Dune Production is In Trouble

ARGH! But I always wondered how they would have planned to do that one... obviously you need CG for Leto, but would they have brought back James McAvoy for the face/voice?

 

I wasn't too impressed with the 2000 mini at first either, but it does kind of grow on you.

 

I prefer it to the Lynch movie actually. I like the theatrical nature of the sets, which I know most people dislike, but...

It feels like an opera.

 

^ I actually kinda like what they do with the lighting, often drastically changing it on a character's face and the background for a dramatic effect. Definitely gives that "theatrical" feel you mention. The nature of a miniseries means that they can provide a much greater level of detail than a feature film. And I like the background, especially of the Fremen culture. The music's enjoyable, too. I just wish the acting and the dialogue were a bit better (as of the end of disc two, at least). The Harkonnen Baron is pretty good, but after that, performances fall off precipitously.

 

Ian McNiece is by far the best acting performance of the "Dune" mini-series. I think his Baron Harkonnen was extremely faithful to the book depiction of the character. He managed to not overact the part which is what I think the actor from the Lynch movie did (I can't remember his name at the moment).

@Set Harth...I think the hope was to retain James McAvoy who had not quite blossomed yet, I think he had just been cast in "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" at the time Harrison was writing the script. I believe that CG and green screen would have been used for Leto II.

 

That's what I thought they were going to do.

 

I think it would have been an incredible experience to watch and one of the most ambitious television projects had it been green lit. There was talk of a Dune live action series on HBO or something like that but nothing ever came with that.

 

You know a Dune opera isn't a bad idea.

What? If they could make an opera out of PKD's Valis they can do one about Dune.

And let's not forget the completely insane ambition of Alejandro Jodoworsky's Dune, which had Salvador Dali as the Emperor and I believe was going to suggest an incestuous Paul/Jessica relationship.

That'd... really have been something to talk about, anyway.

 

^ Yes the Jorodosky's "Dune" script is my Holy Grail of most wanted screenplays. Frank Herbert once described the script as a 'phone book'. There is a synopsis available of it on Dunefans.net or something like that. A "Dune" opera would be pretty bad ass actually.

 

I have to thank the fans of the miniseries in this thread. You convinced me to give it another try, and I fully enjoyed it this time. Going to try Children of Dune soon.

I tHink I went in the first time with inflated expectations.

Outside of a Lord of the Rings styled franchise, I don't think we will get a much better adaptation.

 

Paramount bows out as their option just expired

March 22, 2011

Paramount Ends 4-Year Attempt To Turn Frank Herbert's 'Dune' Into Film Franchise

Give it another 5 years and more people will try again.

A franchise film companies just love. sequels...

 

I'm actually glad this isn't happening. I probably would have been severely disappointed.

 

No, that was for the then SciFi Channel. I do wish it had happened. I think the notion was to tell a story between the first miniseries and Children Of Dune with Paul... ect popping in every now and then. Sort of the grunts/victims of Pauls Jihad storylune.

 

I still want to see God Emperor turned into some kind of show/movie/miniseries.

 

^^You and me both. Considering how popular the Dune and Children of Dune minis were, I'm surprised Sci-Fi never pursued a God Emperor mini.

 

God Emperor would be pretty tough to put to screen would be my guess why it never happened. It's a really slow, talky book. Not like the other ones aren't, but they have a lot more going on action-wise than GE does. I'd love to watch it, but I'm just not sure today's ADD audiences would be able to handle it.

 

It is still kind of odd that Sci-Fi abandoned the Dune franchise. After all, the two minis scored them their highest ratings at the time. I think only the BSG mini has since done better. There was potential for them to continue on.

Or perhaps we should be thankful that for once, someone quit while they were ahead?

 

I'll go with this.

 

See, I think it could work as a TV series if you restructure it a bit. But you would need time for the whole thing to play out. Not to mention, thousands of years passed between books, and Leto was there for all of it, so there is a lot of backstory they could mine if they really wanted to.

You're right, as written, God Emperor is very talky and philosophical and there's hardly any action until the end. I think it would have to happen on a network like HBO or something, where you could really exploit the concept and have a slow burn.

I'd like to see a less conventional adaptation of it, giving us plenty of Leto and the machinations with Siona and Hwi, but also filling in background about how Leto's pursuit of the "Golden Path" developed over the millennia. Lots of untapped potential there and if the series unfolded in a more non-linear fashion it could be something really unique.

I think God Emperor was easily the most experimental and genre-defying of the Dune books and it's a shame how much it gets overlooked.

 

I know a lot of people that name God Emperor of Dune as their favorite Dune book. It's my second favorite book of all time behind Dune. It's probably the "deepest" science fiction novel I've ever read. Frank Herbert must have been on all sorts of acid trips when he wrote GEoD. I think my brain expanded.