The guys in the office know all too well what a Dune terrorist they can be. As an ardent fan, I've happily watched all the film adaptations of Frank Herbert's book: David Lynch's film, the Syfy miniseries, Denis Villeneuve's excellent 2021, and the documentary about what could have been director Alejandro Jodorowsky's imagined adaptation .
Jodorowsky has always been an eccentric, and even though I scrunch up my nose every time I recall his adamant assertion that he never even read the source material, I appreciate his artistic visions. In his conception, the movie Dune would have had a soundtrack composed by Pink Floyd, and the role of Emperor Shaddam IV would have gone to Salvador Dalí. Oh yeah, and it would have been a ten hour movie.
Dune was supposed to be a psychedelic experience
The project was expected to remain just a beautiful dream, but the documentary that followed was, in some ways, the closest fans have come to it with what could have been the Chilean director's adaptation. Then, the mammoth encyclopedia that Jodorowsky created to complement the documentary became one of the most precious treasures in the world of science fiction and cinema, with the first ever printed copy of Dune selling at auction for the sum of 10 thousand dollars.
The director's book is full of the illustrations and details he hoped to see translated into his ambitious film. It's an incredible book, detailing all the props, all the script and all the preparations for the ten-hour epic: storyboards, concept art, commentaries, notes, you name it. Jodorowsky and his team printed a limited number of copies, so Jodorowsky's Dune isn't just another collection of paperbacks you can pick up on Amazon.
Instead, you can win it at an auction that will be held this month on the Christie's platform. The description mentions that this Bible is one of only 10-20 in the world, and the starting prices vary between 25 thousand and 35 thousand euros. I think it's a beautiful dream to be able to achieve something like that, even if you've watched the documentary made by Frank Pavich a few times. Finally, being able to touch and flip through pages filled with descriptions and illustrations by artists like Moebius, Chris Foss, and H.R. Giger (exceptional work in Alien) is something special. So Christmas is on December 25th, thank you very much!