It is a film cursed and denied by its director and yet it has become cult over the years. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can check it out now on Amazon Prime Video.
What is it about ?
The saga of intergalactic warrior Paul Atreides and his messianic rise to lead his people struggling for survival. The young hero leads his warriors against an evil baron and tries to put an end to a galaxy-wide trafficking in “spices”.
Dune by David Lynch with Kyle MacLachlan, Jürgen Prochnow, Francesca Annis, Everett McGill, Sting, Max von Sydow, Patrick Stewart.
A cursed and denied film that has become cult over the years
Only a few years after its publication in 1965, the novel Dunes by Frank Herbert is already attracting the attention of producers for a film adaptation. Several names have been attached to this project, such as Alejandro Jodorowsky and Ridley Scott.
Eventually, Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis, who acquired the rights, teamed up with David Lynch, although he wasn’t much into science fiction and had refused to direct Star Wars: The Return. of the Jedi.
Universal Pictures
However, the universe imagined by Frank Herbert interested David Lynch, who had already made Eraserhead and Elephant Man. The producer De Laurentiis and the Universal studio granted it a budget of 40 million dollars in the hope that Dune would meet with success and could become a franchise capable of competing with Star Wars.
David Lynch is betting on a stranger for this huge project, Kyle MacLachlan, who will be revealed thanks to the role of Paul Atreides and who will become a favorite actor of the director, but on the star Sting for a supporting role and on the flagship group Toto for the Original Sound Track.
Despite hard work, filming in the Churubusco studios in Mexico is a nightmare between resignations for unpaid bills, illnesses, breakdowns, unqualified technicians. David Lynch is overwhelmed by the scale of the project but finishes it despite everything, with a first cut of 3h30, which will be reduced in the end to 2h20 for its theatrical release.
Universal Pictures
Severely criticized by the press and the public, Dune is a commercial flop. Although in hindsight the director believes he learned from “his biggest failure”, he denied the film and clarified that he had not had full artistic control, so he is not the author of the “final cut” of the film.
With the years and before the new version of Dune by Denis Villeneuve with Timothée Chalamet, the iteration of Dune by David Lynch has finally become cult over time, even if the opinions of fans still differ. However, this ambitious and stylized adaptation is to catch up on if you like Frank Herbert’s universe and Lynch’s touch attracts you.
Dune is available on Amazon Prime Video.