Frank Herbert’s (opens in a new tab) sci-fi classic Dune (opens in a new tab) was always going to be a difficult novel to turn into a sub three-hour film, particularly because of the complex universe, intricate lore and multiple characters it features. The initial novel went onto spawn a Dune franchise (opens in a new tab), comprising of five more books written by Herbert as well as board games, video games and a series of prequels written after Herbert’s death.

The film that was eventually released in 1984 went through a long gestation, attracting multiple production teams and several directors over a thirteen year period from when the rights were first optioned. Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) has a nice explanation of the various versions (see ‘Production’). In 1975 it looked like legendary director Alejandro Jodorowsky (opens in a new tab) would realise his version of the film with an incredible selection of actors:

In 1975, Jodorowsky planned to film the story as a ten-hour feature, in collaboration with Salvador Dalí (opens in a new tab), Orson Welles (opens in a new tab), Gloria Swanson (opens in a new tab), David Carradine (opens in a new tab), Geraldine Chaplin (opens in a new tab), Alain Delon (opens in a new tab), Hervé Villechaize (opens in a new tab) and Mick Jagger (opens in a new tab).

Even more exciting, in my opinion, was the roster of talent he had assembled behind the camera:

Jodorowsky set up a pre-production unit in Paris consisting of Chris Foss (opens in a new tab), a British artist who designed covers for science fiction periodicals, Jean Giraud (Moebius) (opens in a new tab), a French illustrator who created and also wrote and drew for Metal Hurlant (opens in a new tab) magazine, and H. R. Giger (opens in a new tab). Dan O’Bannon (opens in a new tab) was to head the special effects department.

After a couple of years the project stalled and the financial backing dried up. Frank Herbert traveled to Europe to meet with Jodorowsky and discovered that his script would have resulted in a 14 hour movie.

This website (opens in a new tab) has a great account of Jodorowsky’s version written by the man himself. Earlier this year it was announced that a film was being made that documents this failed version. There’s more info and a trailer on DuneInfo (opens in a new tab).

The rights were sold to Italian producer Dino de Laurentiis (opens in a new tab) who spent several years trying to get his version of the project off the ground. At one point it looked like Ridley Scott (opens in a new tab) would direct but he eventually left to work on Blade Runner after realising how long Dune would take to bring to screen.

In 1981 De Laurentiis approached director David Lynch (opens in a new tab) after his daughter had seen The Elephant Man (opens in a new tab) and recommended it to her father. Lynch went on to write six drafts of the screenplay before filming commenced in March, 1983. The first cut of the film ran over four hours and, although Lynch was aiming for a preferred length of three hours, the backers (including Universal Pictures) insisted on a two hour film. This meant many scenes were completely excised, new scenes were shot to simplify others and a voice over was added.

All of this resulted in a film that is widely considered as something of a mess, with poor critical reception and box office takings meaning plans for possible sequels were shelved indefinitely. Today, Lynch doesn’t like to talk about the film in interviews and has turned down offers from Universal to reassemble a longer ‘director’s cut’.

This Japanese poster features unique artwork but is clearly based on some of the images featured on the US advance one sheet. I’m unsure of the artist so please get in touch if you have any ideas.