Lot Essay
HERBERT, Frank (1920-1986) and Alejandro JODOROWSKY (born in 1926). Dune. Suresnes : printed by the reproduction workshops Aviaplans, [circa 1975].
An extraordinary artifact from one of the most iconic science fiction filmic adaptations - a doomed project which inspired legions of film-makers and moviegoers alike.
Often described as the "greatest movie that was never made”, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s filmic adaptation of Dune is one of the most famous doomed projects in movie history. To help him in this dauting task, he gathered some of the most talented artists of his time.
Originally published in 1965 in the United States, Frank Herbert’s Dune received several sequels and became the best-selling science fiction book ever, deeply influencing several generations.
A movie adaptation quickly appeared as a logical continuation – the rights were acquired in 1974, and Franco-Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky started working on the project.
To do justice to Dune’s worlds and characters, he envisioned a movie which could be between ten and fifteen hours long. Pre-production work was done by Jean Giraud, also known as Moebius, who had co-founded the seminal comics publication Métal Hurlant, and himself one of the most talented and important comics artists of his generation ; Chris Foss, a British illustrator who had made a huge number of illustrated wrappers for pocket editions, including books by Isaac Asimov and Edmund Cooper ; and Hans Ruedi Giger, a Swiss artist well-known for his airbrush work. This trio led most of the preliminary work and were in charge of the artist direction of the whole project -designing the characters, costumes, vehicles and environments.
Progressive rock bands Magma and Pink Floyd were approached by Jodorowsky and agreed to write and play on parts of the original soundtrack. The movie was to star Salvador Dalí, Mick Jagger, Orson Welles, David Carradine and Alain Delon.
It goes without saying that a project of this scale needed a colossal budget to come to life. Together with producer Michel Seydoux, Jodorowsky flew to the United States, to try and gather the 5 million dollars needed to kickstart the actual production. To spark the interest of the Hollywood majors, they brought several copies of a thick, oblong volume. This book gathers reproductions of drawings among the thousands made by Moebius, Foss and Giger, including a near-complete story board of the movie, with dialogues in French and English.
Despite their passion and care, they did not manage to convince the American studios. The financial well finally dried up, forcing them to cancel the whole project.
But all of this was not in vain. According to Jodorowsky, despite its cancellation, the whole “project proved the Americans that it was possible to make a larger-than-life science fiction movie, outside of the scientific rigor of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)”. Its influence is clear as a day in most of the big space operas and science fiction movies of the 1970s, including Star Wars, by George Lucas (1977), and Alien, by Ridley Scott (1979), with the eponymous creature designed by Giger.
This evident influence shows that despite their refusal to fund the movie, studios deeply studied the storyboard brought to them by Jodorowsky and Seydoux. As a working document and a promotional tool, there are probably less than ten copies which have survived.
Less than a decade after Jodorowsky, in 1984, David Lynch released his own controversial Dune. With the release of the first part of his own vision, Denis Villeneuve is therefore the third director to try and adapt Herbert’s seminal novel. Despite its abrupt and bittersweet conclusion, the pioneering work of Jodorowsky and all the involved artists is one of the most fascinating doomed projects in movie history, and one of the cornerstones of science fiction and pop culture.
Oblong octavo (210 x 295 mm). 11 colour plates, after drawings by Christopher Foss, Jean Giraud-Moebius and H.R. Giger, 1 title-page, 268 black and white plates, mostly the storyboard for the movie, with dialogues in French and English, and some studies for characters, environments and vehicles, 1 page with the printer’s name and address.
All the plates are photographic reproductions, printed single-side.
This copy is numbered 5 on the reverse of the lower board. Some other copies are known : one was auctioned a couple of years ago, and Jodorowsky owns a copy as well. There are probably a couple others surviving copies.
The book is partially reproduced online. We do not know if the other surviving copies are numbered as well, so it is a bit tricky to evaluate the amount of initially printed copies. We can logically suppose that between 10 and 20 copies were printed and bound.
Sky blue cloth binding, with, pasted on the upper board, a photographic reproduction of the proposed movie poster after an original work by Christopher Foss, printed title piece on the spine, remains of a snap button clasp.
