Pierre Morel to remake Dune

Wait, what?

Doesn't seem like a good fit but at least we might get a 3D sandworm out of the deal.

I've never heard of this director. Is he well-regarded? (I see his films listed on Wiki, but they meant nothing to me).

Hm. I am not encouraged.

Also, the problem with doing a "very faithful" version of Dune is that it's too much story to tell. Having to unpack all that backstory and plot nuance is what led to all those ridiculous overdubs from the Lynch version, like thought bubbles invisibly floating over the characters' heads ("It must be the spice merchants' ancient curse!"). Blech.

usul no longer needs the weirding module

The beginning is a very delicate time. Know then that it is the year 10191. The Known Universe is ruled by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, my father. In this time, the most precious substance in the universe is the spice Melange. The spice extends life. The spice expands consciousness. The spice is vital to space travel. The Spacing Guild and its navigators, who the spice has mutated over 4,000 years, use the orange spice gas, which gives them the ability to fold space. That is, travel to any part of universe without moving. Oh, yes. I forgot to tell you. The spice exists on only one planet in the entire universe. A desolate, dry planet with vast deserts. Hidden away within the rocks of these deserts are a people known as the Fremen, who have long held a prophecy that a man would come, a messiah who would lead them to true freedom. The planet is Arrakis, also known as Dune.

Ugh.

right from the beginning, you knew the lynch movie would be terrible.

Oh, yes. I forgot to tell you.

u&k

I'll miss the sea. But a person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change, something sleeps inside us . . . and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.

THE SLEEPER MUST AWAKEN

Also, the problem with doing a "very faithful" version of Dune is that it's too much story to tell.

Exactly. Did the dude fail to notice that, for the most part, Lynch's Dune was a very faithful version of Dune that just needed to be about seven hours longer to make any kind of sense? How many more people are going to fail at this endeavor before they realize that it's a lost cause?

Aside from that, what sunk Lynch's version was that it was ugly and (with respect to the villains) gross. What little sympathy the audience had left dried up after the Barron Harkonnen character intentionally drooled onto someone's face. Not in the book, iirc. And yeah, gross.

One more thing: A good remake would have to be a little less faithful to the book in terms of the dialogue. That stuff works fine in prose, but having actors actually say it onscreen was as painful to listen to as the embarrassing dialogue from the new Star Wars trilogy.

>what sunk Lynch's version was that it was ugly

There's plenty of problems with Lynch's Dune, but this surely isn't one of them. The FX may be super hokey (and were even when it was made) but the sets, costumes and design are outstanding.

I mostly meant the way Lynch made the characters look. Ex. A: That Baron Harkonnen character's face was dotted everywhere with huge, pus-filled boils. It was hard to look at him.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/aa/McMillan_as_Harkonnen.jpg

The TV version from a few years back, partially because they did have the time to go into the story some more, works much more smoothly as a translation of the source story, though it can't measure up to the design and detail of the movie as Bill A notes, and the acting, well, never mind. But the TV take does have something else going for it -- due in large part to the limitations of budget and the use of sets and green-screen and etc., it actually feels like a reasonable filmed play at points rather than a film, a bit like I, Claudius.

Still, I'll take the Lynch version in the end, flawed in any version but sometimes majestic nonetheless. Plus, Jean-Luc Picard as John Fahey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDwFgSAOBLA

Oh, yes. I forgot to tell you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcgft-iiZ_s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odSGko9368c

Then again:

http://gamergadgetgirl.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/music_dune.jpg

Don't stand so close to me, Feyd-Rautha.

x-posts to Daniel re the dear Baron:

Yeah, he is repellent. I imagine this was Lynch's intention, it certainly amps up the physical unpleasantness that the books depict.

I'm in general agreement regarding the difficulties of filming Dune in a way that does the book(s) justice, at least within the constraints of a "normal" 2.5hr film running time. It would be nice to see a LoTR style trilogy approach so that the plot and characters have room to breathe, but I'd be surprised if there's a financial backer willing to take on such an endeavour, esp. given the cult nature of the source material.

Regarding Lynch's opening monologue, it's not the best but Virginia Madsen's luminous beauty takes away the pain a bit...

Ned: I enjoyed the miniseries a lot more than I'd expected to, in no small part due to the look of it - as you mention the sets and green screen lend it a certain theatrical air. Some very effective matte painting for the backgrounds too (or whatever the modern incarnation of a matte painting is, prolly some Photoshop devilry).

That stuff works fine in prose...

haha no. it doesn't. To the unstoned, post-adolescent brain, Herbert's prose is turgid to the point of nigh-unreadability.

It'll be awesome when it becomes a box-office smash and we get the eventual God Emperor of Dune freak-out of a movie.

Oh boy, looking up the director I find this...
From Paris With Love is an upcoming 2010 action film starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers and directed by Pierre Morel. The screenplay was co-written by Luc Besson.
Yech

Oic, that Meyers fellow != John Rhys-Davies. Well, that doesn't improve matters!

Would God Emperor be a "freak-out of a movie"? I think it would go something like this:

• Talking-blah-blah-blah-more talking-blah-talking
• Plotting, scheming, more plotting, plots-within-plots, devious scheming
• Talking-blah-blah-talking
• Someone does something.

^^ Saw trailer for this on TV last night. Looked ultra-ridiculous. In the bad way.

xxpost

the eventual God Emperor of Dune freak-out of a movie

THERE'S your impossible to film effort. "Okay, so the lead character is like Jabba the Hutt, sorta, and the soldiers are all butch lesbians..."

I imagine all of the talking scenes as something similar to Brando in Apocalypse Now. Perhaps I'm misremembering the book but I remember large chunks of it being trips through the thought processes of a drugged-up God-Emperor.

well, that and butch lesbians.

