Jᴀᴄᴜʀᴜᴛᴜ - Tʜᴇ Cᴀsᴛ Oᴜᴛ

Was skimming through Empire at the bookstore, and about halfway through I found a six page or so feature on the history of the Dune movies. Wasn't much we don't already know (most of the images snagged from Duneinfo.com), but if you're a collector of sorts I may grab it.

Two interesting points were how Jodorowsky refused to let Frank advise or have any role involved in his version, claiming the books "didn't belong to him", that they were "divinely inspired" and so his interpretation would be more accurate. There were also plans to have the Padishah Emperor's throne be constructed of two dolphin-figures, with their mouths forming twin toilet bowels that the Emperor (played by Dali) would separately urinate and defecate into. This would be entirely filmed (though with a stun double) and the penis and anus shown entirely functioning. Wonderful.

Don't remember if it was quoted before, but the only piece on Berg was that he wants his interpretation to be a "badass action film with Shakespearean drama".

Pity they can't get Jodorowsky for the new movie.

But maybe Berg (if it's still Berg) can fuck it up just as well, if not better!

badass, yeah, that's what we want.
{:gun-to-head smiley:}

hey, watched Burn After Reading on DVD last night.
Fantastic.

Malkovich for Shaddam.

Redstar wrote:Two interesting points were how Jodorowsky refused to let Frank advise or have any role involved in his version, claiming the books "didn't belong to him", that they were "divinely inspired" and so his interpretation would be more accurate. There were also plans to have the Padishah Emperor's throne be constructed of two dolphin-figures, with their mouths forming twin toilet bowels that the Emperor (played by Dali) would separately urinate and defecate into. This would be entirely filmed (though with a stun double) and the penis and anus shown entirely functioning. Wonderful.

Whoa and...

Redstar wrote:Don't remember if it was quoted before, but the only piece on Berg was that he wants his interpretation to be a "badass action film with Shakespearean drama".

Ugh. Is he taking cues from Michael Bay or something?

Why does Lord of the Rings get a decent film adaptation and we get "bad ass"? It feels like Farscape all over.

Arrrmanda wrote:Why does Lord of the Rings get a decent film adaptation and we get "bad ass"? It feels like Farscape all over.

I've been meaning to bring that up somehow: Jackson's LotR adaptation actually got a lot of flack, and the comments towards it are actually nearly parallel to what we say about KJA's nuDune.

Blech. I refuse to give that shit an ounce of my time ever since someone said to me "Star Wars it totally out classed by Lord of the Rings", so I really shouldn't be saying anything about it. I just mean I highly doubt Peter Jackson was quoted anywhere as saying "Yeah it's like a totally bad ass action movie, with like Shakespearean like emotional stuff." Notice I said it was a decent adaptation. We've already got a decent adaptation. I was a fucking good one.

At least Lynch and Jodorowsky took it somewhat seriously.

I've ruled out that dune movie thing from my mind, they had so many other franchises to ridicule so why pick Dune?

Jodoroswsky was nuts btw(Dali as an Emperor???)
Have you read his Incal comics with Moebius?
And the Meta Baron series that come from the same universe?
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Another thing TheKJAckass said at D*C was that Dune needs the full LotRs treatment in film.

I promise I'll get that up soon, I just called AAMCO to come tow my van in, hopefully I'll be home this weekend.

Freakzilla wrote:Another thing TheKJAckass said at D*C was that Dune needs the full LotRs treatment in film.

Lots of magic and action and faeries with a gland problem, you mean?

Freakzilla wrote:Another thing TheKJAckass said at D*C was that Dune needs the full LotRs treatment in film.

If ...

IF

... if what Hacky meant was that the story needs more time and space so that it can be properly told on film, then I will actually cut him some slack on this one.

One smart thing that Jackson did was to go to New Line and beg and plead and fight for three films (although I've since heard that he would have settled for two long-ish films). No matter what any of us might think of the execution of the films*, I think we'd all admit that at least the story had plenty of room to breathe.

