Jodorowsky's Dune

Director: Frank Pavich, Interviews with Alejandro Jodorowsky, Michel Seydoux, H.R. Giger

Two words that are a bugbear of history are what if? They tend to haunt the art world too: what if the majority of Sophocles plays weren't consumed in the fire that destroyed the Alexandrian library, or what if Kafka's friend had acceded to the author's wishes that his work never be published posthumously or what if Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis had collaborated as the two musicians once intended? Fortunately Kafka's friend didn't listen but for the others, we can only imagine.

Jodorowsky's Dune is another massive What If and one that is fascinating to contemplate. Director Frank Pavich explores the history behind Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky's ill-fated attempt to bring Frank Herbert's Dune to the screen and what we learn is painful and frustrating.

Jodorowsky, known for surreal fare like El Topo and Holy Mountain, was approached with Dune as a possible film project and though he hadn't read it himself, he immediately gravitated to the idea. Burning with inspiration, Jodorowsky set out to enlist not only the best talent, but those he felt had a spiritual compatibility with his vision. Among the august collaborators were H.R. Giger, special effects whiz Dan O' Bannon, comic illustrator Chris Foss, and the (then) still-ascending Pink Floyd. In casting actors, Jodorowsky was no less ambitious: Salvador Dali, Orson Welles and Mick Jagger.

Rights to the novel were secured, storyboards were drawn up and pre-production commenced. All Jodorowsky needed was a Hollywood budget so meetings with major studios were secured. A $15 million dollar budget--enormous but not obscene by 70s' standards--was proposed. Though studios were impressed with Jodorowsky's adaptation, storyboards and the otherworldly designs, they wouldn't trust a massive undertaking to someone like the Chilean director. Everyone interviewed, critics and those connected to the project, agreed Jodorowsky's film would have been one of the most important and seminal films in history. If that seems like ludicrous hyperbole, consider the evidence the movie provides for how Hollywood borrowed, stole and re-purposed Jodorowsky's production designs and design team. H.R.Giger's designs were seen in Alien and more recently Prometheus, costumes inspired movies like Flash Gordon and elements of the story can be seen reworked in Raiders of the Lost Ark; to name but a few films. Even in storyboard, Jodorowsky's film is breathtaking, as are the costumes and spaceship designs.

Pavich's documentary also brings interesting, anecdotal, pre-production tid-bits to life. We learn Dali wanted to be paid an exorbitant sum just to be known as the highest paid actor in the industry while Orson Welles had to be coaxed with the promise of daily meals prepared by a french restaurant he loved. Jodorowsky had an easier time with Mick Jagger, who actually approached him about being in one of his films.

Film critics discuss Hollywood's aversion to Jodorowsky's project; one posits the theory that the film frightened Hollywood; studio heads aware the film could be revolutionary and usher in sweeping changes to how films looked and were made.

What if becomes If Only, as if only someone in Hollywood would have had the guts and vision to greenlight the project. We're left feeling the frustration Jodorowsky and his collaborators must have endured, especially after learning another production would be made, with David Lynch in the directorial seat. With no ill-will to Lynch, Jodorowsky expresses relief after viewing the 1984 Dune, bearing witness to its awfulness.

That Jodorowsky isn't bitter or doesn't seem to be, is a surprise; knowing what didn't get made was plundered by other filmmakers and other productions, like a new Lamborghini being junked and used for its precious parts.

We'll never know what Jodorowsky's film would have looked like or if it would have lived up to his towering ambitions, but the sheer idea of it seems grander than all the film's it inspired and most films made by the Hollywood system. If only...