Editing Dune (novel) (section)

===Early stalled attempts===
In 1971, the production company Apjac International (APJ) (headed by [[Arthur P. Jacobs]]) optioned the [[film rights|rights to film]] ''Dune''. As Jacobs was busy with other projects, such as the sequel to ''[[Planet of the Apes (1968 film)|Planet of the Apes]]'', ''Dune'' was delayed for another year. Jacobs' first choice for director was [[David Lean]], but he turned down the offer. [[Charles Jarrott]] was also considered to direct. Work was also under way on a script while the hunt for a director continued. Initially, the first treatment had been handled by [[Robert Greenhut]], the producer who had lobbied Jacobs to make the movie in the first place, but subsequently [[Rospo Pallenberg]] was approached to write the script, with shooting scheduled to begin in 1974. However, Jacobs died in 1973.<ref name="Dune: Book to Screen Timeline">{{cite web |url=http://www.duneinfo.com/unseen/timeline.asp |title=''Dune'': Book to Screen Timeline |publisher=Duneinfo.com |access-date=January 18, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517163719/http://www.duneinfo.com/unseen/timeline.asp |archive-date=May 17, 2011 }}</ref>

[[File:Jodorowskys Dune.jpg|thumb|left|310px|Pre-release flyer for Jodorowsky's ''Dune'']]
In December 1974, a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the film rights from APJ, with [[Alejandro Jodorowsky]] set to direct.<ref name="Metal Hurlant">{{cite web |url=http://www.duneinfo.com/unseen/jodorowsky/ |title=''Dune: Le Film Que Vous Ne Verrez Jamais'' (''Dune'': The Film You Will Never See) |first=Alejandro |last=Jodorowsky |work=[[Métal Hurlant]] |issue=107 |year=1985 |publisher=DuneInfo.com |access-date=February 8, 2014 |archive-date=February 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190221000125/http://www.duneinfo.com/unseen/jodorowsky/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1975, Jodorowsky planned to film the story as a 3-hour feature, set to star his own son [[Brontis Jodorowsky]] in the lead role of Paul Atreides, [[Salvador Dalí]] as [[Shaddam IV]], Padishah Emperor, [[Amanda Lear]] as [[Princess Irulan]], [[Orson Welles]] as [[Baron Vladimir Harkonnen]], [[Gloria Swanson]] as [[Reverend Mother]] [[Gaius Helen Mohiam]], [[David Carradine]] as [[Duke Leto Atreides]], [[Geraldine Chaplin]] as [[Lady Jessica]], [[Alain Delon]] as [[Duncan Idaho]], [[Hervé Villechaize]] as [[Gurney Halleck]], [[Udo Kier]] as Piter De Vries, and [[Mick Jagger]] as [[Feyd-Rautha]]. It was at first proposed to score the film with original music by [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]], [[Henry Cow]], and [[Magma (band)|Magma]]; later on, the soundtrack was to be provided by [[Pink Floyd]].<ref>Chris Cutler, book included with Henry Cow 40th Anniversary CD box set (2008)</ref> Jodorowsky set up a pre-production unit in Paris consisting of [[Chris Foss]], a British artist who designed covers for science fiction periodicals, [[Jean Giraud|Jean Giraud (Moebius)]], a French illustrator who created and also wrote and drew for ''[[Metal Hurlant]]'' magazine, and [[H. R. Giger]].<ref name="Metal Hurlant"/> Moebius began designing creatures and characters for the film, while Foss was brought in to design the film's space ships and hardware.<ref name="Metal Hurlant"/> Giger began designing the Harkonnen Castle based on Moebius's [[storyboard]]s. [[Dan O'Bannon]] was to head the special effects department.<ref name="Metal Hurlant"/>

