As a new half-adaptation opens this week, there are lessons to be learned from two previous attempts by major directors — one a bomb, one never produced.
I'm a big fan of Lynch's Dune despite its flaws. To me it feels like he got halfway through the book before he realized he had to wrap everything up in another half hour. I have to wonder what his film might have looked like if he didn't have the real-world budgetary and time constraints (both in terms of production time and runtime). I'd happily watch a 4-hour version of Lynch's Dune if it meant he got to give the second half of the book as much attention as the first.
Which is something that makes me particularly excited for Villeneuve's attempt. He's not pretending to adapt the entire book and just relying on positive reception and goodwill to get to film the rest. I really hope it's good (and it sounds like it is) and that he gets his chance to finish the project.
I broadly agree with this sentiment, though I think a larger chunk of Lynch's Dune is damaged than you do. I don't doubt that Lynch would have done significantly better with the kind of time and money that Villeneuve is afforded on the new one.
Yeah it's honestly great to just watch and chill out with (maybe with the assistance of largely legal psychoactive substances). The last 40 minutes is beyond rushed (I always feel like I fell asleep and missed a bunch during the end even if I didn't), but it's still so much more creative than almost any 'IP' coming out of Hollywood these days.
Goodness, this was way back in the late 80s or possibly early 90s. I do not remember, but I doubt Lynch was involved in this extended version. There were a lot more exposition dumps. There was an entire illustrated prologue about the Butlerian Jihad. There was a scene where the Fremen were drowning/milking a baby sandworm for spice.
Looking into this a bit more, Lynch did not approve of the longer version and had his name removed. He also has talked about a real director’s cut but one has obviously not yet materialized.
Feels slightly incomplete not to mention that Sci-Fi Channel produced a "Dune" mini-series in 2000, and a follow up not longer that, I believe. They weren't great, but they did exist!
Me feel like Villenueve is perfect director for this. Because you need eccentric visionary like Lynch or Jodorowsky, but you also need someone who can actually handle number of moving parts that big budget movie with very complicates story have.
Older me get, more me appreciate latter — as much as cinephiles like to trash Marvel movies, it nothing short of miraculous that Russo Brothers able to deliver Infinity/Endgame with so many characters, story beats, and callbacks to 22 previous films, and still make satisfying popcorn entertainment. It remarkable achievement, and joy to step back and watch filmmaking that went into those movies.
Except Dune need someone operating on that level, and also someone operating on David Lynch's level. And me not know anyone else who's filmography suggest they can do both apart from Villanueve.
I’m about 2/3s of the way through the book, which I think means I’m safe to see the Villeneuve film this weekend, but I’m also really looking forward to the Lynch version. Frankly I don’t see how the book is adaptable at all, partly for what you’re saying in regards to how many insane, nonsense proper nouns there are that can only be pieced together by repeatedly reading the words with context clues. Not sure how those will work if we’re just hearing them.
But the other challenge has got to be that half the book is interior monologue by character with seemingly literal psychic powers and they work through the minutiae of somebody’s body language in a split second. Easy enough to explain in a paragraph where time doesn’t exist, but it’s going to be a real challenge to show us Paul or Jessica’s thought processes visually.
You'll see my review on Thursday, but you'd be surprised how well Villeneuve makes sense of it. And yes, you're should be safe to see it. At the point where the new Dune ends, the Lynch version only has 45 minutes left!
I like Lynch's Dune, even though I know it is also incomprehensible and flawed in many ways. It has to be one of the weirdest Blockbuster-budgeted movies ever made, and while I agree that the quality of the visuals is wildly inconsistent, when it looks good, it looks REALLY good.
I kind of feel like Jodorowsky's Dune, the documentary, is probably the best case scenario for imagining what the film could be. I can't conceive of that project ever working, and this is one time where the studios were probably 100% right to NOT go that route. Sure, it would be a hell of a thing to see, but I also fully expect that it'd be borderline unwatchable.
Here's hoping the new film finds an audience enough to make the next film.
After reading this I’m astonished to learn that leaflets were also passed out to audiences during Peter Greenaway’s “Prospero’s Books” (one of my all time favs). Was it really considered impenetrable back in the day? (I was 11 at the time, forgive me) I mean, it’s just Shakespeare’s The Tempest mixed in with some library books, no?
I mean, I kind of thought it was, especially given all the information Greenaway was putting on screen. But as with Dune, it all depends on whether you read the source material or not.
That’s fair, especially considering how Greenaway loves to present drama from as much of a distance as possible. I think I just assumed everyone was more familiar with the plot of the Tempest than Dune. :)
Since Lynch's Dune was on HBO Max about the same time as the Villeneuve version dropped, I took a look at it for the first time since probably the 90s, and what really, seriously stood out to me about the Lynch version this time was it felt like the movie was ashamed of itself. I don't know how else to describe it. Felt like the movie had complete and utter contempt for the fact it was a space opera. Each scene felt very "okay, let's see if we can get through this garbage without throwing up". I really don't know how else to describe it. I found this really, really funny, and I'm curious if anybody else has gotten the impression the movie is filled with disgust and self-loathing about itself
I'm a big fan of Lynch's Dune despite its flaws. To me it feels like he got halfway through the book before he realized he had to wrap everything up in another half hour. I have to wonder what his film might have looked like if he didn't have the real-world budgetary and time constraints (both in terms of production time and runtime). I'd happily watch a 4-hour version of Lynch's Dune if it meant he got to give the second half of the book as much attention as the first.
