Sean Young's video of the making of Dune

[Video Link] Actor Sean Young used a super-8 camera to shoot a 6-minute film about the making of Dune, the movie, which was a box office and critical flop. David Lynch looks 19 years old. (Via Super Punch)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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jorgen83

Dune is my favourite novel ever. Although I’m the first to admit that David Lynch’s interpretation has some serious flaws, it has influenced my mental image of the novel in the best of ways. And for that I love it. Critical and box office flop, but I also believe cult classic!
Gary61

I love both the books and the movie – Baron Harkonnen was evil, the Fremen were good, the spice must flow!
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  The Baron was highly intelligent and the Fremen were creepy religious fanatics.
  - Gary61
    
    much like the commenters and the moderators!
DaveLaFontaine

Heh. I still remember the picture of Sting in his “amazing blue thong” that appeared in Rolling Stone at the time, with the caption, “Policeman on Mars”. Which was so dunderheaded that it outraged me at the time – “It’s Arrakis, you morons, not Mars!” I thought.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Of all the things that could be described as wrong about Sting-Rautha in his thong, I can’t see why that would stand out.
  - Felton / Moderator
    
    When I was a kid, my favorite thing about the movie was Patrick Stewart. Now it’s a near-naked Sting yelling “I will kill him!!”
M Carlson

Is it just me or is her narration only half done in spots??? It sure sounds like it.
- http://real.uwaterloo.ca/~mboos Mike Boos
  
  Maybe it’s meant to be like the movie – nothing makes sense until you hear the narrator speak.
  - Brainspore
    
    Actually I’m not sure the narration in the movie really helped on that front either. I still have no idea why the movie ended with Sting dying in a knife fight whilst wearing Hawkman underoos.
    - http://real.uwaterloo.ca/~mboos Mike Boos
      
      I didn’t say it caused everything to make sense, just that you’d be completely lost as to what the movie was about without it. It probably would have made more sense if you just spliced all the narration together and left out the rest of the movie.
- jimh
  
  My thought was that her comments were edited out in places, perhaps self-censored? I wanted to hear what she about David Lynch after “often casting himself…”
  
  It seems like there was more to this than seven minutes, too. It felt like she was getting to a point at the end that never really was articulated.
- http://twitter.com/JewelDole Julie Dole
  
  It sounded to me like one of the audio tracks was missing in places (and I would have turned the background music down) – otherwise well-edited.
http://twitter.com/dereichholz Sascha Eichholz

And her commentary is qiute charming and thoughtful. Didnt expect that. Dont ask me why..
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  After hearing nothing but horror stories about Sean she sounds downright pleasant, plus she looks lovely in these old shots. From her reputation I almost expected her to say “…and this guy was a bastard and I flashed this guy…”
bobrk

If she shot it on Super8, it would be a “film,” not a “video.”
- Mark_Frauenfelder
  
  You are right. Thanks, bobrk. I will correct that.
  - bobrk
    
    Sorry for the pedantry. I’m old, and shot several Super8 films as a kid…
Kwolfbrooks

Super 8 is in 4:3 aspect ratio (TV size)… not the 16:9 (wide) to which this film has been altered. Little bit polished here, but interesting nonetheless.
http://2012diaries.blogspot.com/ tristan eldritch

Whatever the virtues of Lynch’s version, it has to said that adaptation planned by Alejandro Jodorowky, which was going to feature production designs by HR Giger and Moebius, music by Pink Floyd, and star (i think) Orson Welles, is one of the greatest and most bitter what if’s of movie history.
- Felton / Moderator
  
  I’d love to visit the alternate universe in which that version was made. Salvador Dali was apparently going to play the emperor.
  - http://2012diaries.blogspot.com/ tristan eldritch
    
    I’d love to visit that alternative universe too – although in all probability the production would probably be halted there too, by a goddamn zeppelin strike or something.
  - Brainspore
    
    I’d love to visit the alternate universe in which that version was made.
    
    Yeah, but the people in that universe are jealous of how good our version of “Back to the Future” turned out (Eric Stoltz, indeed!). Not to mention how we don’t have to deal with those horrible Onion-Men.
  - Nicky G
    
    That version was indeed produced and released. It came out in the 19A0s.
    - er0ck
      
      19A0s? is that hex for 2000s?
- Tom Forest
  
  I think the spaceships were going to be designed by Chris Foss.
- http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith
  
  I think Dune needs a director who will seriously cut the material down and turn it into movie material. I think Stanley Kubrick would have done a good job, even if it took ten years to get to the screen.
SomeGuyNamedMark

After seeing this movie and the TV adaptation that was supposed to be truer to the book I have to say I prefer the movie. It has a much more powerful look and feels closer to the spirit of the book even if it didn’t follow it as the author wanted. Not unlike the situation with Kubrick and King over the movie version of The Shining.
- ocker3
  
  Not to mention that in the TV adaption they forgot to give Paul and his group blue eyes in the final scene. I and dozens of other movie/sci-fi/culture buffs at my Uni were really hoping that it would be good, but when it finally showed, the feeling of disappointment in that room was just sad.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=825207541 Mark Kraft

Dune is perfect in its imperfections. All things considered, it’s actually quite true to the book.
Leto_Atreides

Maybe I’ve been here too long, but I’m pretty sure this video was posted on boingboing about 2 years ago.

http://submit.boingboing.net/2010/10/sean-young-filmed-the-making-of-dun.html
- Leto_Atreides
  
