Only Alejandro Jodorowsky could take Dune, a book that is already pretty weird and say, "Yeah but I think it should also be a movie within a movie projected from the head of a crucified robot for an audience of evolved sentient dogs."
Jodorowsky's Dune is probably a movie that would have been better served as an animated movie over live action. Not just because of budget but because of its complexity and scope.
This version would've been so bonkers that Herbert's warning about falling for demagogues and messiahs would get lost, buried underneath all the surrealism and plot changes.
@@datboi7160 The original visions of *"ALIEN III"* would make a great "What Could've Been" episode, from William Gibson's Cold War story that includes a new method for Xenomorphs to multiply - via a virus that turn humans into an Alien - all the way to Vincent Ward's monk-populated wooden planet.
Supposedly that ripple was outright plagiarism. As every studio was sent the Dune Bible a lot of people got to see it. And that it supposedly was ripped off by Star Wars, Alien, even Lynch's Dune. A simular thing happened with a script by legendary Indian film-maker Sanjit Ray. Called The Alien, it circulated Hollywood in the 70's looking for funding. It was never picked up but was seen by a lot of people. A few years later Steven Spielberg started developing ideas for E.T. and well it contains a lot of elements from The Alien. Even John Hammond from Jurassic Park, Richard Attenborough would claim this, as would Spielberg's friend and collaborator, Martin Scorsese. Spielberg's defence was that he was high school when the script was circulating, but this has been proved to be incorrect and he was working in Hollywood at the time.
It seems this movie was best served as a concept for other things rather than an actual production, kind of like a concept car that is a test bed of innovative ideas, looking spectacular but practically not possible.
It's crazy that Jodorowsky, even in his failure of not getting something great to the big screen, inspired Ridley Scott to create *fucking Alien,* one of the best Sci-Fi Horror movies to ever be made.
Having seen the Jodorowsky’s Dune documentary, it would have been a really insane, long, and expensive movie if made. It would have been interesting to see, but I don’t know if it would have been good
There’s something poetic about Paul dying in the script then living on through others, like how this movie was killed but it’s ideas would inspire countless movies from Terminator, to Star Wars, to Indiana Jones, and more.
It's amazing to me how many "visionaries" have adapted or sought to adapt Dune and completely missed the points Frank Herbert was trying to make by writing the chronicles in the first place.
I love the idea of Harkonen's soldiers all being able to poo at the same time and on command! And doing it to Leto's Palace seems pointless if the Harkonens are conquering it, to presumably use it 😅
Jodorowsky's vision of what his Dune movie could've been is so wild and out there. But it would've definitely upset the Dune fans. If he changed the name and all references to Dune, then it would've been a different story. Though budget of this movie would've made it impossible to create.
Even if it was a copy cat of Dune, it would have been a much better project since everyone would be going into the wacky project with a fresh set of eyes
I’d love a video on the original plans for The Truman Show. Apparently director Peter Weir wanted cameras installed in all theaters to show the audience in the movie, he had some wild ideas.
They should make animated movie or a comic book based on this. Jagger, Dali, Giger, and Welles name a weirder combination! "Paul..falls heavily..dead!"
I've never understood people's fascination with this version of Dune which would have been an unmitigated disaster and tarnished Dune forever. Whenever Dune would be brought up people would giggle and roll their eyes thinking of Jodorowsky's version. Denis' version OTH has open a whole new Dune world to a ton of new fans.
Absolutely, Jodorovskys was never about adapting the novel to the screen but about him superimposing his own narrative over it, and this hubris ultimately caused the project to fail as spectacularly as it did. The fact that he became so butthurt after losing funding that he stopped making movies for decades and instead taking credit for influencing Star Wars and Alien by association to his project is just as hilarious as it is sad.
It's all the screwed up Jodo fans who do too many drugs who think his version would be a great idea. It would be the ultimate movie to go and see on LSD and then walk out feeling like they got something really deep out of it when all they got was pretty special effects, cool music and weirdities.