Which is something that makes me particularly excited for Villeneuve's attempt. He's not pretending to adapt the entire book and just relying on positive reception and goodwill to get to film the rest. I really hope it's good (and it sounds like it is) and that he gets his chance to finish the project.
I broadly agree with this sentiment, though I think a larger chunk of Lynch's Dune is damaged than you do. I don't doubt that Lynch would have done significantly better with the kind of time and money that Villeneuve is afforded on the new one.
Yeah it's honestly great to just watch and chill out with (maybe with the assistance of largely legal psychoactive substances). The last 40 minutes is beyond rushed (I always feel like I fell asleep and missed a bunch during the end even if I didn't), but it's still so much more creative than almost any 'IP' coming out of Hollywood these days.
There was a 4 hour (give or take) cut of Lynch's Dune. I've seen it. It's . . . not an improvement
Was it his preferred cut or simply longer?
Goodness, this was way back in the late 80s or possibly early 90s. I do not remember, but I doubt Lynch was involved in this extended version. There were a lot more exposition dumps. There was an entire illustrated prologue about the Butlerian Jihad. There was a scene where the Fremen were drowning/milking a baby sandworm for spice.
Looking into this a bit more, Lynch did not approve of the longer version and had his name removed. He also has talked about a real director’s cut but one has obviously not yet materialized.
Feels slightly incomplete not to mention that Sci-Fi Channel produced a "Dune" mini-series in 2000, and a follow up not longer that, I believe. They weren't great, but they did exist!
Me feel like Villenueve is perfect director for this. Because you need eccentric visionary like Lynch or Jodorowsky, but you also need someone who can actually handle number of moving parts that big budget movie with very complicates story have.
Older me get, more me appreciate latter — as much as cinephiles like to trash Marvel movies, it nothing short of miraculous that Russo Brothers able to deliver Infinity/Endgame with so many characters, story beats, and callbacks to 22 previous films, and still make satisfying popcorn entertainment. It remarkable achievement, and joy to step back and watch filmmaking that went into those movies.
Except Dune need someone operating on that level, and also someone operating on David Lynch's level. And me not know anyone else who's filmography suggest they can do both apart from Villanueve.
I’m about 2/3s of the way through the book, which I think means I’m safe to see the Villeneuve film this weekend, but I’m also really looking forward to the Lynch version. Frankly I don’t see how the book is adaptable at all, partly for what you’re saying in regards to how many insane, nonsense proper nouns there are that can only be pieced together by repeatedly reading the words with context clues. Not sure how those will work if we’re just hearing them.
But the other challenge has got to be that half the book is interior monologue by character with seemingly literal psychic powers and they work through the minutiae of somebody’s body language in a split second. Easy enough to explain in a paragraph where time doesn’t exist, but it’s going to be a real challenge to show us Paul or Jessica’s thought processes visually.
You'll see my review on Thursday, but you'd be surprised how well Villeneuve makes sense of it. And yes, you're should be safe to see it. At the point where the new Dune ends, the Lynch version only has 45 minutes left!
I like Lynch's Dune, even though I know it is also incomprehensible and flawed in many ways. It has to be one of the weirdest Blockbuster-budgeted movies ever made, and while I agree that the quality of the visuals is wildly inconsistent, when it looks good, it looks REALLY good.
I kind of feel like Jodorowsky's Dune, the documentary, is probably the best case scenario for imagining what the film could be. I can't conceive of that project ever working, and this is one time where the studios were probably 100% right to NOT go that route. Sure, it would be a hell of a thing to see, but I also fully expect that it'd be borderline unwatchable.
Here's hoping the new film finds an audience enough to make the next film.
After reading this I’m astonished to learn that leaflets were also passed out to audiences during Peter Greenaway’s “Prospero’s Books” (one of my all time favs). Was it really considered impenetrable back in the day? (I was 11 at the time, forgive me) I mean, it’s just Shakespeare’s The Tempest mixed in with some library books, no?
I mean, I kind of thought it was, especially given all the information Greenaway was putting on screen. But as with Dune, it all depends on whether you read the source material or not.
That’s fair, especially considering how Greenaway loves to present drama from as much of a distance as possible. I think I just assumed everyone was more familiar with the plot of the Tempest than Dune. :)
Since Lynch's Dune was on HBO Max about the same time as the Villeneuve version dropped, I took a look at it for the first time since probably the 90s, and what really, seriously stood out to me about the Lynch version this time was it felt like the movie was ashamed of itself. I don't know how else to describe it. Felt like the movie had complete and utter contempt for the fact it was a space opera. Each scene felt very "okay, let's see if we can get through this garbage without throwing up". I really don't know how else to describe it. I found this really, really funny, and I'm curious if anybody else has gotten the impression the movie is filled with disgust and self-loathing about itself