David Lynch's DUNE--new DVD (merged thread) (1 Viewer)

[DaViD Boulet]

Lynch hates what Universal did to the film...not his "vision" of Dune which is hopefully what we might get on this forthcoming DVD.

I love the toto score too...have 3 copies of the soundtrack (4 if you count the LP)...but the same 5-second phrase looped endlessly without any connection to on-screen context (in the Smithee version) starts to get old even for me ;-)

 

[Jim Barg]

I dig the score. I remember when my brother and I caught the Smithee cut on Sci-fi a couple of years ago, and he laughed out loud when the 'Music Composed and Performed by Toto' credit appeared on screen.

I insisted that it was actually one of the strongest parts in the film (he didn't believe me then, he certainly didn't after the movie). I own both copies of the CD (the original pressing and the Super Collector version), and would happily spring for another release... if there's going to be unreleased music added to this (possible) Lynch uber-cut. If not, I'll live.

 

[AlexCosmo]

To me the Toto music is a little intrusive or funny in spots. That end credits song is like something at a 1987 wedding. I think if some of the scenes were simply allowed to play out without music and narration, and just the sounds of wind and machinery, it would go a long way to restoring the Lynchy-ness.

 

[Jim Barg]

I can't argue with that...

The use of Toto instead of a traditional composer may have been a Dino De Laurentiis mandate, in order to 'appeal to the younger crowd'. There's the example of Queen on Flash Gordon, and on the Conan the Barbarian score CD's liner notes, it's mentioned that the producer tried to convince John Milius to use pop music instead of giving the job to Basil Poledouris.

Otherwise, I can't imagine that Lynch would have come up with hiring Toto on his own. (Still, I believe the last chapter in the aforementioned Making of Dune book is of Lynch digging through progressive-rock records trying to find a suitable composer for the film, so perhaps he did.)

 

[Will_B]

LOL! That's right. We know Lynch doesn't like DVD's chapters, he doesn't like surround sound, and chances are he's going to walk into the avid suite with a match in one hand and a bucket of gasoline in the other.

Or maybe he just wants to do a commentary track as Alan Smithee (so he'll wear a fake moustache during the recording).

 

[Will_B]

(I'm just trying not to get hopes up)

 

[TheLongshot]

Just trying to imagine Yes doing the soundtrack...



Could be worse. Could have gotten Alan Parsons to do the soundtrack...

Jason

 

[Rich Malloy]

In the never-filmed, but much pre-productioned Jodorowsky film of "DUNE", it was to be Pink Floyd supplying the soundtrack.

 

[Jay Pennington]

If Lynch's chatroom comments are true, then this rumor could be an early April Fool's joke. Some folks like to hit ya with them early when you're off your guard.

 

[Grant H]

I like the theatrical cut as-is, and I wouldn't part with the weirding modules for anything.

I'll be happy with an anamorphic theatrical cut with DTS and deleted scenes. It would be cool to see another cut though. I just hope it's not fundamentally altered.

For some reason I have a feeling that if a true DC comes out I won't like it as much as the theatrical version, much like the Ridley Scott DC of legend. With the horrid singing and over-done, predictable score.

 

[Steve Christou]

[expletive deleted]

Damn I would have settled for a widescreen Smithee version just to have had a copy now. I have a sneaking suspicion Lynch doesn't even know he's supposed to be re-editing it.

 

[Elijah Sullivan]

Like Ridley Scott said, he re-cut the film into the theatrical form in order to attract certain "other" audiences who had trouble dealing with the sincere nature of the film. A little more violence and "edge" helps cynical American audience members connect.

Witness the success of The Empire Strikes Back, the favorite Star Wars film -- because it's the most cynical, the least sincere, of all the films, which means adult audience members and jaded kids don't feel so embarrassed watching space-opera. A cynical Star Wars film? It's that an oxymoron? In the other five, it is.

And making Legend more "hip" and less openly innocent was contrary to that film's nature, as well.

Pardon the tangent.

 

[Kevin M]

Would have been interesting to say the least!

 

[CaseyL]

The Jodorowsky visuals and character ideas were very exaggerated and stylized as well. Really cool ideas. So to tie that in with the thread topic at hand, It would be neat to have a documentary with people talking about the "Dune that could have been", presenting original artwork relating to the Jodorowsky vision.

 

[TheLongshot]

Now, that would have been odd. Too bad it didn't happen..

Jason

 

[Kevin M]

GOD I would love to have heard that!

 

[Damin J Toell]

To reply to a post from a recently-closed thread:


DJ

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I don't think anyone intended offense...just different perceptions about what "director's cut" *means*.

For most of us the term "Director's Cut" usually means "the definitive version of a film that fully captures the true vision of the Director free from impositions of political/studio demands that may have influenced the original theatrical release and thereby compromised the (theatrical) film's artistic integrity in the mind of the director"; and there's no reason that such a definitive version need to have been produced in final form for the theatrical version to be considered anything other than the preferred "director's cut" (i.e. a cut isn't a director's cut by default just because no other finished version exists...it's a question of the director's *perspective* of that theatrical version).

That "Director's cut" may or may not be any different from the original theatrical release...and it would be identical if no such restrictions ever applied (like Gibson's "Passion" etc.).

However, I think we're all in agreement that the current theatrical version of Lynch's DUNE does not capture his true vision for the film, but has been compromised due to political/studio restrictions imposed on him while it was in production (there are plenty of other quotes that demonstrate this as well, and put in context with your own still indicate a less-than-ideal current theatrical version). Therefore, the confusion on the part of another HTF member with the term "Director's Cut" should be understandable and not taken personally. Miscommunication is almost always at fault in issues like this, not intended insults.

-dave

 

[Damin J Toell]

There was no miscommunication.. I was told that my post was "naive" and told that "anyone with any knowledge of film history" will tell me how wrong I am. There is no alternate non-personal way to take those statements.

Anyway, yes, Dune had a problematic production, starting from long before Lynch and crew went into the editing room. And the only final version he was involved in was the theatrical version. Long rough cuts that the director thinks didn't work cannot reasonably be called "director's cuts." Not every director necessarily wants every last scrap of footage in his or her cut of a film. Assuming that longer cuts are automatically what the director prefers is fallacious and referring to such versions as "director's cuts" is misleading.

DJ

 

[DaViD Boulet]

The fact that the theatrical is the "only final verion he was involved in" does not, in and of itself, indicate that it represents a "director's cut". It's how the director *feels* about that cut that's the key. A longer or alternate cut does *not* need to physically exist (or have existed) for the current version to *not* be the definitive "director's cut". If the current version does not represent the version Lynch would have created if freed from studio impositions then it isn't his director's cut by definition.

Your comments have relevance either way however in shedding light that the "mystery Lynch Long-cut" has never been assembled, which I think is of benefit to all readers interested in the history of this film.



Quoted from closed thread:


Despite the word "naive", the tone of the above comments is amicable and offered in the spirit of sharing information, not one that's insulting. I can see how it could be taken the wrong way, but I think if you sit back and re-read it in a different frame of mind you'll see he inteneded no offense.