THE ELEPHANT MAN
“I am not an animal! I am a human being! I…am…a man!” John Hurt gives a moving and powerful performance as John Merrick, a young man in Victorian England afflicted with grievous physical deformations caused by a hereditary condition. Having eked out a miserable existence for years as a circus freak dubbed “The Elephant Man,” Merrick is rescued by Dr. Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins), who restores Merrick’s dignity and provides him material comfort he has never known — but Treves’ altruism contains shades of professional exploitation as well. A visually stylish and moving biopic, THE ELEPHANT MAN was nominated for eight Academy Awards®, including the first of Lynch’s three directorial nods. Mel Brooks famously produced the film via his then-nascent Brooksfilms banner but asked that he not be credited onscreen for fear audiences would expect a comedy if his name were attached. DIR/SCR David Lynch; SCR Eric Bergren, Christopher De Vore, from the memoir by Sir Frederick Treves and the book by Ashley Montagu; PROD Jonathan Sanger. UK/U.S., 1980, b&w, 124 min. RATED PG
Run Time: 124 Minutes
Opening Date: Friday, August 21, 2026
Genre: Drama, biography
