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Cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky calls ‘Dune’ trailer predictable

Watch: The Dune trailer below...

Alejandro Jodorowsky, whose take on Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel Dune is one of the most famous unmade movies in cinematic history, has called the first trailer for Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation predictable.

The Chilean-French filmmaker, who has overseen movies including El Topo and The Holy Mountain, told French publication Le Point that he hoped Dune was a “great success”, calling Villeneuve “a nice director, about whom I have been told a lot of good things”.

He added that the trailer for Dune looked “very well done,” Comic Book.com reported.

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Timothee Chalamet will star as Paul Atreides in Denis Villeneuve's Dune (Image by Warner Bros)
Timothee Chalamet stars as Paul Atreides in Denis Villeneuve's Dune. (Warner Bros)

But then Jodorowsky pointed out what exactly he didn’t like.

“We can see that it is industrial cinema, that there is a lot of money, and that it was very expensive,” he said.

“But if it was very expensive, it must pay in proportion. And that is the problem: there are no surprises. The form is identical to what is done everywhere, the lighting, the acting, everything is predictable.”

“Industrial cinema is incompatible with auteur cinema. For the former, money before; for the second, it's the opposite, whatever the quality of a director, whether my friend Nicolas Winding Refn or Denis Villeneuve.

LUXEMBOURG, LUXEMBOURG - MARCH 06: Filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky speaks at the "Alejandro Jodorowsky Masterclass" during the 10th Luxembourg City Film Festival - Day Two on March 06, 2020 in Luxembourg, Luxembourg. (Photo by Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images)
Alejandro Jodorowsky at the 10th Luxembourg City Film Festival, 6 March, 2020. (Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images)

“Industrial cinema promotes entertainment, it is a show that is not intended to change humanity or society.”

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Jodorowsky started work on his own take on Dune in December 1974 and had hired Pink Floyd to soundtrack the film and H.R. Giger to work on the character designs. He also wanted to cast Salvador Dali, Orson Welles, and Mick Jagger.

However, the budget for Jodorowsky’s vision soon exploded, and after two-and-a-half years in development the project was scrapped.

David Lynch released his version of Dune in 1984, while we’ll get to see what Villeneuve can deliver with the source material when it hopefully hits cinemas on 18 December.