Before the previous Dune films, a cult director dreamed of realizing a 10 to 14-hour long film adaptation of the material. You can stream the documentary about the failed project in the Arte media library.
Frank Herbert’s epic novel Dune was long considered unfilmable. Master director David Lynch failed when creative control over his 1984 version of Dune was taken away from him. To this day, he does not want to talk about the result. Only Denis Villeneuve has now succeeded in bringing the sci-fi project to the big screen with his Dune two-parter, according to many fans.
Long before the new Dune films and Lynch’s failure, cult director Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo) dreamed of adapting Herbert’s story as a monumental work that would have pushed the boundaries of cinema. The stirring documentary about his shattered dreams is called Jodorowsky’s Dune and you can stream it for free on the Arte media library right now.
Jodorowsky’s Dune combines unimaginable sci-fi ambitions with sympathetic megalomania
In the documentary, the director talks about his over-ambitious plans that would have made his Dune adaptation 10 to 14 hours long! The artistic and creative personnel Jodorowsky wanted to assemble in front of and behind the camera for his vision of the sci-fi epic sounds nothing short of incredible.
While the celebrated rock band Pink Floyd was to compose the film music, among others, the director wanted personalities such as the legendary painter Salvador Dalí, Citizen Kane director Orson Welles and The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger to appear in acting roles.
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The director also wanted to use the designs of Swiss illustrator H.R. Giger. His designs were ultimately used for one of the best sci-fi horror films of all time: Ridley Scott’s Alien – The Uncanny Creature from a Strange World.
Watch another clip from Jodorowsky’s Dune here:
In addition to the director himself, other voices have their say in Jodorowsky’s Dune, raving about the never-realized dream project. These include Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn and producer Michel Seydoux. In the end, the film is an intoxicating contemporary document about dreams and ambitions that are shattered by the limits of reality. And yet individual elements have left their mark on film history
