By Ryan Fleming
There have been many attempts to adapt Frank Herbert’s 1965 science fiction novel Dune. Most of them have spent much time in development hell. The most famous was the mid-1970s attempt by Alejandro Jodorowsky, chronicled in the documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune (2013). We’re not going to talk about that one. The first successful adaptation of the book, David Lynch’s Dune (1984), had its own troubled production. We’re not going to talk much about that one either.
Instead, we’re going to talk about the one in between Jodorowsky and Lynch. The late 1970s attempt by Dino De Laurentiis to be directed by Ridley Scott.
Italian producer De Laurentiis purchased the rights from the French consortium that had attempted to produce Jodorowsky’s version. Like his predecessors, De Laurentiis would find his first attempt going through multiple versions before being abandoned. His first attempt, to be clear.
Unlike the Jodorowsky led project, where it seemed the script was a footnote of consideration, De Laurentiis immediately sought Frank Herbert to attempt his own novel. By his own admission, Herbert failed to condense the novel into a filmable script. 1979 saw Rudy Wurlitzer – writer of Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) – brought on as screenwriter, alongside Ridley Scott as director. Scott was coming off the recent success of Alien (1979), which, oddly enough, inherited several people involved with Jodorowsky’s project who first met during preproduction for that attempt. Dan O’Bannon, screenwriter of Alien, had been intended to supervise visual effects on Dune, while H. R. Giger, Chris Foss, and Jean “Moebius” Giraud were all set to work on designs. Giraud’s time on Alien was short but his concept art heavily influenced the eventual film. Foss spent longer on the project, but his designs went largely unused. Giger was given the job of realising the titular creature and associated locales, turning in his most famous design in the process. It is ironic that a director whose greatest success was dependent on the failure of Jodorowsky’s Dune should be brought aboard to helm its successor.
Scott had read Herbert’s very faithful, two-part screenplay adaptation and, aside from identifying several scenes he might want to use, worked with Wurlitzer on a complete rewrite. The Wurlitzer script went through three versions before one dated October 1980 that ran for 133 pages and, like the Herbert screenplay, split the film into two parts. Wurlitzer described the adaptation as one of the most difficult writing jobs he had ever tackled, saying that it took longer to get an outline than it was to write the script; no doubt trying to turn the novel into something cinematic, which Herbert’s attempt apparently failed to achieve. By his own admission, his script was very different from the source material but true to its spirit. Scott, in an interview around the time of the release of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune (2021), was more equivocal, calling their script “pretty fucking good”. Scott had long made it known that Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers (1966), about the guerilla campaign of the Algerian National Liberation Front against the occupying French Republic, was a reference for them in their adaptation. However, the actual contents of the script remained elusive for decades, until a copy was found in 2024 in the archives of Wheaton College in Illinois.
The Wurlitzer script veers wildly from the novel. Not just in the usual film adaptation way of deleted characters and subplots, though those do abound, but this script changes several key plot points. Right from the start, what kicks off the plot is the death of the Emperor, who bequeaths Arrakis to Duke Leto Atreides in the hope of keeping the peace. Contrast with the novel and the eventual first adaptation, where the control of Arrakis by House Atreides is part of a Machiavellian plot to destroy Duke Leto by the Emperor, who survives long enough to be forced to abdicate in favour of Duke Leto’s son, Paul. The characterisation of Paul also wildly differs, he’s far more self-assured and even arrogant in the Wurlitzer script. (Though by this 1980 draft Wurlitzer had at least abandoned an incestuous subplot between Paul and his mother, Jessica.)Aside from changes to plot, characterisation, and a desire to feature tri-breasted women a decade prior to Total Recall (1990), what stands out for this script is the violence. The Harkonnen attack on the Atreides would have featured a Harkonnen vehicles driving over the corpses of Atreides soldiers, which goes beyond what is seen in any of the successful adaptations.
Like the Herbert version of the script, Wurlitzer’s draft split the adaptation into two films. Wurlitzer’s version ends with Paul, declared the Messiah by the Fremen, and Jessica, the new Reverend Mother, calling a sandworm, but stops short of us seeing Paul ride the worm. The next version of the script would feature a different cliffhanger, but neither Wurlitzer nor Scott would be involved in drafting it.
Wurlitzer’s script was not loved by all the studio executives, perhaps because of its violence and grimness. The script found in 2024 does not have the feel of a final draft, especially considering the number of versions that the script would go through before finally being adapted.
Despite spending seven months on the project, Ridley Scott left it in 1980. There were several reasons, personally and professionally, for him doing so. Pre-production had already taken seven months and Scott felt that bringing the film to completion would take at least two more years. He also did not want to film in Mexico, which was a requirement from De Laurentiis. Personally, his brother Frank had just died of cancer and he desired a faster-paced project to take his mind off his grief. That project would be Blade Runner (1982), another science fiction adaptation, this of Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Like his efforts on the Dune adaptation, his Electric Sheep one differed extremely from the source material.
Blade Runner was released in the midst of a glut of sci-fi and fantasy releases in the summer of 1982 including The Thing (actually released the very same day as Blade Runner), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Conan the Barbarian, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. It underperformed at the box office and received mixed reactions from critics in its original release. It received a new lease on life through video rentals and is now regarded as one of the greatest science fiction films ever made.
Scott was right that production of Dune was going to take even longer. As it happened, it took another five years from Scott leaving the project to the eventual release of the De Laurentiis led adaptation. So long had the project been in development since the rights were first sold that De Laurentiis actually had to renegotiate the rights with Herbert in 1980. Herbert was amenable, and also included the rights to all sequels, published and unpublished.
To replace Scott, David Lynch was sought after Raffaella De Laurentiis, producer and Dino’s daughter, saw The Elephant Man (1980). Lynch was actually fielding a lot of offers around that time, including the third Star Wars film that eventually became Return of the Jedi (1983). He had not actually read thebook at the time of being offered but accepted the job after reading and enjoying it. Lynch’s first two drafts were worked on with Eric Bergren and Christopher De Vore; before that team split and Lynch turned in another five drafts by himself. It was during these five drafts that the script was finally condensed into a single film. The team efforts and the first Lynch solo one all split the film at the Harkonnen attack on the Atreides compound.
Dune (1984) was finally released after more than a decade in development. It did not recoup its budget at the box office; it received largely negative response from critics; and it was even included on some year’s end “worst of” lists, with one calling it the “Heaven’s Gate of science fiction”. Common criticisms include the plot being described as incomprehensible and the film itself looking cheap and ugly. What little praise there was to be made was usually about the cast, though some were tinged with irony.
The producers and executives had high expectations of Dune. Virginia Madsen was signed for three films as Princess Irulan and has said the notion from the producers was “Star Wars for grown-ups.” Lynch had already begun work on a script for a sequel, to be based on Herbert’s 1969 novel Dune Messiah. The failure, critically and commercially, of Lynch’s Dune cancelled those plans. Like the Wurlitzer script, a partly completed script was found in the 2020s in university archives – this time the California State University, Fullerton – but Lynch, as he had been doing since 1984, had little comment to make on Dune.
Dune would see two further adaptations. A television miniseries for Sci Fi as Frank Herbert’s Dune (2000), which was praised for its faithfulness and received a sequel miniseries: Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune (2003). More recently, Denis Villeneuve’s two-part adaptation was released to critical and commercial acclaim, with an adaptation of Dune Messiah in the works as a sequel.
What if Ridley Scott had never left the project back in 1980? Would it be as successful as the Villeneuve films? Or be as poorly received as the Lynch one?
We cannot know for sure since the only script we have appears far from a final version. It was also met with a muted response from producers and studio executives. Also, even once they found a director able to commit the time it still took seven drafts of the script before they began filming. It was this sluggish production that caused Scott to leave in the first place, how could he be convinced to stay?
