Few saw David Lynch’s film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s genre-defining series of novels, Dune.
Fewer enjoyed it.
Fewer still realised that the movie came about due to the dream of one man; a man who never got to be part of its creation: Mexican director Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Jodorowsky’s Dune takes audiences through the director’s experience developing his vision for the film, and the process through which he brought together collaborators who went on to become some of the biggest names in cinematic sci-fi.
It’s a mindblowing journey, one almost as psychedelic as the bizarre films that made Jodorowsky a god of alternative cinema in the 70s. You don’t have to be a film-buff to appreciate the level of intricate detail the director and his team delve into, but it certainly helps.
Watching the documentary, it’s easy to get caught up in what might have been. Jodorowsky – in his 80s at the time of production – sells viewers the story with the same vigour and passion you might expect he had when he approached the studios 40 years ago. If we are to believe him, his version of Dune would have been one of the most ambitious, exciting, and amazing films made, even to this day. Sure, the concept deviated from the books so dramatically that fans would have rioted, but as the director says in one of the film’s best lines: “I was raping Frank Herbert, but like this, with love”.
Amidst b-roll of production sketches, storyboards, and old photos (much of it taken from the film’s famous ‘look book’, which totalled over 1000 pages), the documentary’s director, Frank Pavich, reveals what might be the most interesting element of the entire film: the inspiration it provided for the sci-fi genre.
From Flash Gordon to Alien (for which the script and creature design were created by members of Jodorowsky’s crew), the connections are astonishingly clear. It’s a reminder that an artist’s work isn’t just about making a single film, but providing audiences with the kinds of experiences they want to repeat again and again.
Jodorowsky truly believes that Dune would have done what Star Wars went on to do three years later, if not for the executives who refused to produce the film unless he stepped away from it. Once the lustre of Jodorowsky’s convictions wear off, it’s hard to decide whether this would have been the case. His prior films had been far from mainstream, and to push a Jodorowsky-directed sci-fi to a major audience may have only set the genre back. Some would argue that the film did more for film in its current state than if it had been made, and they may just be right.
Still, I would have liked to see it.
Have you seen the documentary? Tell us what you thought of it in the comments.