I can’t remember exactly how far into our relationship the
question was asked, but I do know that it was within the first few months.
“So have you read Dune?” My yet to be husband asked.
“Dune? No, I haven’t ,” I replied.
“You should read it, it is really good. You would love it.”
Being an overworked and overwhelmed college student at the
time, I had not even a minute for pleasure reading, but I was able to carve out
time that summer to read the first three books in the Dune series.
He was right. I loved it!
After reading the first Dune book, my then boyfriend and I
sat down and watched director David Lynch’s movie adaptation of Dune. It has
some redeeming qualities, but overall it’s not the greatest movie.
In 2000 the Syfy channel created a television miniseries based on Dune. It
was good, but still it seemed to be missing something.
Prior to David Lynch taking on Dune there was another
filmmaker, Alejandro Jodorowsky, who dreamt of making a film based on the Frank
Herbert novel. Jodorowsky first worked to assemble a team of creative-spiritual
warriors to work on the movie with him. He wrote a script, story boarded the
entire film, had artistic renderings of costumes and sets, and had even cast
some of the movie. Unfortunately, the
team could not find a film studio willing to make Jodorowsky’s epic vision. A
vision, that would have starred, Mick Jagger, Orson Wells, and Salvador Dali to
name a few, and had a yet to be determined length. Jodorowsky thought the movie
might run up to 20 hours. This never
made Dune movie has often been touted as one of the greatest films never made,
great enough to warrant its own documentary film called, Jodorowsky’s Dune.
After our Sunday brunch, we headed to The Ritz at the Bourse
to see Jodorowsky’s Dune.
It was a captivating documentary, enhanced by the fact that
Jodorowsky, who is now in his 80s, is quite the eccentric character. He is
extremely animated and often uses sound effects when he speaks (this delighted
me and made me love him all the more). He has an incredible, one might even say enviable
imagination, and a unique way of viewing the world. He is the type of person that I would love to
sit down with for a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and listen to him speak
for hours about the creative process.
The documentary was filled with fun stories about how
Jodorowsky recruited Salvador Dali and Orson Wells. It also included many
animated versions of the story boards so you could get an idea of what the
movie would have looked like. I found it interesting when they showed some of
the movies that members of the Dune team went on to make, and how their time
working on the Dune film, though it was never made, influenced their future
film projects (Alien,Masters of the Universe, Blade Runner etc..).
In the end we decided that although
Jodorowsky’s movie would have certainly turned out to be a unique and interesting
piece of artistic film making, we probably would not have liked it as a representation
of a book we both love. Jodorowsky had
actually never read the book Dune when he decided to make the film. A friend
of his had merely told him about the book. Jodorowsky was more interested in the
spiritual aspects and the ideas of the story. He was not as interested in
keeping to the actual plot. His version would have taken a lot of creative
license that included an entirely different ending.
If you get a chance I do recommend seeing the
documentary. Even if you aren't a Dune
fan, it is a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a slightly mad creative
genius.
