The Elephant Man
The Elephant Man is a 1980 biographical drama film loosely based on the life of Joseph Merrick (named "John" in the film), a severely deformed man who lived in London in the late 19th century. The film was directed by David Lynch, produced by Jonathan Sanger, and executive produced by Mel Brooks (who was uncredited, to avoid audiences anticipating the film being in the vein of his comedic works, although his company Brooksfilms is in the opening credits). It stars John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Michael Elphick, Hannah Gordon, and Freddie Jones.
Plot
Frederick Treves, a surgeon at the London Hospital, finds the disfigured and seemingly-mute John Merrick in a Victorian freak show. Mr. Bytes, the brutish ringmaster, tells lurid stories of how elephants attacked Merrick's mother to create a half-human monster. Hoping to gain notoriety with a medical discovery, Treves pays Bytes to bring Merrick to the hospital for examination, wearing a hood for discretion.