Dune (film)
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Dune is a 1984 motion picture directed by David Lynch and based on the 1964 Frank Herbert novel of the same name. The film starred Kyle MacLachlan as the main character, Paul Atreides, and included an ensemble of well-known American, Latin American and European actors in the supporting roles, including Sting, Jose Ferrer, Virginia Madsen, Linda Hunt, Patrick Stewart, Max von Sydow, and Jürgen Prochnow, among others. This movie was filmed at the Churubusco Studios in Mexico and included a soundtrack by the band Toto.
Although it became a cult favorite, the film cost $42 million to produce and had a domestic gross of only $27.4 million.
Main cast
(in credited order)
- Francesca Annis as Lady Jessica
- Leonardo Cimino as The Baron's Doctor
- Brad Dourif as Piter De Vries
- José Ferrer as Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV
- Linda Hunt as Shadout Mapes
- Freddie Jones as Thufir Hawat
- Richard Jordan as Duncan Idaho
- Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Usul Muad'Dib Atreides
- Virginia Madsen as Princess Irulan
- Silvana Mangano as Rev. Mother Ramallo
- Everett McGill as Stilgar
- Kenneth McMillan as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
- Jack Nance as Captain Iakin Nefud
- Siân Phillips as Reverand Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam
- Angélica Aragón as Bene Gesserit Sister
- Jürgen Prochnow as Duke Leto Atreides
- Paul L. Smith as The Beast Rabban (credited as Paul Smith)
- Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck
- Sting as Feyd-Rautha
- Dean Stockwell as Dr. Wellington Yueh
- Max von Sydow as Dr. Kynes
- Alicia Witt as Alia (credited as Alicia Roanne Witt)
- Sean Young as Chani
- Honorato Magaloni as Otheym (credited as Honorato Magalone)
- Judd Omen as Jamis
- Molly Wryn as Harah
Adaptation
Shot almost entirely in Mexico, the movie is an adaptation of the first part of a series of novels (see Dune, by Frank Herbert) and containing elements from the later parts. The major plot concerned a young man foretold in prophecy as the Kwisatz Haderach who will save a desert planet from the evil House Harkonnen and cleanse the universe of evil in a religious jihad.The pre-production process was slow and problematic, and the project was handed from director to director. In 1971 the production company Apjac International (APJ) (headed by Arthur P. Jacobs) optioned the rights to film Dune. As Jacobs was busy with other projects (such as the sequel of Planet of the Apes) the project was delayed for another year. Originally, it was to be directed by David Lean (with Robert Bolt writing the screenplay) and scheduled to begin shooting in 1974. In 1973 Arthur P. Jacobs passed away.
In December of 1974 a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the rights to the movie from APJ. The director this time would be Chilean born writer/director/mime/composer/psychotherapist Alejandro Jodorowsky.
In 1975, Alejandro Jodorowsky tried to film the story as a ten hour feature, in collaboration with Orson Welles, Dan O'Bannon, Salvador Dalí, Gloria Swanson, H. R. Giger and others. The music would have been done by Pink Floyd, but the project was never finished. Frank Herbert travelled to Europe in 1976 to find that 2 million dollars were already spent, not a second of footage shot, and that the Jodorowsky script would result in a 14-hour movie. The rights for filming were yet again sold, this time to Dino de Laurentiis. To this day Jodorowsky states that the movie was taken from his hands because the project was French, not from Hollywood. Some of the designs were later used in the Alien films.
With De Laurentiis holding the rights for filming, he hired director Ridley Scott in 1979 (with Rudolph Wurlitzer writing the screenplay). Scott worked on 3 scripts and intended to split the book into 2 movies before moving on to direct Blade Runner. As he recalls the pre-production process was slow, and to get the project done would have taken more time:
"But after seven months I dropped out of Dune, by then Rudy Wurlitzer had come up with a first-draft script which I felt was a decent distillation of Frank Herbert's (book). But I also realised Dune was going to take a lot more work - at least two and a half years' worth. And I didn't have the heart to attack that because my [older] brother Frank unexpectedly died of cancer while I was prepping the De Laurentiis picture. Frankly, that freaked me out. So I went to Dino and told him the Dune script was his." (taken from "Ridley Scott - The Making of his Movies" - by Paul M. Sammon)
By 1981, the 9 year deal was expiring, De Laurentiis re-negotiated the rights again, and settled the rights for Dune sequels (written and unwritten). Raffaella De Laurentis, after seeing The Elephant Man decided that David Lynch should direct the movie, around that time Lynch was receiving several other offers, including , and agreed to direct and write Dune.
David Lynch worked on the script for 6 months with Eric Bergren and Christopher De Vore, eventually adapting the movie into 2 scripts. The team split up after this first attempt because of creative differences. Lynch would continue to work on 7 different scripts. His final, 135 page screenplay resulted in a movie about 4 - 5 hours in length. During post production, though, producer Dino De Laurentiis did not want to risk releasing a 40 million dollar movie that was three hours long, so he had David Lynch cut the film down to 137 minutes.
In Eye, Frank Herbert said he liked the longer cut a great deal, and expressed disappointment that it was shortened for theatrical release.
