PC: Jodorowsky gets to make (part of) Dune

Watched the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune just now, and something that's never been clear to me -- if Alejandro didn't want to compromise his vision, and the studios' biggest fear in backing said vision was the length his full realization (something like 10, 14 hours, or thereabout), couldn't they have opted to adapt the book as a trilogy or series? If a studio gave him creative freedom in production and putting together a first cut, might Jodorowsky and his team have taken the opportunity, even if they also insisted that adapting the rest of the script was contingent upon the first installment (of 3, 3.5 hours) doing well at the box office?

Is that much plausible? If so, what would this first installment compose of and be like? And would the rest of Jodorowsky's adaptation stand a chance of being made?

Bumping thread

I'd have loved to see what Jodorowsky & Co could do with it.

It would be a mind-fuck for the ages. Sorry, David Lynch!
However Lynch had the same problem with Dino de Laurentiis wanting a solid earner for a first installment. The edition that was widely released and distributed was so heavily edited it was spinach.

You need to butterfly AJ's backers being impatient/flaky.

AIUI the idea of a miniseries that could incorporate all or most of what AJ envisioned was a few years away.

TxCoatl1970 said:

AIUI the idea of a miniseries that could incorporate all or most of what AJ envisioned was a few years away.

Click to expand...

So then the very idea of having Jodorowsky adopt part of the novel, for the story to continue in future installments, would have been ahead of its time? Well, I guess that's a point against plausibility...

I don't think it's implausible, just ill-timed in the 1973-1975 time frame AJ'S Dune was gestating.

Think of Dune as a miniseries roughly contemporaneous with Lynch's film. Roots, Shogun, and Thron birds.give proof of concept.

Trouble is, you'd need s/b like the BBC, CBC, or PBS to air it b/c the Big Three broadcast networks would want it so bowdlerized it'd be spinach.

A possibility is it hitting the movie channels, but YMMDV as to how cool they'd be with producing if it weren't exclusive to HBO, MovieChannel, etc.

Still, cable chennels would jizz all over themselves to have unique content.

TxCoatl1970 said:

I don't think it's implausible, just ill-timed in the 1973-1975 time frame AJ'S Dune was gestating.

Think of Dune as a miniseries roughly contemporaneous with Lynch's film. Roots, Shogun, and Thron birds.give proof of concept.

Click to expand...

So this would still be more plausible than adapting the Jodorowsky script as multiple theatrical films?

****SPOILER****TALKING OUT OF AN ORIFICE W/O KNOWLEDGE*****

Dune doesn't strike me as a movie you could do on the cheap. It's a sprawling book and a sprawling story across centuries, parsecs, and cultures.

Could s/b build a tasty teaser of a film to get everyone hooked and have several sequels serialized to fit seamlessly? Maybe.

I'll tell you an animated series wouldn't be near as much a nightmare to make between live action, sets, SFX, and so forth- given the limits of SFX and set building and other stuff.

Have Giger go nuts storyboarding a fantasia of grotesques with amazing voice talent and you've got platinum mine IMNSHO.

An artistic version of Ishtar. A movie that is praised by some, but leaves most people scratching their heads. The fans will be upset as it followed the plot of the books less the Lynch. Lynch made some changes, but kept the basic structure, Jodorowsky had some crazy ideas.

This might mean another version gets the greenlight sooner. The upset fans will clamor for a more loyal version and a popular book is a goldmine for producers, built in fans.

deejay45 said:

An artistic version of Ishtar. A movie that is praised by some, but leaves most people scratching their heads. The fans will be upset as it followed the plot of the books less the Lynch. Lynch made some changes, but kept the basic structure, Jodorowsky had some crazy ideas.

This might mean another version gets the greenlight sooner. The upset fans will clamor for a more loyal version and a popular book is a goldmine for producers, built in fans.

Click to expand...

So it's something that's worshipped by the Jodorowsky fanpeople, and utterly incomprehensible to every other human on Earth. Just like every other one of Jodorowsky's films.

Honestly, Dune has some universal story elements, but they're wrapped in a highly unique and divergent setting that isn't 100 percent user friendly. Piling a whole new pile of crazy on top of that is hard to make it work, especially as most of Jodorowsky's plans mean its not really Dune anymore. And not "not really Dune" in the nerd-raging fanboy sense, "not really Dune" in that its the names from the Frank Herbert novel hung on another nutty acid western.