When Diane Ladd passed away on November 3, 2025, at the age of 89, she left behind an incredible body of work that includes classic movies such as Chinatown and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, as well as memorable parts in the TV series Alice and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Her career lasted more than 60 years, during which she was considered for several awards, including three Primetime Emmys and three Oscars. But she almost didn’t take one of those Oscar-nominated roles, because of the man who was directing the film: David Lynch.Lynch wanted Ladd to play Marietta Fortune in Wild at Heart, his 1990 adaptation of the Barry Gifford novel by the same name. The director picked Ladd for the part for an obvious reason. Marietta Fortune is the mother of Lula, one the story’s protagonists, played by Laura Dern, Ladd’s real life daughter. Yet, Ladd was reluctant to take the part because she hated Blue Velvet, Dern’s first collaboration with Lynch.cnx.cmd.push(function() {cnx({playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530",}).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796");});In a 2024 interview with Vulture, Ladd recalled that she took exception to the infamous Blue Velvet scene in which the lounge singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) walks naked and dazed across a quiet suburb.“I was angry that [Lynch] would let one of the most beautiful women in the world, Isabella Rossellini, who he was in love with, stand nude in front of the whole world and light her so horribly,” Ladd admitted. “It wasn’t just bad — it was really bad. I thought, That’s a desecration. Would he do that to the blessed Virgin Mary? Why would he do that to his own true love? She’s got one of the most beautiful bodies in the world, but it didn’t look like it when he showed it. As a woman, I took exception just to that.”Ladd was hardly alone in that criticism. Roger Ebert famously criticized Lynch for Dorothy’s treatment in the movie, in which she is spied upon by clean-cut kid Jeffery (Kyle MacLachlan) and physically and sexually assaulted by madman Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) before the moment that Ladd points out. However, one person who didn’t take exception to Isabella Rossellini’s treatment in the movie was Isabella Rossellini. “I remember I was told that Roger Ebert said that [Lynch] exploited me, and I was surprised, because I was an adult,” she told IndieWire in 2024. “I was 31 or 32. I chose to play the character.”Even with those concerns, Ladd still liked the rest of Blue Velvet, but thought her reservations would prevent Lynch from ever hiring her. “I figured I’d never hear from him again,” she told Vulture. “And then all of a sudden, out of the blue, I get this phone call and it’s David Lynch. He says, ‘Diane, I’ve written a script, and it’s gonna star your daughter and Nicolas Cage. But there’s a starring role of the mother.'”In particular, Ladd was impressed about how Lynch never brought up her criticisms of his work. “He doesn’t say anything about the past. He didn’t ask me if I could meet again. He says, ‘I would be honored if you would star in this role for me,'” Ladd recalled. “Now, listen. When somebody appreciates you — a painting you’ve done, a meal you’ve cooked, a smile you gave them — and they’re honorable with integrity, that is like sunshine, healing every wound in your body.”And so Ladd took the part in Wild at Heart, a movie with its own upsetting content. Ladd threw herself into the part so much that she earned an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, losing to Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost. But for Ladd, the experience was enough, telling Vulture that Lynch was “one of most gentle and gracious and kind directors I’ve ever been privileged to work with.”And so, Wild at Heart serves as a monument to two great legacies, David Lynch and Diane Ladd.The post How David Lynch Recruited Diane Ladd for Oscar Nominated Role appeared first on Den of Geek.