I cannot describe how much I wish this project went through. I really can't. It just pains me so much.
Picture this. It's the late 70s and the world has just been shook by Dune, a science fiction epic helmed by Alejandro Jodorowksy, the visionary arthouse director. The cinematic world is in chaos. The film, hated by the general public and hailed as a cult classic by arthouse film enthusiasts, attracts thousands upon thousands of people to the theatres, only to have them walk out twenty minutes in. Word of mouth calls it both an abomination and a masterpiece. An X rating attached to a film so graphic, many theatres refuse to show it all together. Critics tear each other apart over it, not knowing what to think. The original Paris premiere ended with a riot so violent the police had to detain the audience. The 12-hour runtime had had to be split into four parts. The most devoted cinema junkies try to sit through all four parts in one go, whilst many try and fail to get through just the first. To this day, people take to the Internet to argue about it and film accounts on Instagram create infographic upon infographic to try and at least scratch its surface. It is named the most controversial film of the century, if not of all time.
Unfortunately, that's not the world we live in. The visionary spectacle that would have been Jodorowksy's Dune was scrapped in 1974. And to this day, I think that I'm still raw about it. This film, this transcendental film that would have changed the face of cinema forever, was cancelled just because Hollywood studios thought that Jodorowksy was just plain crazy trying to accomplish it.
As a massive fan of the Dune books and both David Lynch's and Denis Villeneuve's version, I think that if this film had been made it would have honestly been the most ridiculous of all three. In a world where David Lynch's version was shunned for being "too weird", I can't even begin to imagine what people would think of this. Now, since it was never made, I don't think that I can accurately judge whether or not it would be a good or bad movie, but I think that it would definitely have been a movie that was incredibly divisive. On one hand, Jodorowsky's ideas matched the craziness of the book, if not even crazier, and I think that, drawing from all of the concept art, it would have been a complete visual FEAST. On the other hand, it just looked full of so much... STUFF.... that it could have just as easily be a beautiful mess. We'll never know.
This is a great documentary of one of cinematic history's biggest what-ifs. It's really well made, and the way that the concept art is exhibited alongside the interviews really helps bring the never-made movie to life as much as it ever will be. All of the art is absolutely STUNNING and it just gives a tiny taste of what it could have all been (I wish I could own a copy of that massive book of storyboards!). In fact, I think that even though Jodorowksy deviated quite a bit from the original novel, it still seems like it would have worked. Actually, I think that Jodorowksy's altered ending is actually much better than not only Lynch's ending (complete studio-manufactured happy bullis**t) but actually even the ending of the book (flat and slightly lukewarm). I think it would have perfectly encapsulated Paul's role as a self-destructive messiah, as well as demonstrating the transcendence of his mind as his powers as the Kwisatz Haderach - "one who can (very literally) be in many places at once".
If this movie was made and I had been alive back then, you bet that I'd have been the first one in the theatres.
-Sasha.
Picture this. It's the late 70s and the world has just been shook by Dune, a science fiction epic helmed by Alejandro Jodorowksy, the visionary arthouse director. The cinematic world is in chaos. The film, hated by the general public and hailed as a cult classic by arthouse film enthusiasts, attracts thousands upon thousands of people to the theatres, only to have them walk out twenty minutes in. Word of mouth calls it both an abomination and a masterpiece. An X rating attached to a film so graphic, many theatres refuse to show it all together. Critics tear each other apart over it, not knowing what to think. The original Paris premiere ended with a riot so violent the police had to detain the audience. The 12-hour runtime had had to be split into four parts. The most devoted cinema junkies try to sit through all four parts in one go, whilst many try and fail to get through just the first. To this day, people take to the Internet to argue about it and film accounts on Instagram create infographic upon infographic to try and at least scratch its surface. It is named the most controversial film of the century, if not of all time.
Unfortunately, that's not the world we live in. The visionary spectacle that would have been Jodorowksy's Dune was scrapped in 1974. And to this day, I think that I'm still raw about it. This film, this transcendental film that would have changed the face of cinema forever, was cancelled just because Hollywood studios thought that Jodorowksy was just plain crazy trying to accomplish it.
As a massive fan of the Dune books and both David Lynch's and Denis Villeneuve's version, I think that if this film had been made it would have honestly been the most ridiculous of all three. In a world where David Lynch's version was shunned for being "too weird", I can't even begin to imagine what people would think of this. Now, since it was never made, I don't think that I can accurately judge whether or not it would be a good or bad movie, but I think that it would definitely have been a movie that was incredibly divisive. On one hand, Jodorowsky's ideas matched the craziness of the book, if not even crazier, and I think that, drawing from all of the concept art, it would have been a complete visual FEAST. On the other hand, it just looked full of so much... STUFF.... that it could have just as easily be a beautiful mess. We'll never know.
This is a great documentary of one of cinematic history's biggest what-ifs. It's really well made, and the way that the concept art is exhibited alongside the interviews really helps bring the never-made movie to life as much as it ever will be. All of the art is absolutely STUNNING and it just gives a tiny taste of what it could have all been (I wish I could own a copy of that massive book of storyboards!). In fact, I think that even though Jodorowksy deviated quite a bit from the original novel, it still seems like it would have worked. Actually, I think that Jodorowksy's altered ending is actually much better than not only Lynch's ending (complete studio-manufactured happy bullis**t) but actually even the ending of the book (flat and slightly lukewarm). I think it would have perfectly encapsulated Paul's role as a self-destructive messiah, as well as demonstrating the transcendence of his mind as his powers as the Kwisatz Haderach - "one who can (very literally) be in many places at once".
If this movie was made and I had been alive back then, you bet that I'd have been the first one in the theatres.
-Sasha.