Full title : Michel Seydoux Presents Alejandro Jodorowsky's Dune from Frank Herbert's Novel. Design by Jean Giraud. Machines by Chris Foss. Special Effects by Dan O'Bannon. Dialogue by M. Demuth and A. Jodorowsky
An extraordinary artifact from one of the most iconic science fiction filmic adaptations - a doomed project which inspired legions of film-makers and moviegoers alike.
Often described as the "greatest movie that was never made”, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s filmic adaptation of Dune is one of the most famous doomed projects in movie history. To help him in this dauting task, he gathered some of the most talented artists of his time.
Originally published in 1965 in the United States, Frank Herbert’s Dune received several sequels and became the best-selling science fiction book ever, deeply influencing several generations.
A movie adaptation quickly appeared as a logical continuation – the rights were acquired in 1974, and Franco-Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky started working on the project.
To do justice to Dune’s worlds and characters, he envisioned a movie which could be between ten and fifteen hours long. Pre-production work was done by Jean Giraud, also known as Moebius, who had co-founded the seminal comics publication Métal Hurlant, and himself one of the most talented and important comics artists of his generation ; Chris Foss, a British illustrator who had made a huge number of illustrated wrappers for pocket editions, including books by Isaac Asimov and Edmund Cooper ; and Hans Ruedi Giger, a Swiss artist well-known for his airbrush work. This trio led most of the preliminary work and were in charge of the artist direction of the whole project -designing the characters, costumes, vehicles and environments.
Progressive rock bands Magma and Pink Floyd were approached by Jodorowsky and agreed to write and play on parts of the original soundtrack. The movie was to star Salvador Dalí, Mick Jagger, Orson Welles, David Carradine and Alain Delon.
It goes without saying that a project of this scale needed a colossal budget to come to life. Together with producer Michel Seydoux, Jodorowsky flew to the United States, to try and gather the 5 million dollars needed to kickstart the actual production. To spark the interest of the Hollywood majors, they brought several copies of a thick, oblong volume. This book gathers reproductions of drawings among the thousands made by Moebius, Foss and Giger, including a near-complete story board of the movie, with dialogues in French and English.
Despite their passion and care, they did not manage to convince the American studios. The financial well finally dried up, forcing them to cancel the whole project.
But all of this was not in vain. According to Jodorowsky, despite its cancellation, the whole “project proved the Americans that it was possible to make a larger-than-life science fiction movie, outside of the scientific rigor of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)”. Its influence is clear as a day in most of the big space operas and science fiction movies of the 1970s, including Star Wars, by George Lucas (1977), and Alien, by Ridley Scott (1979), with the eponymous creature designed by Giger.
This evident influence shows that despite their refusal to fund the movie, studios deeply studied the storyboard brought to them by Jodorowsky and Seydoux. As a working document and a promotional tool, there are probably less than ten copies which have survived.
Less than a decade after Jodorowsky, in 1984, David Lynch released his own controversial Dune. With the release of the first part of his own vision, Denis Villeneuve is therefore the third director to try and adapt Herbert’s seminal novel. Despite its abrupt and bittersweet conclusion, the pioneering work of Jodorowsky and all the involved artists is one of the most fascinating doomed projects in movie history, and one of the cornerstones of science fiction and pop culture.
Oblong octavo (210 x 295 mm). 11 colour plates, after drawings by Christopher Foss, Jean Giraud-Moebius and H.R. Giger, 1 title-page, 268 black and white plates, mostly the storyboard for the movie, with dialogues in French and English, and some studies for characters, environments and vehicles, 1 page with the printer’s name and address.
All the plates are photographic reproductions, printed single-side.
This copy is numbered 5 on the reverse of the lower board. Some other copies are known : one was auctioned a couple of years ago, and Jodorowsky owns a copy as well. There are probably a couple others surviving copies.
The book is partially reproduced online. We do not know if the other surviving copies are numbered as well, so it is a bit tricky to evaluate the amount of initially printed copies. We can logically suppose that between 10 and 20 copies were printed and bound.
Sky blue cloth binding, with, pasted on the upper board, a photographic reproduction of the proposed movie poster after an original work by Christopher Foss, printed title piece on the spine, remains of a snap button clasp.
Full title : Michel Seydoux Presents Alejandro Jodorowsky's Dune from Frank Herbert's Novel. Design by Jean Giraud. Machines by Chris Foss. Special Effects by Dan O'Bannon. Dialogue by M. Demuth and A. Jodorowsky