern recalled. “I was there for two days, and I had auditioned and got offered the role in ‘Blue Velvet.’ I was ecstatic, I worshipped David Lynch, as people really were from ‘Elephant Man,’ ‘Eraserhead,’ which he’d made at this point.”
Eager to balance her education with her budding acting career, Dern reached out to her professors and staff to request a leave of absence. Despite her willingness to complete her coursework concurrently, her efforts were in vain.
“I will write papers. I’ll come back and double up classes,” Dern explained. “I’ll hire a tutor. I’ll do classes. I can mail back— we didn’t have the internet the way we do now, so it was hard to do stuff online or anything.”
Even sharing the “Blue Velvet” script with the head of the film department didn’t help. The professor’s response was stark: “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.”
Reflecting on the irony, Dern noted that “Blue Velvet” is now a cornerstone of UCLA’s film studies curriculum. “Today if you want to get a master’s in film at that school, when you write a thesis, there are three movies you are required to study,” Dern said on the podcast. “And you know what one of them is? Pisses me off.”
Despite the setback, Dern’s decision to pursue “Blue Velvet” proved to be a pivotal moment in her career, underscoring her dedication and passion for acting even at a young age.
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