  …and the movie is awesome BTW.
  - http://twitter.com/writebastard Ian Wood
    
    You sucked a tooth and died. What’re you doing here at all?
Jeff Grygny

This documentary was bad in the same way she was in the movie (check me if she didn’t play Muadib’s love interest) Especially hated the rinkytink music and pointless shots of people eating. Awful Chani– but then Lynch had no idea how to handle a tribal people.
- http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith
  
  Its a home movie, nothing more. Like her photo album from Blade Runner.
bcsizemo

I sat down and watch the director’s cut all the way through a few years ago… When they got to the Fremen and I could think was, “Gordon is that you?”
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1520888 Timothy Dalbey

It’ll be interesting to see how much money the film is actually worth over the long haul – perhaps it’s not such a flop.
http://www.zhrodague.net/ Drew from Zhrodague

It really is a beautiful movie, and I love Lynch’s interpretation. Science fiction *should* be psychedlic, and Lynch certainly made that clear. Hay Lynch: Get back to work!

I couldn’t watch syfy’s version of the story. I don’t think they cast anyone over the age of 30.

I also thought the Chronicles of Riddick was the only other film that had the same impact on me.

I recently finished watching ALL of the available sci-fi films on Netflix’s Watch it Now, and I’ve been turning over rocks (and torrents) to find stuff I haven’t seen yet.
- http://www.youtube.com/user/ziccup akbar56
  
  Oh how wrong you are re: the 2000 SciFi channel mini series. Actors in it over 30? At the time of filming:
  William Hurt: 50
  Saskia Reeves: 39
  P.H. Moriarty: 61
  Ian McNeice: 50
  Barbora Kodetová: 30
  Uwe Ochsenknech: 44
  
  Alec Newman who played Paul himself was 26 at the time. Given that Paul was 15 in the first book, I think the age for casting was acceptable.
  If you are a fan of the book, you do yourself a great dis-service by ignoring the mini-series. It is much closer and truer to the book than Lynch’s noble yet failed attempt. The “stage like sets” give the tale a grander theatrical edge to it that helps imo of the grand story being told.
  - Leto_Atreides
    
    I am huge Dune fan and I thought the miniserie was junk. I’ll take difference with the source material over terrible casting, cheap set and craptastic costumes any day.
    - ocker3
      
      Not to mention a poor script and bad directing. The TV version did nothing at all to improve on the Movie.
chaopoiesis

>>David Lynch looks 19 years old

Cigarettes.
- http://2012diaries.blogspot.com/ tristan eldritch
  
  Reminds me of the famous (and probably apocryphal) Chet Baker anecdote:
  Old jazz musician to Chet Baker (later in life) Hey man, where did you get all them lines in your face?
  Chet Baker: They’re laughter lines.
  Old jazz musician: Ain’t nothing that funny.
- http://disqus.com/Kimmoth/ Kimmo
  
  Hm. He looks 30ish to me, but then perhaps I’m no judge; I’m 37 and get taken for 25-30. I’ve met guys young enough to be my offspring who look older than me…
  
  Been a smoker for 20 years, too. Though I bet my insides don’t look so young…
Melinda9

It ends kind of abruptly after she states her theory about why DLynch bailed. Sci fi films can be hard to do – it’s hard to get the right tone for the big screen where it doesn’t seem comical and ludicrous. For example, Paul Atreides’ little sister always makes me start laughing.
- http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith
  
  it’s hard to get the right tone for the big screen where it doesn’t seem comical and ludicrous
  
  Case in point: Millennium. John Varley’s visual style just didn’t get toned down nearly enough.
Wordguy

No earbuds. Nobody typing with their thumbs. No smartphones. Weird.
- Sparg
  
  Yup, we all connected vocally back in the day.
ben bocardo

sounds like her commentary has been edited
franko

i loved the TV version. this was not so good. parts of it i love, though. (patrick stewart, XOXO – call me).
saint_al

/thought the movie blew. I vividly recall how the movie audience was handed out a postcard/ directory to explain the characters and their traits before the show started. This was for the benefit of those who hadn’t already read the book (guilty here). Seeing Sting in his Flying Underwear didn’t help.
dolo54

I read the book as a teenager before seeing the movie. At the time I was pretty disappointed by the movie, but having seen it a few times since, I would say it is a glorious failure. Unintentionally hilarious at times, especially the girl, Alia’s gleeful speech at the end, but fairly brilliant at other times.
- Steve Taylor
  
  Agreed – a glorious failure. And the recentish tv version was just a plain old failure failure. If the whole movie had lived up to its high points…
Sparg

The first time I attempted to see this I fell asleep in the post theatre. Comfy seat in the dark and I was still buzzed after a post-match rugby kegger, but girlfriend wanted to take me to this for my birthday. Went the next week and loved putting some faces to the characters I loved as a kid.
Walter Amos

Above all else, the thing that made the movie work can be summarized in 2 words.

Jürgen. Prochnow.

You could see *why* the Atreides troops were willing to die for Duke Leto. As opposed to William Hurt’s Leto in the Skiffy TV series, who showed all the emotion and gravitas of an over-boiled cabbage.

Also too, the Atreides uniforms in Lynch’s movie were totally the shiznit.
http://germanwotd.com Amelia_G

All I can see is some Atreides that I’m glad Sean filmed!
http://lectiblog.blogspot.com/ lecti

Still love the movie. Would’ve been much better if it didn’t have the “laser” guns in instead of knives, though.
er0ck

i love lynch. i love dune. i don’t particularly care for the theatrical release of the film, much like the OG blade runner. fans should see the fan edit(s). amazing work