As much as we would love great auteur David Lynch to revisit and remaster his 1984 version of “Dune,” we’re kind of glad it won’t ever happen. Sure, it gets rumored almost annually. Moreso now after Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 version was so critically lauded. But Lynch himself has confirmed, multiple times, it will never happen.
Lynch famously butted heads with the powers that be throughout the process. Things like the weirding way fighting style? Yeah, that got changed because Lynch didn’t want “Kung-Fu on sand dunes.” But, that’s not the point.
Most recently, the “Twin Peaks” creator waxed poetic about his version of “Dune” while speaking with The AV Club.
“Dune — people have said, ‘Don’t you want to go back and fiddle with Dune?’ And I was so depressed and sickened by it, you know? I want to say, I loved everybody that I worked with; they were so fantastic. I loved all the actors; I loved the crew; I loved working in Mexico; I loved everything except that I didn’t have final cut. And I even loved Dino [De Laurentiis], who wouldn’t give me what I wanted. And Raffaella, the producer, who was his daughter — I loved her. But the thing was a horrible sadness and failure to me, and if I could go back in I’ve thought, well, maybe I would on that one go back in.
But I mean, nobody’s…it’s not going to happen.”
We can completely understand and respect Lynch’s emotional turmoil. So please, let this be the last word on a true director’s cut of “Dune” 1984, as much as we want it.
You CAN order Lynch’s “Dune“ on 4K though, as well as Villeneuve’s “Dune Part One.” Keep an eye out for Daily Dune updates on the upcoming Part Two.