 Ronnie Rocket is an unfinished film project written by David Lynch , who also intended to direct it . Begun after the success of Lynch 's 1977 film Eraserhead , Ronnie Rocket was shelved after Lynch felt he would be unable to find financial backing for the project . He instead sought out an existing script on which to base his next film , settling on what would become 1980 's The Elephant Man . 
