10. The Elephant Man (1980)
His first true 'feature presentation' was this adaptation of the true story of medical anomaly John Merrick. From the full length student/art film head trip on parenthood that was his first film, Eraserhead (more on that later) it led to this collaboration with a big-time wannabe Hollywood producer, Stuart Cornfeld, who's only previous work was as an assistant to producer Mel Brooks, the man who's work was as far away as you could get from 'serious' art house cinema. Cornfeld enjoyed Eraserhead so much he rounded up the funding and actors for Lynch's next project. The Elephant Man starred Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt as the disfigured man at first ostracized then coveted by Victorian society. Call it a pre-cursor, non-sanitary version of Edward Scissorhands. This led to an offer by George Lucas to direct Return of the Jedi, which Lynch refused. Read that again.
Lynch was offered and refused to direct Return of the Jedi. WTF to what could have been... Or you can just shove that out of your brain and watch the
full version of the Elephant Man here.