Dune: David Lynch Has No Interest In Denis Villeneuve’s Movie

David Lynch has zero interest in Denis Villeneuve’s new movie version of Dune. First published in 1965, Frank Herbert’s Dune is now acknowledged as one of the great masterpieces of science-fiction literature. In 1984, acclaimed filmmaker Lynch brought the novel to the screen in a film that was maligned by critics and ignored by audiences at the box office.

Now, over three decades after Lynch’s take on Dune went on to be one of the most notorious flops in cinema history, Villeneuve is set to take his own stab at adapting Herbert’s legendary novel. Unlike Lynch, Villeneuve gets to divide his Dune adaptation into two movies, which should theoretically give him an advantage in realizing Herbert’s incredibly detailed and character-rich vision of the far future. Villeneuve also has the advantage of state-of-the-art modern special effects as he tries to bring Herbert’s many different far-out worlds to convincing life.

Already fans are giving their opinion about Villeneuve’s upcoming film, just based on a batch of first look photos featuring stars Timothée Chalamet, Oscar Isaac and others that recently hit the internet. But don’t expect the first Dune director Lynch to join the chorus either for or against Villeneuve’s Dune. In an interview with THR, Lynch said he has “zero interest” in Dune after his own bad experience on the 1984 film:

Because it was a heartache for me. It was a failure and I didn’t have final cut. I’ve told this story a billion times. It’s not the film I wanted to make. I like certain parts of it very much — but it was a total failure for me.

Indeed, Lynch has spoken many times before about what a traumatic experience it was for him to make Dune under notorious producer Dino De Laurentiis, who exerted a high measure of control over the production and did not give Lynch final cut. In fact, Lynch later had his name entirely removed from an extended cut of the film released to television (the movie was credited to Alan Smithee, the pseudonym routinely placed on movies after directors lobby to have their own names removed). Lynch of course would rebound from his terrible Dune experience to become one of the most revered filmmakers in the world with classics like Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart and Mulholland Dr. as well as the renowned cult television show Twin Peaks to his name.

Dune may have represented only a temporary set-back in Lynch’s career, but it’s obvious the pain of the experience still lingers, and given that fact it’s easy to see why he has no interest in seeing or even talking about Villeneuve’s own take on the story. It remains to be seen if Villeneuve will succeed in adapting Dune, or if he like Lynch will ultimately be defeated by the task of trying to boil down Herbert’s epic novel into a form that works on the big screen. Going by early reaction to the first few glimpses of Dune, it seems like he has an uphill battle ahead of him when it comes to winning over fans. But Villeneuve already has plenty of experience with the pressures of tackling beloved sci-fi properties after creating the sequel Blade Runner 2049, so he knows exactly what he’s getting into. If he needs any advice though, he should know not to turn to Lynch.