Jᴀᴄᴜʀᴜᴛᴜ - Tʜᴇ Cᴀsᴛ Oᴜᴛ

Could this have been a classic? He was set to direct DUNE, not Lynch. He turned down Blade Runner to do DUNE. However the death of his brother impacted him so much he felt he couldn't spend the years making DUNE he would need to. So he left the DUNE production and made Blade Runner instead.

Oh how I wish Ridley would endeavor to tackle DUNE now.

Sardaukar Capt wrote:Could this have been a classic? He was set to direct DUNE, not Lynch. He turned down Blade Runner to do DUNE. However the death of his brother impacted him so much he felt he couldn't spend the years making DUNE he would need to. So he left the DUNE production and made Blade Runner instead.

Oh how I wish Ridley would endeavor to tackle DUNE now.

If Ridley Scott were able to pull it off, it would have been really interesting to watch. The only drawback to Scott's directing of DUNE was his choice of screenwriter, Rudolph Wurlitzer. The screenwriter, Mr. Wurlitzer, decided to have Paul Atreides have sex with his mother, and be the father of Alia. Wurlitzer claimed that he wrote it to emphasize Paul's defiance of societal norms and taboos as a part of Paul's heroi's/messiah's journey. Reportedly, Frank Herbert was enormously pissed off at the screenplay, and argued that DUNE fans would never stand to see their favorite characters screwed up like that. I've only been able to know aspects of the screenplay from a PDF archive article, but I really wish that Wurlitzer's screenplay, and other screenplays before Lynch's screenplay, were avaiilable in a DUNE screenplay archive site. Just out of curiosity to see how the previous screenwriters had trouble adapting DUNE. Still, who knows? Ridley Scott might have found a way to make the screenplay work, or maybe he would have taken the Oedipal part out, and still make a decent movie. I do wonder how he would have pulled off the Baron Harkonnen or the worms. How would they look like with Ridley Scott's visual style in the early 80s?

I hadn't heard that bit about the script with Paul & Jessica. Although what I read from that part in the book Ridley Scott: Close Up: The Making of His Movies by Paul M. Sammon was that he only got a first draft of Wurlitzer's script before leaving the project. I doubt the incest bit would have made it past that draft but we'll never know.

It seems Ridley is on a sci-fi kick lately with Prometheus & the upcoming Blade Runner 2. I would love for him to tackle the Dune movie but I'm not getting my hopes up.

Now that the guy from Taken left the project last year my top 3 personal choices to direct it would be Ridley Scott or Paul Greengrass or Steven Spielberg

What a nonsense. If my uncle would have been a woman he would have been my aunt. Ridley Scott didn't direct Dune ... no way to know what it would have been like. Exercise in futility if you ask me. It is almost like questioning what if KJA was actually a good writer. Blegh.

Serkanner wrote:It is almost like questioning what if KJA was actually a good writer. Blegh.

That would've been AWESOME!

Serkanner wrote:What a nonsense. If my uncle would have been a woman he would have been my aunt. Ridley Scott didn't direct Dune ... no way to know what it would have been like. Exercise in futility if you ask me. It is almost like questioning what if KJA was actually a good writer. Blegh.

I don't think its nonsense in the context that currently DUNE doesn't have a director or studio attached and the rights are back to producer Richard Rubinstein. It's not out of the realm of possibly that Ridley Scott could get another shot at it.

But I'm not trying to re-imagine the 1984 movie. Just thought it was an interesting point in the films history.

Sardaukar Capt wrote:

Serkanner wrote:What a nonsense. If my uncle would have been a woman he would have been my aunt. Ridley Scott didn't direct Dune ... no way to know what it would have been like. Exercise in futility if you ask me. It is almost like questioning what if KJA was actually a good writer. Blegh.

I don't think its nonsense in the context that currently DUNE doesn't have a director or studio attached and the rights are back to producer Richard Rubinstein. It's not out of the realm of possibly that Ridley Scott could get another shot at it.

But I'm not trying to re-imagine the 1984 movie. Just thought it was an interesting point in the films history.

Excellent point, Serkanner. You've got me going now trying to imagine what the visual style and artistic direction of a Ridley Scott manned DUNE film would have looked like. I like to think of it employing the special effects of ALIEN 1, and coming up with unique color palette to suit the look. Well, actually I'm too busy with homework to completely imagine what it would look like, but my imagination is already intrigued.

I think something Ridley Scott captured with Blade Runner that David Lynch didn't quite get with Dune was the layered story. In Blade Runner it came across that there were a lot more things going on under the surface of the story and of course the subtle hints about Deckard's origins. Made you think. Just like the book Dune did. Not so much Lynch's movie. But it is very different and difficult source material.

My wish is that Dune gets in the hands of a master storyteller for this remake (and keep the Hacks Twain as far away as possible). Someone like Scott, Greengrass, or even Spielberg. Best think to happen to the property was Peter Berg leaving it to direct a movie based on the board game Battleship

Reportedly, Frank Herbert was enormously pissed off at the screenplay, and argued that DUNE fans would never stand to see their favorite characters screwed up like that.

too right we wouldn't.

I heard Ridley intended on doing two separate films, which in my opinion would be the only way to do a proper adaptation without studios going bankrupt. Or if somebody did a Dune miniseries that didn't look like somebody ate the book and shit it out through a camera lens.
Scott does seem to be touching base with his sci-fi roots, but I doubt he'll give us Dune.

The surrealist movement ended in the 70's, so I've come to terms with the fact that Dune will never be an extraordinary art film like Jodo's would have been, or even Lynch's if he had full creative control.
As for the apparent incest scene in Wurlitzer's screenplay, I personally think that sounds like an interesting touch. But if somebody put that into an adaptation of Dune today, it just wouldn't work.
It's destined to be an action film covered in CGI jissom.

Still I wonder what actors Scott would have used. Would Sigourney Weaver be known today as Harah, wife of Stilgar rather than 'Rambolina?' And I do wonder how his fremen, Baron and Sandworms would have turned out. Maybe Bowie would have played Feyd-Rautha. jkjk. Now, I'm sure they'll just use The Rock or Ice-Cube. Yes, still jk.

I personally think Dune would have made an incredible animated art film (Like Fantastic Planet times a thousand!)
I don't understand why everybody kept trying to film it with live action.
Ultimately, Dune should be left to the great wide world of literature and our imaginations.