With 1980’s The Elephant Man, David Lynch was taking a big step forward in his career in just about every conceivable way. He was tackling complex subject matter rooted in historical biography — the story of Joseph (known as John in his film) Merrick, a severely deformed man who lived in nineteenth-century London. He was dealing with a much bigger budget than with his stunning, avant-garde debut, Eraserhead, as well as a fixed and finite shooting schedule. He was also in charge of a full professional film crew instead of an intimate core group of collaborators filling multiple roles.