Jodorowsky's Dune (2013) on Netflix
PG-1320131h 30mDocumentary
In 1974 a Chilean-French filmmaker begins adapting Frank Herbert's novel Dune, gathering artists and a cast. He wants an epic of ten to fourteen hours, while Hollywood wants no more than two.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb8.0/1029,515 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes98%
Trailer
Plot summary
In December 1974 a French consortium bought the rights to Frank Herbert's novel Dune, and a Chilean-French filmmaker was set to direct. The crew he assembled covered set and character design and special effects, and rock bands were settled on for the soundtrack. One illustrator drew 3,000 storyboards covering the whole film, and among the actors approached was the man set to play the Emperor, who asked for $100,000 an hour. After two and a half years of pre-production, the project stalled for lack of funds.
Cast
- Chris Fossas Self - Artist
- Jean-Paul Gibonas Self - Film Producer
- Christian Wanderas Self - Singer
- Diane O'Bannonas Self - O'Bannon's Widow
Show all 20 cast
- Jean-Pierre Vignauas Self - Stunt Coordinator
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Jodorowsky's Dune (2013)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Salvador Dalí was set to play the Emperor and demanded $100,000 an hour, so Jodorowsky cut the Emperor's scenes to one hour and had a robotic lookalike speak the rest of his lines. Dalí agreed, on condition that the lookalike went to his museum and his throne was a toilet made of two intersected dolphins.
- Only 20 copies of Jodorowsky's large film-book were produced, with just a handful known to remain, and one sold at Christie's in Paris in 2021 for €2,660,000, a world-record price for a storyboard.
- By 1976, $2 million of the film's $9.5 million budget had been spent on pre-production alone, and Frank Herbert found that Jodorowsky's script would have run 14 hours, which he called the size of a phone book.
- Jodorowsky refused to compromise on the running time, insisting 10 to 14 hours suited the adaptation, while Hollywood would not accept more than two hours; this was one main reason the film was never made.
- The team Jodorowsky assembled for Dune, Dan O'Bannon, Chris Foss, H. R. Giger and Jean Giraud, went on to collaborate on the 1979 film Alien.
- The documentary concludes that the effort was not wasted: Jodorowsky and artist Jean Giraud recycled much of their Dune concepts for The Incal, a series of graphic novels they began publishing in 1980.