*I liked them, personally, although I had some issues with certain aspects

TheDukester wrote:*I liked them, personally, although I had some issues with certain aspects

I rather enjoyed them. Of course, it'd been years since I'd read the books...

..of course he quickly followed that statement up by whining about how little input they would have on the film.

I think I remember the room breathing a collective sigh of relief.

Freakzilla wrote:..of course he quickly followed that statement up by whining about how little input they would have on the film.

I love this part. I like to picture Kevin's face the moment he found out what "executive producer" really means.

he needs his own personal Nelson Muntz

I thought that was our "function".

inhuien wrote:I thought that was our "function".

touché!

Redstar wrote:Was skimming through Empire at the bookstore, and about halfway through I found a six page or so feature on the history of the Dune movies. Wasn't much we don't already know (most of the images snagged from Duneinfo.com), but if you're a collector of sorts I may grab it.

Two interesting points were how Jodorowsky refused to let Frank advise or have any role involved in his version, claiming the books "didn't belong to him", that they were "divinely inspired" and so his interpretation would be more accurate. There were also plans to have the Padishah Emperor's throne be constructed of two dolphin-figures, with their mouths forming twin toilet bowels that the Emperor (played by Dali) would separately urinate and defecate into. This would be entirely filmed (though with a stun double) and the penis and anus shown entirely functioning. Wonderful.

Don't remember if it was quoted before, but the only piece on Berg was that he wants his interpretation to be a "badass action film with Shakespearean drama".

And the Emperor was going to have a robot twin that was indistiguishable from himself, and he lived on a SOLID gold planet.

That guy had serious emotional issues. Would have been pretty much the most fucked up movie of all time though, especially with the penis eating giant Giger worms!

The guy was creatively insane. I like some of his interpretations, such as paul being a white-haired mutant conceived by a drop of Leto's blood and Gurney as a dwarf (reminds me greatly of Sigurd's mentor), but the only aspects that I would have enjoyed seeing in film were the costumes (if they were toned down a little) and the various palaces. The gigantic "reclining-Buddha" palaces just feel Dune-ish to me, especially in their size and theme. I don't know the exact ratio, but Paul's palace was said to be so large it could fit the pyramids in it, right?

Redstar wrote:The guy was creatively insane. I like some of his interpretations, such as paul being a white-haired mutant conceived by a drop of Leto's blood and Gurney as a dwarf (reminds me greatly of Sigurd's mentor), but the only aspects that I would have enjoyed seeing in film were the costumes (if they were toned down a little) and the various palaces. The gigantic "reclining-Buddha" palaces just feel Dune-ish to me, especially in their size and theme. I don't know the exact ratio, but Paul's palace was said to be so large it could fit the pyramids in it, right?

I think it was something more like the size of a city.

I think his audience chamber doors were 40 meters high.

Redstar wrote: Two interesting points were how Jodorowsky refused to let Frank advise or have any role involved in his version, claiming the books "didn't belong to him", that they were "divinely inspired" and so his interpretation would be more accurate.

I can actually sympathize with this. It's true that when a piece of art is released to the world, it belongs to the audience not the artist. I can totally understand not wanting to have Frank involved. Jodorowsky obviously enjoyed Dune immensely and felt that everyone should see it the way he does.

Redstar wrote:There were also plans to have the Padishah Emperor's throne be constructed of two dolphin-figures, with their mouths forming twin toilet bowels that the Emperor (played by Dali) would separately urinate and defecate into. This would be entirely filmed (though with a stun double) and the penis and anus shown entirely functioning. Wonderful.

But this is just bullshit. Sounds to me like he put a little more thought into Shaddam than was necessary. Frank told us everything we needed to know about him, no need for shitting into dolphin's mouths (aren't dolphin mouths too narrow and small for such a function anyway? Nevermind...)

A Thing of Eternity wrote: And the Emperor was going to have a robot twin that was indistiguishable from himself, and he lived on a SOLID gold planet.

That guy had serious emotional issues. Would have been pretty much the most fucked up movie of all time though, especially with the penis eating giant Giger worms!

