Laura Dern Shares Story That Still 'Pisses Me Off' About A Run-In With A Former Acting Teacher

Laura Dern has admitted she’s still “pissed off” about how things played out during her short stint at UCLA.

As a teenager, the future Oscar winner landed a spot to study acting at the prestigious Los Angeles college, but when she was offered a part in Blue Velvet, which would turn out to be her breakout role, her time at uni was cut short.

Speaking to the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast, Laura recalled speaking to the university’s head of department about taking a leave of absence to shoot the film, and was told “absolutely not”.

“I said, ‘I have this opportunity’ and he said, ‘Well, I’ll look at the script if you want to give me the script, but, you know, you’re not going to get a leave of absence. It’s not going to happen. It’s not a medical emergency,’” the Jurassic Park star explained.

After taking a look at the script, he apparently later told her: “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.”

“I will just end by saying after my two days, today, if you want to get a masters in film at that school, when you write a thesis there are three movies you are required to study,” Laura added. “And you know what one of them is? Pisses me off.” 

Blue Velvet went on to land David Lynch another Best Director nod at the Oscars, while Laura’s performance earned her recognition at the Independent Spirit Awards (the same awards show where, more than 30 years later, The Gay Men’s Choir would perform a choral number inspired by her most camp moments).

The film is still revered to this day, holding a 4.1 star rating on Letterboxd and 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes.