CRM114

Um, did I slip back into 1983? Wait, there was no web in 1983. I better get my head MRI'd.

foofighters7

First off, the first person (or one of the earliest) attached to Direct it should have had a chance. That of course was Alejandro Jodorowsky. From what I have seen from the pre production and what I have heard it could have been fantastic.

For all you who claim Lynch blew his shot, he did not. He was forced to do things to the film and ultimately lost control of it, including the cut of the film that he wanted.

I think Lynch's cut could have been great. The style is there IMO, just not put together and is lacking something.

Numanoid

Lynch's Dune rules, I don't know what the hell the rest of you are talking about.

Dr. DVD

It doesn't rule, but given the constraints and time period in which it was made, it's still an interesting movie.

milo bloom

That's awesome.

There's another one based on Return of the Jedi called Goodnight Forest Moon.

Supermallet

That's the best Dune-related item I've seen since God Emperor of Dune.

Have you read the synopsis? While I think the film would have been amazing, it would have been even less of a Dune film than Lynch's was. Jodorowsky is a visionary, but his changes to the story were drastic and if the internet had existed when his movie was in pre-production, they would have ripped him apart worse than when people found the designs for the Michael Bay version of Transformers.

Lynch gave the world a very interesting look, but I don't think he ever really connected with the material. I still don't understand why he felt the need to add the sonic weapons, and so many of the performances are absurdly melodramatic (especially strange given that The Elephant Man, one film prior, has some of the best performances Lynch ever got in his career). The voiceovers are atrocious and it feels like Lynch didn't know how to make a lot of the concepts in the book visual, hence scenes full of exposition. You can lay a little blame on De Laurentiis, but ultimately I think Lynch was the wrong choice for the movie. Who would be the right choice? Hell if I know.

Hokeyboy

I loved Jodorowsky's vision. It would NOT have been Dune as anyone knew it, even remotely. It would have been fucking BRILLIANT!!! An abomination of the source material, sure, but fucking awesome.

Supermallet

Oh, I agree. But I'm willing to bet if he had made it back then, people would think even less of it now than they do of Lynch's version.

I do think Jodorowsky put his own stamp on it far more than Lynch did, and it would have been a more cohesive and interesting work of art on its own.

Hokeyboy

Wasn't Jodorowsky's ending supposed to be something where Paul's body dies but then he shouts down the Emperor by speaking through the voices of every sentient being in the universe? With an early 70s Pink Floyd soundtrack?

There's got to be some alternate universe where this actually got produced. I will spend the rest of my life trying to find a dimensional portal to such a universe.

Supermallet

This site has a ton of info on Jodorowsky's Dune:

http://www.duneinfo.com/unseen/

From the script synopsis on that site:
A lot of the ideas he had for Dune were used in his comic book The Incal, which I highly recommend, although it can be hard to find as it goes in and out of print. Interestingly, a lot of ideas in The Incal were later used in The Fifth Element.

Dr. DVD

The one thing about Jodorowsky's version that intrigued me was the fact that H.R. Giger was used for production design. You can find some of it and it would have very much made for a visually interesting movie.

Josh-da-man

Jodo's Dune had design work done by Giger, and also wanted Salvador Dali to play the Emperor. Chances are it would been off the hook and freaked the Herbert purists out more than Lynch could ever dream of doing.

Supermallet

Not just Dali as the Emperor, but also Dali as an exact replica of the Emperor, and they both sat on a throne that was also a toilet. The movie would have instantly killed anyone who watched it while tripping on LSD.

Dr. DVD

According to Wikipedia, he wanted Salvador Dali to play the emperor at a fee of $100,000 per hour, and Orson Welles was going to play the Baron on the condition that his favorite gourmet chef would be on set to prepare all of his meals. Pink Floyd was attached to make the score.

In all honesty, his vision would have probably been a mess, but a visually enthralling one nonetheless!

foofighters7

A double dolphin toilet throne no less.

Dali would have been interesting but seriously, he was a megalomaniac that probably would have added just as much problematic elements as good ones.

I know Jodorowsky believes that Star Wars and Alien especially kinda lifted some of his vision, and I don't doubt it at all.

Of course, as mentioned, Giger was one of the artist who was working on Jodo's Dune and as most know went on to work on Alien, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that some things used on the Pre-production for Dune ended up in other films.

Clearly, he was making his own Dune, but still I think it would have been fantastic.

If only there was a true Directors Cut of Lynch's Dune that would be nice to see his direction. Still, don't think it would live up to what could have been with Jodo's.

Supermallet

I never heard Jodorowsky make any claims about Star Wars (but then, it wouldn't surprise me, Jodorowsky believes that all ideas come from the collective unconscious and no one person ever truly has their own private individual idea), but he had not only Giger, but also Moebius do design drawings for Dune, and then both ended up working on Alien. I could see how he would think that Scott was lifting stuff from him.

Hokeyboy

I thought Giger was working on Ridley Scott's Dune project, before the two left to do Alien? Or I guess he was on both?

Hokeyboy

NVM just checked the site out, WOW awesome resource

Josh-da-man

http://www.humanoids.com/blog/editor-s-blog/id/17

This baby came out a couple of months ago; I am one of the lucky 750 who own one.

Supermallet

I got one as well, but the place I ordered it from did a crappy job packaging it for shipping and the corner was crushed. It's still readable, and nothing was torn (luckily). I emailed the retailer and asked if I could send it back for a cleaner copy, but they had no copies left and instead refunded my entire order, so I decided not to complain any further.

Dr. Mantle

Looks like a regular version of The Incal will be out on May 24.

Supermallet

Nice find.

Josh-da-man

The script summary for Jodo's Dune reads like lyrics from an old Hawkwind album.

heebiejeebie

I'd love to see Lynch revisit Dune and give us a true extended/alternate version. Probably VERY unlikey, but I'll keep my fingers crossed.

foofighters7

don't see him revisiting any of his films but if he did, I think this would be the last on the list just because it was such a terrible experience for him and Alan Smithee...