Jodorowsky's Dune

Did You Know?

• The project was officially announced in May 2011.
• Jodorowsky's Dune premiered at the Director's Fortnight at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.
• Sony Pictures Classics acquired North American distribution rights in July 2013 and released it theatrically on March 7, 2014.

Background

In 1972, Apjac International, headed by producer Arthur P. Jacobs, optioned the rights to film Dune, but Jacobs died in 1973 before development. A French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the rights in December 1974, with Alejandro Jodorowsky attached to direct. Along with French producer Michel Seydoux, Jodorowsky approached Virgin Records, Tangerine Dream, Gong, Mike Oldfield, Pink Floyd, and Magma for the soundtrack; artists H. R. Giger, Chris Foss, and Jean Giraud for design; Dan O'Bannon for special effects; and actors including Salvador Dalí, Orson Welles, Gloria Swanson, David Carradine, Mick Jagger, Udo Kier, and Amanda Lear.

Jodorowsky intended his 12-year-old son Brontis to play Paul Atreides. Frank Herbert traveled to Europe in 1976 and found that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had been spent on pre-production, and Jodorowsky's script would result in a 14-hour film. Herbert described the script as the size of a phone book. Jodorowsky took creative liberties, but Herbert said their relationship was amicable.

After two and a half years, the project stalled because $5 million was still needed for the $15-million total budget and fundraising failed. In 1976, Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis purchased the rights, eventually releasing the 1984 film Dune directed by David Lynch. In January 2023, Pavich published an essay in The New York Times about the documentary discussing AI art illustrations. Only 20 copies of the large film-book were produced; one sold at a 2021 Christie's auction in Paris for a world-record price of 2,660,000 €.

Content

Salvador Dalí was set to play the Emperor and demanded $100,000 per hour, the highest pay in Hollywood history. Jodorowsky accepted but reduced the Emperor's scenes to one hour, with the rest spoken by a robotic lookalike; Dalí accepted on condition the lookalike be donated to his museum and his throne be a toilet made of two intersected dolphins. Jodorowsky's refusal to compromise on the film's running time was a main reason it was not made; Hollywood wanted under two hours, while Jodorowsky felt 10 to 14 hours was appropriate.

The documentary notes that Jodorowsky's script, storyboards, and concept art were sent to all major studios and argues they influenced later films including Star Wars, the Alien series, Flash Gordon, the Terminator series, and The Fifth Element. The team of O'Bannon, Foss, Giger, and Giraud collaborated on the 1979 film Alien. Jodorowsky compared Herbert's novel to Proust and great literature. The documentary concludes that his efforts were not wasted, as he and Giraud recycled concepts for The Incal graphic novels starting in 1980.

Reception

The film received critical acclaim. Variety called it a mind-blowing cult movie and said Pavich presents a compelling theory that the stillborn film influenced later sci-fi. The Hollywood Reporter declared the documentary makes the case for the epic as a legendary lost masterpiece. Entertainment Weekly named it one of the 10 Best Movies of 2014.

Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 98% approval rating from 121 critics, with an average rating of 8/10 and a consensus calling it a fascinating look at a lost sci-fi legend. The film appeared on numerous critics' year-end lists, including second place from Alex Biese of the Asbury Park Press and Wired Staff, third from Liam Lacey of The Globe and Mail, fifth from Neil Rosen of NY1 and Mike Gencarelli of MediaMikes.com, sixth from Richard Corliss of Time and TT Stern-Enzi of Cincinnati City Beat, seventh from Giovanni Fazio of The Japan Times and Steve Persall of the Tampa Bay Times, eighth from Jeffrey M. Anderson of The San Francisco Examiner, and tenth from Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly, Erik Henriksen of The Portland Mercury, and Kirk Baird of The Blade.

Honorable mentions were given by James Verniere of the Boston Herald, John Beifuss of The Commercial Appeal, Kristian Lin of Fort Worth Weekly, and Brian Miller of Seattle Weekly. Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post included it in Best Documentaries, and A.O. Scott of The New York Times named it a runner-up.