Since we’ve been thinking about authenticity and staying true to one’s self, I thought I’d mention this documentary: Jodorowsky’s Dune. Alejandro Jodorowsky is a filmmaker. In the 70s he made a couple of really wild, wacky, gross cult movies. He made them how he wanted to make them, despite the opinions of others.
Then he started a two-year journey to adapt Frank Herbert’s Dune. This was before the one in 1984, the one with Sting and Kyle McLachlan. Jodorowsky’s commitment and vision and hubris started momentum that got what felt like the entire universe on board. It seemed like he’d decide what he wanted and then just not stop until he got it.
He would direct, and he got Jean Giraud, HR Giger, and Dan O’Bannon, who would later make Alien, to work on art and special effects. The cast included Orson Welles, Salvador Dali, Gloria Swanson, David Carradine, and Mick Jagger. (!!! What?!) Unfortunately, financial constraints eventually tanked the project. Also, Jodorowsky wanted the movie to be 14 hours long, or something like that, and the studios said no.
But despite the movie never getting made, Jodorowsky had no regrets. He says,
“From this supposed failure, come a lot of creation. In the life, thing come, you say ‘yes.’ Thing go away, you say, ‘yes.’ We don’t do Dune? Yes!...And then, so what? Dune is in the world like a dream, but dreams change the world, also.”
Now in his 90s, he is still creating. You can find him on Insta @alejandrojodorowsky. I posted the trailer to the Dune documentary below.