Imagine training your son martial arts 6 hours a day to prepare for a role in a movie that you want to direct only for the project failed. On the other hand, at least his son knows how to protect himself, I guess.
thanks for the more abridged version of what happeend to this movie i saw the documentary, was a lot loved the visuals and i was kind of curious about seeing that version as a novelty but not sure if it would've been something i would've liked with all the nudity and the altered ending but glad all the stuff that came from it got recycled to other sci-fi features
There is one other graphic novel aside from the Incal where a lot of his ideas for Dune were given a new story, La Caste des Méta-Barons or The Metabarons as it was published in America, mentioning it because is absolutely worth it if you like Dune or just sci-fi in general.
Although he never got studio approval, what could’ve been George Lucas’s Flash Gordon could be very interesting as that was the movie Lucas wanted to make before turning to create Star Wars
everyone says this is the greatest movie never made, and while the visual effects would have been revolutionary had he been able to pull them off, the more I hear about jodarowski's Dune, the more I'm convinced it really wouldn't have been a very good movie overall. I think the real great movie that was never made would have been the Ridley Scott version. Scott was much more practical and It sounds like he would have built his film around joderowski's vision as a base but probably delivered something more coherent and true to the themes of the book, like he did with blade runner. that I think is the version I would have really liked to see
In terms of score and visuals this would have changed the landscape of movies forever! Everything that makes up the modern blockbuster would be different if this movie was made!
@@Bulletsandblockbusters In the 2005 dvd commentary for the first film Chris Columbus Says he pitched a film where kevin wants revenge on harry and marv only they've changed their ways. He also mentioned that Home Alone 2 & 3 were supposed to film back to back like is rumoured. I also heard stuff on IMDb that 3 was supposed to focus on a teenage kevin but mac had taken a break so Hughes rewrote the script to focus on suspiciously similar substitutes like it does. or a film on uncle frank leaving fuller home alone with the wet bandits going after him. But I'm not sure about those last 2. IMDb are great for actor statistics but I don't know where they get their trivia from so that last one's not sure I also heard that columbus mentioned in 2015 that he had another idea which focused on the wet bandits attempting revenge on kevin by trying to murder his son here's the source for that one uproxx.com/movies/chris-columbus-pixels-gremlins-goonies-interview/
After the success of the recent Home Alone Google ad starring Macauley Culkin I thought they might have considered doing a 3rd Mac Home Alone. Joe Pesci who's basically retired was in the other ad so I reckon he'd be game.
What Could have Been: Grumpiest Old Men. I remember reading waaaay back when that it was going to feature a trip for the families to Italy, and just read it was cancelled due to Out to Sea and Odd Couple II underperforming. Then, of course, Lemmon and Matthau died. It would be interesting to know how far along it had been and what it really might have been about.
7:20 regardless of whether the finished film (live action or animated) would have been any good, the pre production is a hoot. Jodorowsky described typical science fiction spacecrafts as "flying refrigerators, cold boxes of imperial capitalism". Then you get to Villeneuve's *Dune* where the Atredies spacecraft look like giant refrigerators.
I admire Jodorowsky creativity and talent. The team he brought together for this project is legendary and the book they put together for the studios (to convince them to greenlight the movie) became something that inspired movies like Alien, Terminator, Blade Runner and many others. For that alone, I think I can say we are all very greatful. BUT... as a Dune reader, I say THANK GOD the movie never got made. Jodorowsky destroys the elements that make Dune what it is and the ending he created is so bonkers that make the David Lynch movie look like a masterpiece. To me, an adaptation doesn't have to be the exact copy of the book. Somethings don't translate so well in movie form and others have to be cut because of the movie's duration. But the adaptation HAS TO bring the soul of the original work. Jodorowski was never interested in that. He wanted to make HIS Dune, no matter what Frank Herbert had to say. That is a no no to me.
@@jaysonraphaelmurdock8812 In a way, I think you're right. Stephen King was mad about the movie because the father's slow descent into madness was cut. I just think Jodorowki's case was even worse. Herbert's book is about the dangers of trusting charismatic leaders. It was meant as a warning and it showed us that in the end, Paul is just a flawed man. Jodorowsky and David Lynch turned him into a God by the end and ruined everything.
The wildest part to me is they would've casted Dali to play the emperor, second all his wacky requests, including the absurd amount of money for only an hour out of 14 of screen time, only for all this to fall apart because Dali said he liked the Spanish dictator.
