
I just saw a screening of the documentary film Jodorowsky's Dune and found it thoroughly inspiring. I've read Frank Herbert's brilliant book from 1965 three times and saw David Lynch's 1984 movie version at least fifty times, but I never knew Alejandro Jodorowsky began his own movie adaptation between those years. Dune has always been a special story to me, and seeing how much of an obsession it was to Jodorowsky is completely understandable. He and his team of "spiritual warriors" spent years working on his ambitious vision which was eventually turned down by Hollywood, but their intense passion is encouraging for anyone working on a dream masterpiece of their own. Colin Geddes from the Toronto International Film Festival summarizes the history of the process and the lasting impact it had:
Jodorowsky enlisted an elite group of artistic mercenaries, including French comic book artist Moebius, who illustrated the storyboards; screenwriter Dan O'Bannon (DARK STAR, ALIEN); artist H.R. Giger (ALIEN); and sci-fi paperback illustrator Chris Foss. For the cast, he lined up icons ranging from Salvador Dali and Mick Jagger to Orson Welles, and even his own son, who was put through two years of gruelling martial arts training to prepare for his role. Unfortunately, the film was never made.
Director Frank Pavich tackles one of cinema's most enthralling "what could have been" stories, weaving interviews with the charismatic Jodorowsky, his collaborators, and supporters (including DRIVE director Nicolas Winding Refn), together with animation to bring Moebius' storyboards to life. Even though the project exists only in the imaginations of its creators, and as the hundreds of illustrations they left behind, Pavich's documentary chooses not to dwell on failure, but rather celebrates the ways in which the creative dreams of Dune planted seeds for many other iconic films that came after it, from STAR WARS to ALIEN to countless more. This is an inspirational story about the power of the creative spirit, one that establishes Jodorowsky as a master of cinema and a true visionary of our time.