The Elephant Man (film) 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 John Hurt after Brooks, Lynch and Sanger saw his performance in "The Naked Civil Servant" as Quentin Crisp. Lynch bookended the film with surrealist sequences centered around Merrick's mother and her death. Lynch used Samuel Barber’s "Adagio for Strings" to underline the end of the film and Merrick's own death. The film's composer, John Morris, argued against using the music, stating that "this piece
The Elephant Man (1982 film) The Elephant Man (1982 film) The Elephant Man is a 1982 American biographical television film directed by Jack Hofsiss about the 19th-century English medical curiosity Joseph Merrick (known in this film as John Merrick). The script was adapted by Steve Lawson from the 1977 play of the same name by Bernard Pomerance. It was first broadcast by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) on January 4, 1982. Playwright Pomerance's Broadway debut of "The Elephant Man" in 1977 was directed by Hofsiss, who became the youngest ever winner of a Tony Award for directing the play. In the film, Philip Anglim and