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How David Lynch Completely Changed Dune With The First Scene | What’s the Difference?

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Dune is coming back to the big screen while Denis Villenueve and Timothee Chalamet crashing a sandworm into your HBO Max as well, so it’s time to take a look back at the adaptation from David Lynch back in 1984. Based on the Frank Herbert epic, Dune is considered to be one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time. So how did an indie auteur make a big budget Hollywood adaptation out of a dense fantasy epic? It’s time to remember, fear is the mind killer as we ask, What’s the Difference?

Starring Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides, Sting as the space-underwear clad Feyd-Rautha and the soon-to-be Captain Picard Patrick Stewart, Lynch brought together a fascinating group of 80s character actors like Dean Stockwell, Linda Hunt and Jurgen Prochnow to fill out the cast. A critical and commercial failure when it came out, and in light of prior failed attempts to adapt the sci fi fantasy all-timer, which included Jodorowsky’s Dune, the book was long thought to be unfilmable. With the Atreides and Harkonnen rekindling their big screen rivalry in the form of Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Zendaya and a cast as stellar as the one Lynch assembled, we’ll see how 2021’s adaptation fares.

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20 Comments

@plato898 4 years ago

The spice doesn’t fold space holtzman drive does. The spice allows the navigators to find a safe path through it.

@bobleroe3859 4 years ago

What I appreciated about Lynch's Dune was how alien it appeared--the clothes, architecture, gestures--and not some American version of SciFi. That, plus Lynch's weird touches, made it a unique film.

@bendirval3612 4 years ago

I used to think Lord of the Rings was unfilmable, until Peter Jackson filmed it perfectly. I'm hoping that's what's happening now with the current version of Dune.

@jerrysstories711 4 years ago

The one thing I thought David Lynch absolutely nailed was the aesthetics. The stillsuits, the vehicles, the main characters all look like what I visualized reading the book.

@alansmith2162 4 years ago

Biggest difference: The line "The spice must flow" isn't in the original book.

For being so iconic of the David Lynch version, I was surprised to not find the line in the first book.

@christof_kugel_composer 4 years ago

Misconception: The Melange does NOT fold space. That is done by the Holtzman engine. The spice/melange gives the navigators the brain power to precise calculate the route and - through limited prescience - foresee the outcome. The spice gives prescience, not telekinesis.

@jasonblalock4429 4 years ago

Say what you will about the quality of Lynch's Dune as a movie, the production design is spectacular. Nowadays when I watch it, I'm usually looking at the sets at least as much as the actors.

@airinghouse 4 years ago

I watched Lynch's Dune on TV as a kid before I knew the book or who David Lynch was. I loved the movie then, I only love it more now.

@damianrives563 4 years ago

1984 movie: Paul makes it rain.

Book: Paul makes it rain, across the universe....with blood.

@dirkjewitt5037 4 years ago

Lynch should feel proud of his accomplishment. I loved his Dune.

@archer1949 4 years ago

“I didn’t want to film Kung Fu fights on the damned sand.” David Lynch

That was the main reasoning for that “Wierding Module” bullshit.

@Tisply25 4 years ago

It was always going to be hard to make Dune into a movie, especially back in the 80's!
For those that like to blame Lynch for how the movie turned out, keep in mind a few things:
1. He was denied full creative control and final cut.

2. The production ran out of money, so certain things couldn't be filmed.

3. Producer, Dino De Laurentiis, wanted the film to be the next Star Wars. So I bet that was the mindset they had when making the film.

4. It was always going to be hard to adapt a 800 page novel into a two hour movie; especially a novel with so much world building. Some things will make it to the screen, some won't.

5. "But Lynch never had respect for the source material!" Not true. Lynch was never a fan of science fiction, but when he was offered Dune, he read the book and liked it.

@ncsmith1952 4 years ago

Paul Atreides, in the book, spends a lot of time with the moral dilemma that, by fulfilling his destiny, he might be unleashing galactic warfare. In the movie, it's kind of shrugged off after a brief consideration. I understand why - no time for moral dilemmas - but it seemed to me to take the heart out of the story.

@nasanodia736 4 years ago

Lynch"s DUNE is endlessly quotable! Say what you will about its flaws, but it will ALWAYS be the the Yardstick to which I compare all live-action Adaptations from then on. I love this Film.

@grendelkahn 4 years ago

I think you missed that everybody is plotting and scheming in the book. The emperor was indeed worried that the Atriedes were building a militrary force to rival his saudakar

@crazyman8472 4 years ago

I loved the 1984 version because of it’s weirdness, and because of the cast; great charisma! The new version is an improvement; no heavy info-dumps and it moves along much faster and smoother. But man, how I miss Patrick Stewart and Sting! 😁

@ConradSpoke 2 years ago

The production design aesthetic in 1984 was far more interesting than the current one, which is inexcusably dowdy.

@DerDieDasBoB 4 years ago

I've got so many goosebumps from watching Villeneuve's Dune, what a masterpiece!!!! David Lynch hates his own version, but i can't help myself, i'm still in love David Lynch version: Master full set pieces, great cast, disgusting evil looking villains, amazing costumes & a little child holding a bloody dagger in slow mo after killing her uncle

@vb2388 4 years ago

David Lynch is one of a kind..

Be it Twin Peaks or Eraserhead…his Art and Storytelling is second to none..

@changofett77 2 years ago

I miss these surreal scenes when Paul drinks the water of life, which is actually a life-changing experience where he connects with the universe past, present, and future. Lynch did a good job with this (well, he's playing in his field). In the new movies, it's one or two minutes of tension and that's it.