I’ve mentioned it in a thread in the past, but it was the Lynch Dune that kept me from reading the books for so long. I watched the movie when I was 12 and thought “well that way stupid.” 6 years later I picked up the book on a whim and was blown away not only by how amazing it was, but by how wrong I felt Lynch was.
I’ll add that I also wasn’t impressed with the visual style of the movie at all. Considering that Dune was released 7 years after Star Wars, 4 years after The Empire Strikes Back, and one year after Return of the Jedi, I simply felt that there was no excuse for the horrendous effects and set design in Lynch’s interpretation. Especially considering what Lucas was capable of doing with a pittance on the first film.
Wow. You pretty much nailed what I think of both the movie and the miniseries (As it happens, I have the extended Alan Smithee version in my DVD player as I type this). The only thing I would add would be that the miniseries probably could have done without the Harkonnen soldier kabuki masks as well.
I just can’t see the trilogy being made in a Peter Jackson format. It’s too complicated, and too much of the story takes place in the character’s heads. The books held striking imagery, but it wasn’t the type of imagery that would translate well to film. I agree with adam yax when he says that only anime will do. We need weird animation to capture the book’s essential weirdness, to capture both the look and the feel of the movie.
I’m still going to see this movie when it comes out, though.
That’s the inherent problem with doing the Dune “trilogy” though. If they actually decide to move beyond the first book, they absolutely have to go up to the fourth book, as Children of Dune only provides a glimpse into Leto’s vision for saving humanity. Without also filming God Emperor of Dune, the story arc would be unfulfilled.
Now the easiest way to go about it would be to combine Dune Messiah and Children of Dune into one movie, as they did on SciFi.
I might be blaspheming here, but it occurs to me to ask why anyone needs to film the entire series at all? While I liked the other parts, the first book could stand on its own very well as a movie, and I would much rather see it as a big budget stand-alone story that remains faithful to the book than part of a bigger budget surreal mess, which is how any attempt to bring God Emperor of Dune or even Children of Dune to the big screen would likely end. The non-Dune fans who don’t care about what happens later would be happy, and if the movie is good enough, so would (most) Dune addicts.
I had read most of the Dune series when I saw the Lynch version. It made me puke. Put me off Lynch films for many years, it did. The SciFi version was much better, we have them on DVD. They did simplify a lot, they had to. I don’t know what another version is going to add, it will likely fall in between the two. I’m very curious to find out.
What I really want to see is the hyper-fast killer space captain from ‘Heretics’.
Huh. That’s weird, but it actually makes a sort of sense. Sex as a tool of control is a common theme in the Dune novels (the Bene Gesserit use it, and the Honored Matres even more so). And the impression I got in the novels was that Jessica took a long, long time to drift away from Bene Gesserit orthodoxy - it started when she had a son, but she still cared a lot for what her superiors wanted. After all, she was willing to submit Paul to a test (the gom jobbar?) that could easily have killed him. If the BG’s had told her “okay, your kid might be the Kwassitz Hedarach - keep him controlled, damnit” - well, she might well frak her own kid to keep him under her thumb.
Point is, it seems sort of consistent with the logic of the Dune story. Kinda.
Paul: Brad Pitt
Lady Jessica: Bette Midler
Duke Leto: Nick Nolte
Chani: Angelina Jolie
Princess Irulan: Jennifer Aniston
Baron Harkonnen: Billy Bob Thornton
Feyd: Sting, again!
I see it as a kind of militarized Slums of Beverly Hills.
I know you’re joking, but it made me think of my biggest problem with both adaptations. Paul NEEDS to be young. None of this get-a-25-year-old-actor-and-pass-him-off-as-17 bullshit. Find a 17 year old actor. Believe it or not, there are young actors out there who are perfectly capable of acting well. Hell, do a search for an unknown face if you have to.
I’ve only read the original Dune, but after seeing the Lynch version I’m rather of the impression that any further adaptations should be mini-series, rather than movies. I’m not sure I would have quite understood it if I hadn’t read the book beforehand. It’s just one of those books where it’s hard to fit it comfortably into a movie timeframe.
(And I have to agree that I’d like to see an anime version.)
I can see Billy Bob as the Duke, but then Jack Black should be the younger Feyd.
The decrepit Baron… if Brando or John Belushi were still alive, either one would be perfect. Well, I suppose we could add some class by casting Anthony Hopkins, but the role really cries out for someone scuzzier. Who’s the skankiest old man in Hollywood? Maybe Shatner here?
Doesn’t Duncan get turned into some kind of combat zombie? In that case, Star Trek’s Data character should be cast, and the film retitled something like Dune Trek.
Younger chick for Chani… the Species chick was Natasha Hentsridge, but isn’t she getting a bit old now? Maybe Jessica Alba, if she isn’t also too old. Damn, the fact that I don’t know Hollywood’s hot young chicks really means that I’m getting old. On the plus side, no sign of pedophilia.
The story has to be Hollywoodized or it isn’t possible for it to be a successful movie that anybody but Dune-freaks would want to see.
Some of the things that will need correction:
There aren’t any good guys. None of the factions involved have any goal than increasing the wealth and power of their House. Compare this to LOTR where there were very distinctly good and evil sides.
Most of the story is about scheming and plotting. In a movie, scheming and plotting can work, but it has to be clearly involve high risk and high pay-off…and generally there has to be a twist or two along the way.
There isn’t much action in the book. Battles and murders largely take place off screen and are dispensed with in a paragraph or two; this despite combat being done with edged weapons and shields and everybody living in constant fear of poisons. LOTR had some wonderful swordplay and huge staged battles. Dune will need some of the same. Let us actually see the incredible prowess of Duncan Idaho, Gurney Halleck, et. al.
A pretty decent two hour movie can be made from the first book. Just don’t try to make it a point-by-point, word-for-word translation of the book to the screen. A lot of the background stuff has to be jettisoned and the story streamlined.
