Director Ridley Scott has revealed how close he came to directing DUNE a long time ago, something that could have changed the history of cinema.
This year we have been able to see DUNE from Denis Villeneuve, a science fiction masterpiece that dramatically recreates the books of Frank Herbert. In addition, they have already revealed that they will make the second part that will be released in October 2023. Long before, there were several versions, but without a doubt the one that stands out the most is that of David lynch 1984, although we now learn that Ridley scott he was almost the one chosen to make that adaptation.
In a recent interview Ridley scott commented:
“It has always been possible to film. He had a writer named Rudy Wurlitzer, from the Wurlitzer family. He had written two movies: Two-Lane Blacktop with James Taylor and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, which had Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson. My brain is working quite well today, actually! We did a very good version of DUNE, because in the early days I was working very, very closely with the writer. He was always concentrating the look of the film on what he or she was writing about. And then producer Dino De Laurentiis got me into that and we said: We did a script and the script is pretty good. “
There were budget problems.
Ridley Scott revealed the demands of producer Dino De Laurentiis: “It is expensive, we are going to have to do it in Mexico. I said that! Mexico! Really? So he sent me to Mexico City. And with the greatest respect for Mexico City, in those days it was pretty pathetic. I did not love it. I went to the studio in Mexico City where the floors were dirt floors in the studio. I said: No, Dino, I don’t want this to be a hardship. So I actually backed off and went to Legend with Tim Curry and Tom Cruise instead. “
After his great work with Alien (1979) and Blade runner (1982), Ridley scott it would have been a great choice to make DUNE. Also, his version would have been different from that of David lynch, but that’s something we can never prove.