Box office and reception
The movie's hype was huge before release, as it was not only based on the best selling book but also because David Lynch was directing it after the success of Eraserhead & The Elephant Man. Several articles already praised the movie before its release (e.g.: [link]), as well as several merchandising articles were placed on toy stores ([link] ).But the movie wasn't the blockbuster science fiction film the filmmakers had hoped, grossing only $27.4 million in its domestic run off an estimated $42 million budget. This might have been due to the complexity of the story, featured in the movie in a thin, loose, and dream-like trail. In his review, critic Roger Ebert wrote "This movie is a real mess, an incomprehensible, ugly, unstructured, pointless excursion into the murkier realms of one of the most confusing screenplays of all time."
According to a review by Harlan Ellison, critics were unexpectedly denied advance screenings at the last minute. Ellison later became one of the film's few positive reviewers at the time, calling it "Filled with magic."
As a result of the box-office and critical failure, David Lynch doesn't like to talk about Dune in interviews, politely excusing himself as having "blocked" much from that time in his mind.
Kinder criticism praises the noir-baroque approach of Lynch to the movie. Others compare it to other Lynch movies, such as Eraserhead, and say that in order to watch it, the viewer must first be aware of the Dune universe.
Departures from the novel
The film makes departures from the novel, including the following.
- In the novel, the "Weirding Way," properly termed "prana-bindu training," is a super-martial art form that allows an adept like Paul Atreides to move with lightning speed. The Lynch movie replaces this with "Weirding Modules," sonic weapons that amplify the user's voice into a destructive force. This change literalizes a moment in the novel in which Paul says his name has become a death-prayer because the Fremen shout "Muad'dib!" before killing an opponent. In the movie, the Fremen actually destroy their enemies by shouting his name, leading Paul to make the remark "my name is a killing word."
- In the movie, the 'thopters (ornithopters) are depicted as wingless, jet or rocket-propelled aircraft.
- The movie ends with rain falling on Arrakis, apparently at Paul's command. In the novel, this is accomplished through years of terraforming, and it does not rain for decades after Paul ascends the throne.
- In the novel, the final line, spoken by Jessica to Chani, is "Those of us who bear the name of concubine, history will remember as wives" (in reference to Paul's marriage to and refusal of Irulan). In the movie, the final lines (spoken by Alia) are "And how can this be? For he is the Kwisatz Haderach!"
Cult success and revisions
Despite initial failure, the movie has achieved a respectable cult status of which at least three different versions have been released:
- The original theatrical version (137 minutes)--This version is the only director-approved and authorized version. It has been widely found on videocassette and DVD.
- The Alan Smithee Version (approx. 190 minutes)--The less-seen 3 hour "Alan Smithee" version is a cult classic on its own. Prepared originally for syndicated television (and later seen on basic cable networks), it is now available worldwide (including the U.S.) on DVD. The missing footage includes a painted montage at the prologue, and some scenes added back into the mix, including the "little-maker" essence-of-spice scene. The TV version was edited almost haphazardly (for example, certain shots were repeated throughout the film to give the impression that footage had been added). Lynch objected to these edits and had his name removed from the credits of the TV print (his name remains on the theatrical print as it is the only version authorized by the director).
- The Channel 2 Version (approx. 180 minutes)--KTVU, a San Francisco, CA Fox affiliate, pieced together a hybrid edit of the two previous versions for broadcast in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1992. It is essentially the TV version with all the violence of the theatrical version reincorporated into the film proper.
Also, a DVD Extended Edition version was released in Europe in November, 2005. It includes, amongst other extras, an extended version of the film, credited to Alan Smithee, which is 177 minutes long. The booklet explains this version was created for an American TV channel, and is probably the aforementioned Channel 2 Version. Neither the video nor the audio was remastered, exhibiting a poor TV-like quality. Despite the fact that the cover states that it is a mono soundtrack, it is, in fact, in stereo.
The British Observer newspaper gave away free DVD copies of Dune on January 22nd, 2006. This DVD release contained no special features.
Influence
- The film inspired a series of video games, by Cryo Interactive and Westwood games, including the famous Dune II, its remake Dune 2000 and , which featured live actors (including John Rhys-Davies as the Atreides mentat, and in its sequel, Michael Dorn as Atreides Duke Achillus).
- The novel was also recently adapted as a three part miniseries for the Sci-Fi Channel and later released on video/DVD.
See also
Trivia
- Michael Bolton appears as an extra, playing drums as the knife fight between Feyd and Paul begins, in the extended DVD version of the movie.
- The costumes worn by the characters who were members of The Guild were made from used bodybags. The film crew acquired the bodybags from an old firehouse that was closing down. The actors who wore the costumes were not told about this until after filming was completed.
External links
- [Dune] at All Movie Guide
- [Dune] DVD Review at Digital Monkey Box
- [Dune Motion Picture Script] at [SciFiScripts.com]
| David Lynch |
|---|
| Feature films |
| Eraserhead • The Elephant Man • Dune • Blue Velvet • Wild at Heart • Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me • Lost Highway • The Straight Story • Mulholland Dr. • Inland Empire |
| TV series |
| Twin Peaks • On the Air • Hotel Room |
| Other work |
| Short films • Industrial Symphony No. 1 • Rabbits • Dumb Land |
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