It is a difficult prospect, given all that combined to make Scott leave and what we know about how production continued after he left. However, perhaps the expiration of the rights in 1981 lights a fire under De Laurentiis and just one more draft is promised. A new script from Wurlitzer that answers some of the concerns of the producers, whose major one might have been the US$ 50 million budget attached (for comparison, Blade Runner was budgeted at US$ 30 million and Lynch’s Dune at US$ 40-42 million).
There are also the filming problems that beset Lynch’s production in Mexico, including electricity failures and health problems. Production is unlikely to be a happy one. Ridley Scott’s Dune has a lot stacked against it being a success, as much as Lynch’s version had, perhaps more if moving ahead with the project has the opposite effect from taking his mind off his brother’s death. One similarity between Blade Runner and Dune is that both films were taken from their directors and recut the films, including additions of voice-over narrations in both films. That stands out as a highly likely possibility.
The naïve view is that Ridley Scott adapting Dune in two parts after Alien means we get the artistic influence underlying Jodorowsky’s attempt – Giger, Foss, and Giraud – having some input on the eventual production but the final result being a far more straightforward cinematic experience than the avant-garde Jodorowsky could have delivered. The naïve view would hope that Scott and Wurlitzer make some concessions to the studio, toning down some of the violence but keeping the mature themes inspired by recent colonial wars, and keeping it to two parts. The naïve view is one that Ridley Scott’s Dune and Dune Part II are released sometime around 1982-4, that they do well enough at the box office (avoiding the packed summer of ’82) and are met with mostly positive responses. That they can actually deliver on what Madsen referred to as “Star Wars for grown-ups.” Perhaps for maximum cosmic irony they are followed by David Lynch’s Dune Messiah later in the decade.
A slightly more realistic take is that the producers recut Scott’s film and the director winds up fired despite already working on the sequel like Richard Donner on Superman II (1980). It might still be “Star Wars for grown-ups” but grown-ups might have to rent it on home video to actually see it; perhaps in the dozen and one different director’s cuts that Scott would release as he has done with Blade Runner.
Even the most wishful thinking of success for Scott’s Dune has a knock-on effect on much of popular culture. Right from the get-go we are not getting Blade Runner. An adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was already in development, but the script was far different from what was filmed by Scott.
Even Lynch’s Dune, for all its faults, had a few knock-on effects in terms of its cast. It marked the first collaboration between Lynch and Kyle MacLachlan, who played Paul Atreides and would also go on to star in Lynch’s next film: Blue Velvet (1986). MacLachlan would also play the lead in Lynch’s short-lived cult television series Twin Peaks (1990-1991), reprising his role as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper in the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) and the revival series Twin Peaks: The Return (2017). On cult television, Lynch’s Dune also marked the first time Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart had performed in a science fiction production. He had previously dismissed both the genre and television but would go on to play the lead role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) and its four film adaptations from 1994 to 2002. He would gain a second iconic sci-fi role as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men film series from 2000 to 2017 across seven films with a cameo in the role as recently as 2022.
Denis Villeneuve, director of the recent big budget adaptations of Dune and its in-development sequel, would also be put onto a different career path before those films. His last film prior to them being the sequel film Blade Runner 2049 (2017).
Too often, speculation on an unmade film being made can just become fan wish fulfilment. Certainly, for fans of both Alien and Dune the prospect of Ridley Scott directing an adaptation of the latter after making the former is a tantalising one. One, however, that when we begin to pull on that thread we see how difficult a road his version of the film would still have. We also see that how when that thread is pulled free some unexpected things can be lost as a result. Would anyone be willing to take a longshot on Scott making a great adaptation of Dune in the early 1980s if it means we don’t get Blade Runner at all, Patrick Stewart in Star Trek, or Kyle MacLachlan in Twin Peaks?
Ryan Fleming is the author of SLP's Reid in Braid and various short stories for the anthologies, as well as editing The Scottish Anthology.
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