(Photo by Chris Pizzello)
Laura Dern‘s performance in Wild earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress—her second Academy Award nod. But back in 2006, David Lynch launched a truly unforgettable campaign to get her leading role in Inland Empire recognized by the Academy.
And holy cow, what a campaign it was.
On the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea in Los Angeles, the director sat out in the open alongside a giant poster of his longtime collaborator emblazoned with the words “For your consideration.” But that wasn’t all. Next to him, what else than a live cow accompanied by its handler, Mike Fanning? As if that weren’t surreal enough, a second poster said “Without cheese there wouldn’t be an Inland Empire,” and when curious onlookers dared to ask what it meant, he’d respond: “Cheese is made from milk. Get it?“
Do you?
From an interview with Wired:
You know, there are a bunch of Academy members and all sorts of other awards activity going on out there. And people solve problems with money normally; well, I don’t have any money. And I also feel that the Academy members must be sick of seeing ad after ad after ad costing a fortune with no one really paying attention. Honestly, I’m out there with the cow, and meeting the greatest bunch of people. The other day, we had my friend (director of USC’s Polish Music Center) Marek Zebrowski out there playing piano. It was so beautiful, such a great day, out with Georgia the cow, beautiful piano music, meeting so many great people.
Here’s a video of two guys accidentally running into the surreal scene and taking the opportunity to approach David Lynch.
If you want to see the greatest performance of 2006, check out Laura Dern’s performance in Inland Empire.
—David Lynch
As you probably know, his quirky milk-fueled PR campaign did not do the trick. Penélope Cruz, Judi Dench, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet and Helen Mirren were nominated with the last mentioned taking home one of the Oscars that night in 2007. By the way, Helen Mirren was David Lynch’s top choice for the role of Dorothy Vallens in Blue Velvet, but that’s a different story.
When David Lynch was recently asked about a potential Oscar for Laura Dern in 2015, he answered:
I love Laura Dern. She’s a great actress and she’s like family to me. Many great actors and actresses don’t win an Oscar.
Fire walk with 
Inland Empire and David Lynch are too surreal and off the wall for the average Academy judges. David’s fierce independent nature will never give him the respect and attention that mainstream Hollywood films get. Alfred Hitchcock never once won an Oscar, though his films are considered some of the greatest ever.
except david lynch has been nominated for more than one academy award so… not quite true