Dune: David Lynch’s most Important Film

If David Lynch never made his critical, commercial and personal failure, Dune, we wouldn't have Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet- none of it.

David Lynch slid onto the scene with Eraserhead (1977). An independent film made on a paper-thin budget of about $10,000. This mind-bending story of a man taking care of his alien bastard son caught producers' eyes. So much so that Lynch went on to adapt the adaptation of The Elephant Man (1980). The film received widespread acclaim and became a box office hit. This type of acclaim and monetary success sends studios and producers sprinting to snatch up the next big director.

The offers came in, and Lynch was even offered to direct the final movie of the Star Wars Trilogy, The Return of the Jedi. After a visit to George Lucas' massive estate, David Lynch quickly declined the offer. Not long after he declined, he was soon recruited to adapt the source material George allegedly nabbed aspects of to create Star Wars… Dune. In retrospect, you'd think Lynch should've taken George's offer. But, if you step back and look at the whole picture, Dune was the best thing that could've happened to him as a filmmaker.

Dune, according to cinephiles (and possibly Lynch himself) is David Lynch's greatest failure. A two-time director, coming off a critical hit, Lynch was the bright face attached to an adaptation of a popular Intellectual Property (IP), Dune. When the final movie of the original Star Wars Trilogy had wrapped, there was a hole in the marketplace for the next big Sci-fi franchise. Enter Universal and enter David Lynch.

The young new voice wasn't hired to use his young new voice. The studio had plans of their own; they didn't want the arthouse director putting his spin on it. They wanted him to execute their demands. Being a young director, with what was likely the biggest payday he had received up to that point, how could Lynch say no? 

Just speculating, but in Hollywood, there are a lot of 'one for you and one for you' type deals floated around. It could very well have been a 'scratch our back now and we'll fund your next script' situation. They could've been dangling a carrot over his head to get him to fall in line. We'll pay it back, or just tell him, 'listen or you'll never make another movie.' Again, just speculation. Still, I wouldn't be surprised at all.

Dune is a messy movie. Not just story-wise but visually as well. After watching the film, I now understand why Denis Villeneuve divided his adaptation of Dune into multiple parts. The big moments in Lynch's Dune often don't feel earned. The relationship between Paul and Chani feels rushed. Paul riding the sand worm seems like it just happens rather than being a learned skill.

I wonder if I hadn't seen Denis' two movies, if I'd feel different. Having films to directly compare Lynch's Dune to, especially two films held in high regard, eats at the quality of the film. It felt like I was watching a movie based on a book I had already read and wasn't satisfied with the adaptation.

Dune - (David Lynch, 1984, Universal)

We see Lynch in the visuals. While this movie's story feels rushed and not earned, visually it exceeds the story… most of the time. The sets are fantastic. There's a lot of depth, a lot to look at, we get a lot of wide angles, so we get to see the full scope of the grand settings we're spending the night in. But once CGI gets involved, the visuals take a boat ride down the toilet. 

The VFX just isn't up to par. I understand that I have grown up spoiled by technological advancements and have seen some of the best CGI ever produced, but I've also seen some of the worst (Ant-Man: Quantum Mania). The poorly done CGI is a sign of the times; the technology wasn't where it should've been for what they wanted to do. Given the major studio intervention, I don't blame that on Lynch.

To give a modern-day example, I'd compare this to David Ayer's Suicide Squad. The studio was trying to capture the magic of their competitors, in Dune's case, Star Wars. For Suicide Squad, it was Marvel. So the studio came in making demands to compete and ultimately wound up with a movie the artist never intended. There's a lot of controversy around this movie. Allegedly, there was a lot of Studio intervention, and this being David Lynch's third feature film, he didn't really have the confidence to tell a studio "no" yet. So the final product wasn't exactly something he was proud of.

Why is Dune David Lynch's most important film? Well, because he grew a backbone. This experience taught him the importance of creative control and final cut. He made the movie the studio wanted, and it turned out to be a failure. If you're going to fail, you might as well fail on the merit of your own vision, not someone trying to compete in the market. 

Dune was a commercial and critical failure, but internally, it was a success. On the set, Lynch directed actors Kyle MacLachlan, Everett McGill, and Jack Nance, who all found themselves on the set of Lynch's co-created show, Twin Peaks. MacLachlan turned into a frequent collaborator of Lynch's, starring in Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, and Twin Peaks: The Return. Blue Velvet also features actor Brad Dourif, whom Lynch also met while directing on Dune. Not only did Lynch gain another movie under his belt, but he also found actors with whom he gelled and saw his vision come to life. He turned a bad experience into a positive one, building relationships that set him up for his next move.

Lynch followed up Dune with the cult classic Blue Velvet. Then, followed by BV with Wild at Heart, a Nic Cage picture. A couple of years later, he was making Twin Peaks, a show that many Lynch gooners have made their entire personality (not judging, just saying). After the blunder formerly known as Dune, David spent the next two decades making the movies he wanted to see, breaking the rules, and creating timeless pieces of cinema. 

From my point of view, Lynch found his voice making Dune, not his artistic voice, but the voice that allowed him to tell producers to 'fuck off'. He found the actor who starred in some of his most culturally significant projects, projects that get friggin glazed to no end to this day (rightfully so). Without Dune, what kind of filmmaker would David Lynch have become? Luckily for us, we'll never know.

Rest in peace, David Lynch.