The Elephant Man (film) use of the title. "The Elephant Man" was met with critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 90% rating, based on 42 reviews, with an average score of 8.4/10. The site's 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." Vincent Canby 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
The Elephant Man (film) Bergen after receiving the script from his babysitter. Sanger had been working as Mel Brooks' assistant director on "High Anxiety". Sanger showed Brooks the script, which he read and decided to help finance the film through Brooksfilms, his new company. Brooks' personal assistant, Stuart Cornfeld, suggested David Lynch to Sanger. Sanger met Lynch and they shared scripts they were working on ("The Elephant Man" and Lynch's "Ronnie Rocket"). 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 David Lynch at the