I'm surprised you didn't mention the Saga of the Metabarons as a comic book legacy of this unrealized Dune project and Jodorowsky's writing. Some of the stuff he wanted to put into Dune is there to the letter.
One thing you didn't mention is that Jodorowsky convinced Orson Wells to do the movie by promising him that he would hire the chef from his favorite restaurant to cook all his meals for him.
Unfortunately, movies cost money to make, they cost money to distribute, and they cost money to advertise and promote. Not all art forms are created in the same way.
This movie not happening was the best thing for Dune, Jorodowski and Moebius. Dune was left intact instead of getting a bonkers adaptation that fully ignored its basic concepts and ideas. Jorodowski and Moebius could sit and reshuffle these ideas to create their own IP with the Incal graphic novels where they could go as crazy as they wanted and not care about budget or limitations. A lot of these ideas ended up on Incal and I think people have a better experience reading that, then getting frustrated trying to compare the Dune book and this film version.
Sure would have had some crazy visuals, though it's odd thinking about in relation to Star Wars. Amazing to think of what the legacy ended up influencing! The ships sound like they would have been pretty unbelievable designs.
Star Wars leaned away from this to try and be more plausible and lived in. Alien also followed that. Dino De Lauretiis's film of Flash Gordon is closer to the wild style of Jodorofsky's Dune. And Luc Besson's The Fifth Element and Valerian both have bold visuals closer to that.
This is an interesting idea for the seventies and if it did happen i imagine it would best win best picture and the moral of the story 14 hour films overuse the budget cancelling the film
What do you make of Jodorowsky's comments about the recent Dune films, saying they're hollow since they're made by a big corporation and, ironically, too faithful to the books instead of having one distinct singular vision (like his).
I’d disagree. They’re made by a filmmaker who is adapting the books and trying to stay true to them. Jodo wanted to use the book as a jumping off point to tell his own story
I think this movie never coming to fruition was probably the best-case scenario. I watched the documentary on the film's development and downfall, and good lord, it was traumatizing.
Whatever jodorowsky thought for his adaptation of dune, it wouldn't be dune. The scene with 3000 extras defecating in the desert, Dali as the emperor, blood fertilizing Jessica... Glad Rampling went with Denis' version rather than the scatologic attempt. There's time for artistic liberties and changing the entire story of a book to fit your personal ideas.
Jorodowsky’s son must have been so pissed to learn he did all that training for nothing. Add that to his dad having him act in a movie naked as a kid and he must really hate him.
I agree with a sentiment I've heard before: the hypothetical idea of what could have been js probably better than any version that would have actually been made
Having seen the documentary, Jodorowsky's Dune, I agree that creatively he was ahead of his time, but also that his vision for Dune doesn't align with the cautionary tale Herbert was trying to convey about the dangers of blind faith and the false hope of messiah figures. I think it's better that he was able to rework his ideas into something original with his Jodoverse comics while the influence of his unmade movie inspired his colleagues bring new creative voices into the contemporary Hollywood mix.
I just caught Jodo’s Dune on HBO last night and was laughing throughout. Jodo’s recollections about the process and the people involved were hilarious. Telling Pink Floyd to stop eating their hamburgers and listen to him because “this is the most important film in human history and you guys are eating hamburgers!” 😂
There have been three screen adaptations of Dune: David Lynch, David Kappes (TV miniseries produced in Australia) and David Villeneuve. Everyone forgets about the miniseries.
@@crhkrebs I have run across a lot of Dune fans who've never seen the Australian mini-series. And I can't tell you if getting Villeneuve's first name wrong was the auto-correct or reading glasses. I may have got it wrong again for using weaker reading glasses. Everything is a tad bit blurry right now. Thank you for responding to my comment!
I'd encourage everyone watching this video to read Dune or at the very least, watch the Dennis Villenue movies. Actually try to understand what the story of Dune is about, like its actual themes. Then watch this documentary in full. Jodorowsky's Dune, the documentary, does not spell everything out to its audience. But if you pay attention to it and actually think, you'll understand what kind of man Jodorowsky really was and why his film was nerer made.
What could have been: Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Not so much a change in script, but a radically different production design was originally well under before it was cancelled in favor of the pd we see in the movie. They had what could have been called an avant-garde, almost psychedelic biomechanical design for V'ger.