Dalí was cast as the Emperor.<ref name="Metal Hurlant"/> Dalí later demanded to be paid $100,000 per hour; Jodorowsky agreed, but tailored Dalí's part to be filmed in one hour, drafting plans for other scenes of the emperor to use a mechanical mannequin as substitute for Dalí.<ref name="Metal Hurlant"/> According to Giger, Dalí was "later invited to leave the film because of his pro-[[Francisco Franco|Franco]] statements".<ref>Falk, Gaby (ed). ''HR GIGER Arh+''. Taschen, 2001, p.52</ref> Just as the storyboards, designs, and script were finished, the financial backing dried up. Frank Herbert traveled to Europe in 1976 to find that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had already been spent in pre-production, and that Jodorowsky's script would result in a 14-hour movie ("It was the size of a phone book", Herbert later recalled). Jodorowsky took creative liberties with the source material, but Herbert said that he and Jodorowsky had an amicable relationship. Jodorowsky said in 1985 that he found the ''Dune'' story mythical and had intended to re-create it rather than adapt the novel; though he had an "enthusiastic admiration" for Herbert, Jodorowsky said he had done everything possible to distance the author and his input from the project.<ref name="Metal Hurlant"/> Although Jodorowsky was embittered by the experience, he said the ''Dune'' project changed his life, and some of the ideas were used in his and Moebius's ''[[The Incal]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kalder|first=Daniel|date=January 25, 2011|title=Alejandro Jodorowsky's dance on the edge of meaning|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2011/jan/25/alejandro-jodorowsky|access-date=July 28, 2020|website=The Guardian}}</ref> O'Bannon entered a psychiatric hospital after the production failed, then worked on 13 scripts, the last of which became ''[[Alien (film)|Alien]]''.<ref name="Metal Hurlant"/> A 2013 documentary, ''[[Jodorowsky's Dune]]'', was made about Jodorowsky's failed attempt at an adaptation.

In 1976, [[Dino De Laurentiis]] acquired the rights from Gibon's consortium. De Laurentiis commissioned Herbert to write a new screenplay in 1978; the script Herbert turned in was 175 pages long, the equivalent of nearly three hours of screen time. De Laurentiis then hired director [[Ridley Scott]] in 1979, with [[Rudy Wurlitzer]] writing the screenplay and H. R. Giger retained from the Jodorowsky production; Scott and Giger had also just worked together on the film ''Alien'', after O'Bannon recommended the artist.<ref name="visualists">"The Visualists: Direction and Design", ''The Beast Within: The Making of Alien''.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=McIntee |first=David |author-link=David A. McIntee |title=Beautiful Monsters: The Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to the Alien and Predator Films |publisher=[[Telos Publishing]] |year=2005 |location=[[Surrey]] |page=27 |isbn=978-1-903889-94-7}}</ref> Scott intended to split the novel into two movies. He worked on three drafts of the script, using ''[[The Battle of Algiers (film)|The Battle of Algiers]]'' as a point of reference, before moving on to direct another science fiction film, ''[[Blade Runner]]'' (1982). As he recalls, the pre-production process was slow, and finishing the project would have been even more time-intensive:

<blockquote>But after seven months I dropped out of ''Dune'', by then Rudy Wurlitzer had come up with a first-draft script which I felt was a decent distillation of Frank Herbert's. But I also realised ''Dune'' was going to take a lot more work—at least two and a half years' worth. And I didn't have the heart to attack that because my older brother Frank unexpectedly died of cancer while I was prepping the De Laurentiis picture. Frankly, that freaked me out. So I went to Dino and told him the ''Dune'' script was his.
:—From ''Ridley Scott: The Making of his Movies'' by Paul M. Sammon</blockquote>

A draft of the screenplay for the Scott version was discovered in 2024 in the [[Wheaton College (Illinois)|Wheaton College]] archives.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.ign.com/articles/ridley-scotts-lost-dune-script-found-i-dont-think-it-wouldve-made-fans-happy | first = Max | last = Evry | title = Ridley Scott's Lost Dune Script Found: 'I Don't Think It Would've Made Fans Happy' | date = December 13, 2024 | access-date = December 13, 2024 | work = [[IGN]] }}</ref>