Jodorowsky's Dune: Why The "Greatest Film Never Made" Still Can't Be
TheSpiceDAO, a crypto company, has bought a production book for Alejandro Jodorowsky's proposed Dune adaptation, but still can't legally make it
TheSpiceDAO's recent acquisition of the production "bible" for Alejandro Jodorowsky's interpretation of Dune has made headlines, but the film that has long fascinated movie and sci-fi fans is still very unlikely to be made. An experimental and surrealist Chilean director, Jodorowsky attempted to make a Dune adaptation in the 1970s whose mind-boggling ambition is still an obsession of many. Recently, a cryptocurrency-based company called TheSpiceDAO purchased a rare pitch book at an auction for $3 million dollars, and have stated that they plan to make a version of Dune in line with Jodorowsky's vision. However, this is not how movie rights work.
Jodorowsky's Dune was a grand design that would have resulted in a ten-hour feature film. The director planned to cast his son Brontis as Paul Atreides, the role played by Timothee Chalamet in the 2021 Dune, with the cast also including surrealist artist Salvador Dali as Shaddam IV, Orson Welles as Baron Harkonnen, David Carradine as Duke Leto, and Mick Jagger as Feyd-Rautha. Other creative forces meant to be involved were Pink Floyd, visionary French science fiction artist Moebius, and future Alien designer H. R. Giger. After going over budget even in pre-production, the sprawling scope of the project made backers pull out, and the rights were sold to Dino De Laurentis, who eventually made the 1984 Dune film directed by David Lynch. (It is a sign of how surreal Jodorowsky's vision was that Lynch was seen as the safer choice.) However, Jodorowsky's Dune has intrigued fans and critics ever since, becoming the subject of a 2013 documentary.
SpiceDAO acquired the pitchbook, but not the adaptation rights to Frank Herbert's Dune books. Simply owning a physical copy doesn't provide legal adaptation rights. After acquiring the pitchbook, SpiceDAO has said that they intend to make the book public, produce an original animated series inspired by it, and support community projects. Any kind of adaptation, however, especially a commercially streaming one, would face legal hurdles that are probably insurmountable.
Warner Bros. currently owns the adaptation rights to Dune, and are not likely to let go of them. Their 2021 version of Dune, directed by Denis Villeneuve, was a commercial and critical success, and a sequel is currently in the works. Big media companies sometimes turn a blind eye to non-commercial fan films, but a production of the magnitude SpiceDAO is suggesting, and which they want to sell to a streaming service, would certainly draw legal threats. Denis Villeneuve's Dune adaptation is very different than Jodorowsky's proposal, and Warner Brothers wouldn't want a competing version available.
There's also the question of Jodorowsky himself. The director, now 91, has by all appearances moved on from his ideas from 45 years ago, and has instead been attempting to gather funding for a follow-up to his films El Topo and The Dance of Reality for almost a decade. Furthermore, he still owns the rights to the specific visual concepts included in the art book. Most of the actors he intended to cast in his Dune have since passed away and without Jodorowsky actually on board, an attempt to make a series faithful to his vision would seem to be pointless.
Of course, there has been a lot of sci-fi media inspired by Dune, including Star Wars, and nothing is stopping SpiceDAO from creating a new story loosely inspired by Jodorowsky's vision. But they could have done that before buying the pitchbook, and the purchase doesn't meaningfully contribute to an adaptation given that Jodorowsky's concepts were already widely available. Ultimately, the Dune "bible" acquisition amounts to a publicity stunt by a crypto company looking to gain public recognition. Jodorowksy's Dune, as fascinating as it is, will always remain only a dream.