Legendary Pictures and Denis Villeneuve have a lot of pressure to “get it right” when it comes to their upcoming reboot of Frank Herbert’s “Dune.” The adaptation even got the blessing of Brian Herbert (son of Frank), and as we greatly anticipate that epic’s December release, there will no doubt be lots of comparisons to David Lynch's lackluster 1984 version.
Lynch's "Dune" is well-known to be one of the worst flops in Hollywood history and one of the worst studio movies ever made. It's almost unwatchable. I don't think I've ever been able to sit through its entire 137 minutes. I've tried, because I’m a Lynch completist, but good God is it bad. Widely panned at the time, Lynch lost total creative control on the project, so much so that he asked the studio to remove his name from it entirely, sadly, his wish wasn’t granted.
In a new interview with Empire magazine, Villeneuve admits he is not too keen on Lynch’s adaptation either:
“I’m a big David Lynch fan, he’s the master,” Villeneuve said. “When I saw [Lynch]’s ‘Dune’ I remember being excited, but his take… there are parts that I love and other elements that I am less comfortable with. So it’s like, I remember being half-satisfied. That’s why I was thinking to myself, ‘There’s still a movie that needs to be made about that book, just a different sensibility.’”
Earlier this year, Lynch looked back on the botched adaptation during a Q&A video on YouTube:
“I’m proud of everything except ‘Dune,'” Lynch answered. “I’ve liked so much working on different movies. It’s not so much about pride but the enjoyment of doing, the enjoyment of the work. I’ve enjoyed working in all these different mediums. I feel really lucky to have been able to enjoy those things and to be able to live.”
Lynch referred to his 1984 “Dune” adaptation as a “gigantic sadness in [his] life” because of the lack of creative freedom he received from the studio during the film, including being given a tepid budget to work with. During an interview in April Lynch said he had “zero interest” in seeing Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming new “Dune” adaptation because it will bring back too many painful memories.
Warner Bros. is currently set to open Villeneuve’s “Dune” in theaters on December 18.