Laura Dern Recalls Being Told She Was 'No Longer Welcome' at College If She Left School to Make “Blue Velvet”

The actress left UCLA after just two days to star in the 1986 David Lynch thriller

Laura Dern’s acting career kicked off with quite the ultimatum.

While chatting with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson on their podcast, Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Dern, 57, recounted the difficult choice she made to leave college to film 1986’s Blue Velvet — which became the launchpad for her acting career.

“I was 17, so excited to get into UCLA,” she recalled in the July 24 episode. “I was there for two days, and I had auditioned and got offered the role in Blue Velvet.”

“Ecstatic” at the news — especially because she “worshiped” the thriller’s writer-director David Lynch — the star said she went to speak to the head of her department to request a leave of absence.

Their answer? “Absolutely not,” she recalled.

Related: Kyle MacLachlan Recalls How 'Understanding' Laura Dern Was When Their Breakup Went 'Bad': 'We Were Both Kids'

The Oscar winner — who was studying psychology and minoring in journalism at the Los Angeles university — said she did not give up right away. “I will write papers. I'll come back and, you know, double-up classes,” she recalled telling them, but said the answer was still “no.”

So she pleaded her case with the head of the film department. “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 next day, Dern said he called her back into his office for even more bad news — plus, his two cents on Lynch’s script.

“First of all, if you make this choice, you are no longer welcome at UCLA. You'll be out,” she recalled him telling her. “But secondly, having read this script, that you would give up your college education for this is insane.”

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In his defense, Dern noted, “Obviously, it was an incredibly shocking script,” before pointing out how ironic the situation is, given UCLA's current film program.

According to Dern, the R-rated thriller, which also stars Kyle MacLachlan and Isabella Rossellini, is now part of the school’s core curriculum.

“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,” she said. “And you know what one of them is.”

“Pisses me off,” she added.

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