Blu-Ray of the Lynch version finally coming in April...

Sweet - I've held off from buying the existing german/french blu-ray. Be interesting to see if there's much in the way of extras on this.

if there's any Lynch movie that deserves a Director's Commentary, it's this one.

"Oh God, this day was miserable."

"I'm not sure whose idea it was for Sting to wear the Speedo"

etc.

Yeah, people upthread very mean about the Lynch version, but there's lots to like about it.

Lynch version is great, borderline incoherent visual splendor. Love it Love it.

Blu-Ray is Lynch version only

Extras:
Deleted scenes with an introduction by Raffaella De Laurentiis

Designing Dune

Dune FX

Dune Models & Miniatures

Dune Wardrobe Design

Also, Guild Steersman spotted by Hubble:
http://cache.boston.com/universal/bigpicture/13_200716.jpg

whoops
http://cache.boston.com/universal/bigpicture/13_200716.jpg

Y'know, Dune crosses my mind far more often that I would expect.

I recently started a local chef's blog. I do not know him well, but I do know that I talked to him about Dune at the bar at least once. Kind of hoping some Dune/food metaphor will pop up.

Upcoming Blu-Ray is a new transfer (not just ported from the HD-DVD)
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_reviews51/dune_blu-ray_lynch/large/large_dune_blu-ray5.jpg

That's good, because the HD-DVD was kind of crappy.

the movie was kind of crappy.

BUT I'M SURE THIS PIERRE MOREL FELLOW WILL DO A WONDERFUL JOB WITH THE REBOOT.

The Blu-ray is awesome. So many details visible in the set design now.

is this really the only lynch on blu ray?

Nathan Rabin just did a piece about the Lynch version for "My Year of Flops," his ongoing series for The AV Club.

I had never heard about this, but o_O!

Bringing Frank Herbert’s novel to life was a Herculean task that had already defeated such formidable directors as Alejandro Jodorowsky and Ridley Scott. Jodorowsky was set to adapt the film in the mid-1970s, with design assistance from H.R. Giger and Jean “Moebius” Giraud, music by Pink Floyd, and a prospective cast that included Salvador Dalí (who agreed to play the emperor for $100,000 an hour), David Carradine, Orson Welles, and Gloria Swanson. It is a testament to just how mammoth an undertaking Dune had become that Jodorowsky’s adaptation, which burned up $2 million in mid-1970s pre-production costs before dying, was to run 10 to 14 hours.

kind of mind blowing that someone thought it would be a good idea to hand over such a massive, expensive project to a weirdo eccentric like Jodorowsky. i mean, yeah, Lynch was a pretty unconventional choice too, but he's a pretty reasonable weirdo in comparison.

The 70s were a weird time.

Some of Giger's designs stuck around, and a lot showed up in 'Alien', natually.

You totally want to read this: http://www.duneinfo.com/unseen/jodorowsky.asp

Magma was gonna do music for House Harkonnen and Pink Floyd was gonna do the music for House Atreides.
The whole thing seems like it's probably better left to the imagination, really.

!

http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/sean_youngs_super-8_film_diary_from_david_lynchs_dune/

Jesus Christ!

The hair is amazing, from Lynch's Jan-Michael Vincent-ness to Kyle looking like he has on a Dylan Moran fright-wig/

"David Lynch has said various things about the making of Dune, often casting himself..."

?

Yeah, wonder what was edited out...

Remake perhaps not to be remade...

http://goodnightdune.com/

this isn't getting remade, and that is awful.

they should resurrect the jodorowsky dune project. that looked awesome.

http://www.geeksofdoom.com/GoD/img/2013/06/2013-06-01-dunegigercastle.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1OvPhNwrhRc/UmGFFzfiuUI/AAAAAAAABvc/LALSLH1Eszc/s1600/DUNE3.jpg

You know about the documentary, right?

really anxious to see it.

they can do a good-to-great job of making a LOTR film adaptation. why not dune?

they can't

waht?

why?

Meaning they can't make good-to-great LOTR movies. I pray to god Peter Jackson never gets his hands on Dune. I'm happy with the one we've got, but I'm with you on Jodorowsky taking another shot at it. Or maybe Herzog.

you're happy with the lynch version? i'm a big lynch fan, but that film -- at least the non-director's cut version -- was a mess.

the jodo scenes and artwork i've seen are pretty awesome.

I think a 12 year-old me trying to make sense of the sparse mess off the Lynch version added an extra layer of mystery to the whole thing that still hasn't worn off. I can see why people would think it was junk, but it elicits the strangest feelings out of me like maybe no other film can. Also, the Toto score is the bomb.

Since Dali (presumably) isn't available to play the padishah emperor who would be a suitable replacement?

Russell Brand.

http://www.musicofsound.co.nz/blog/alan-splets-sound-design-for-dune

links to images further down the page

Since Dali (presumably) isn't available to play the padishah emperor who would be a suitable replacement?

ha! dunno. casting a new dune would be tough. bill murray; ed harris; alan rickman? bah.

How about Jodoroswky? He's old now, and crazy enough to be almost a suitable replacement for Dali.

hah!

so what's this about a soundtrack?

finally watched (the first hour) of the 2000 miniseries. doing a scene-for-scene remake of the movie, essentially, with worse effects, worse acting (!) and a supporting cast speaking english as a second language seems ill-considered

major lolz at william hurt doing the 'they have tried to kill my son!' bit

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I3W6wMn3SeA/T3lBOAf92vI/AAAAAAAAAus/GVfG13wSuhs/s1600/dunecake1-1.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SJW-5rEMKEI/hqdefault.jpg