Yeah, I can't say I ever understood that painting at all. What is a giant black penis doing in the middle of the desert, and why is it being sucked on by a Sandworm? Didn't that concept end up being the inspiration for Alien?

And I never heard that bit about the gold planet. A great concept, but for Dune that's really dumb. Did Jodorowsky plan on having Arrakis or Paul or Fremen in it? Would it have anything at all to do with Dune?

Drunken Idaho wrote:But this is just bullshit. Sounds to me like he put a little more thought into Shaddam than was necessary.

+1

I was never sure why the part about the bodily functions was "wonderful," either. Sounds like pretentious Euro-weenie nonsense to me.

It's an excellent example of what happens when you take way too much LSD.

Shit like this happens:

A Thing of Eternity wrote: And the Emperor was going to have a robot twin that was indistiguishable from himself, and he lived on a SOLID gold planet.

That guy had serious emotional issues. Would have been pretty much the most fucked up movie of all time though, especially with the penis eating giant Giger worms!

The willy-worm was for the Ridley Scott film IIRC.

I really want to see Jodorowsky's Dune. Would be cool if one day someone could make an animated storyboard/cg version.

Drunken Idaho wrote:

Redstar wrote: Two interesting points were how Jodorowsky refused to let Frank advise or have any role involved in his version, claiming the books "didn't belong to him", that they were "divinely inspired" and so his interpretation would be more accurate.

I can actually sympathize with this. It's true that when a piece of art is released to the world, it belongs to the audience not the artist. I can totally understand not wanting to have Frank involved. Jodorowsky obviously enjoyed Dune immensely and felt that everyone should see it the way he does.

Redstar wrote:There were also plans to have the Padishah Emperor's throne be constructed of two dolphin-figures, with their mouths forming twin toilet bowels that the Emperor (played by Dali) would separately urinate and defecate into. This would be entirely filmed (though with a stun double) and the penis and anus shown entirely functioning. Wonderful.

But this is just bullshit. Sounds to me like he put a little more thought into Shaddam than was necessary. Frank told us everything we needed to know about him, no need for shitting into dolphin's mouths (aren't dolphin mouths too narrow and small for such a function anyway? Nevermind...)

A Thing of Eternity wrote: And the Emperor was going to have a robot twin that was indistiguishable from himself, and he lived on a SOLID gold planet.

That guy had serious emotional issues. Would have been pretty much the most fucked up movie of all time though, especially with the penis eating giant Giger worms!

Yeah, I can't say I ever understood that painting at all. What is a giant black penis doing in the middle of the desert, and why is it being sucked on by a Sandworm? Didn't that concept end up being the inspiration for Alien?

And I never heard that bit about the gold planet. A great concept, but for Dune that's really dumb. Did Jodorowsky plan on having Arrakis or Paul or Fremen in it? Would it have anything at all to do with Dune?

I think you might be missing that Jordowski's Dune was essentially going to have nothing to do with Dune. Every single aspect was changed and turned into some kind of absuridist nightmare. Nothing was going to make any sense at all, it sounded like every scene was going to be based on a roll of the dice of absurd things that could happen. I wouldn't have put it past him to have made the ending into Paul, Duncan (who is now a dinosaur, perhaps?) and the emperor (and his duplicate robot) having a big four way orgy and their sperm killing all the worms and then the planet turns into rainbows and gets eaten by the flying space unicorns.

I think that's roughly how it would have gone (slight hyperbole). Woulda been cool to see though.

There's a Jodorowsky quote somewhere - he had a dream where he was told "Your next film will be Dune!" but he hadn't read it, so he runs down and waits outside the bookshop until it opens.

EDIT: slightly mis-remembered - http://www.duneinfo.com/unseen/jodorowsky.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Once, the Divinity agreed to say to me in a lucid dream: "Your next film must be Dune." I had not read the novel. I lifted myself to a height of six o'clock in the morning and as an alcoholic who awaits the opening of the bar, I waited until someone opens the bookshop to buy the book. I read it of a feature without me stopping for drinking or eating."