13. Isabella Rossellini Was Supposed To Play Josie
Much as he's a striking visionary whose public persona seems to be almost as much a lolloping eccentricity as his work (or is it...?), David Lynch still has something in common with your garden variety classic Hollywood guy: he's a bit of a dirty old man. As certain scenes in Blue Velvet and Mullholland Drive will attest to, he's not averse to putting some bare female flesh on the screen and the more out there, the better. He also has a habit with hooking up with the female stars of his films, with one of the longer relationships in his life Lynch has been married umpteen times being with Isabella Rossellini, who played the kidnapped and blackmailed dom to Dennis Hopper's psychotic, infantilised sub in Blue Velvet. She was supposed to be in more his stuff, though. In fact the part of Josie Packard was conceived with Rossellini in mind. It was only once she and Lynch broke up that she departed the project, and the Italian heritage of the character was thrown out for Chinese as Joan Chen was cast in the role instead.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
