Hollywood will adapt anything and everything.
Remember when you and your friends used to run around the playground playing tag? What
if that game never ended? Perhaps there’s a movie there! Have you ever struggled to
find a date to a major event, and made a Craigslist post looking for companionship? That’s a
movie! A board game where you guess columns and rows? Add in some aliens, and that has
blockbuster potential! A newspaper article about the rise of street racing? That’s
going to be one of the highest grossing franchises of all-time! Four examples was one too many?
Maybe! But I think the point was made. How’s it going everyone, my name’s Graeme, and
today I want to talk about Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, ‘Dune’. A work of fiction,
that after numerous failed attempts, has been deemed “unadaptable” by some. I’m a
little late to the party here, as I didn’t realize the new Dune movie released in some
countries earlier than others… So, some of you maybe already have your answer to whether
it’s considered unadaptable. And while this movie has been well received so far, it doesn’t
tackle the full novel, and still has its detractors - so I think it’s a subject still worth
talking about! I also believe, the second half of the novel is maybe the hardest part
to put to screen, so the conversation isn’t totally irrelevant yet. So, where does this
notion of “unadaptable” come from, and why exactly adapting Dune is a seemingly impossible
task. (Scream) What is it exactly about the story, characters, and themes that just doesn’t
seem to work anywhere other than the written word? I included those examples in the opening
bit, not to openly dump on them, or completely discredit them (well. I do mean to dump on
and discredit one of them…) Instead, the point I’d like to make: is that Hollywood
can and will take risks on unique stories; and can turn just about anything into an adapted
screenplay. Many are quick to point out their reliance on sequels, and remakes, and big
franchises. But in that eager pursuit of the next big hit, execs will search high and low
for anything with “adaptable potential”. But there remain a few seemingly obvious choices
that have been largely avoided, and on a rare occasion deemed “Unadaptable”. We also
have the inverse: stories like ‘Little Women’ and ‘A Star Is Born’ that are always begging
for a fresh perspective. There’s room for a new take on those stories that brings in
modern filmmaking, or simply reaching a new audience who wasn’t present for the last
iteration. If you can tell stories like that in a unique and fresh way, over and over,
why is it so hard to get some of these stories right once?! We have epic sagas, with such
intricate worlds; often with slow interludes and elaborate world building. Those are a
lot harder to tackle than a contained character-driven drama. Look at Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight
Archive. Those books rule! But if you were to add together the page counts of the first
3 of his intended 10 novels, then it’s already longer than all 7 Harry Potter books put together.
Harry Potter got 8 movies because it was one of the biggest franchises on the planet. It’s
not very often studios commit to adapting THAT much material. Brandon Sanderson himself
says, he doesn’t think it can be adapted. Maybe as like a anime TV series, but he doesn’t
even see it himself! That slow storytelling may work well in prose, but seems impossible
to bring to the screen in all its glory. Dune is thick, with this giant series that becomes
increasingly inaccessible (even a little within the first novel) to the general audience,
and contains many elements that necessitate the movie to have an enormous budget. You
can’t just scout locations, and film in downtown Vancouver. Yet with the right filmmaker,
and creative team, perhaps the impossible can be accomplished? We’ve seen it with
Lord of the Rings - and Dune is often compared to that saga, thought of as Sci-Fi’s equivalent
to that beloved fantasy series in many ways. Epic adaptations of “unadaptable” stories
like Watchmen, The Dark Tower, and now Dune have been repeatedly attempted, with mixed
results… at best? Everything in that grab-bag is often disliked and disregarded by their
own fanbases. Other than Lord of the Rings, can you think of a novel adaptation THAT big
that really has accomplished what they set out to do? Something that can be equally well
loved by people who are, and are not familiar with the source? Maaaybe Harry Potter is the
next closest? With Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of the Frank Herbert sci-fi classic Dune now
rearing it’s ugly, giant, worm-like head, I am seeing the resurgence of a conversation
that’s existed for years. Is Dune’s massive, space-opera tale: Unadaptable? Mind you I
started scripting this out a year ago, when we only had a few teaser images. But let’s
focus on the now! It’s a real testament tot his novel, that despite not having a universally
loved adaptation that people can point to and be familiar with, it has permeated popular
culture to the extent it has. Usually it takes “putting a face to the name”, making it
accessible, as something you can go and see in theaters or at home before the average
person becomes familiar with these catchphrases, and specific details from a source material.
Nowadays, so many people know “a Lannister always pays his debts”, or “what’s dead
may never die”. Not many people knew that when it only existed in a novel format. Whereas
you’ve probably heard numerous separate quotes lifted from Dune, whether you recognize
them or not. “Fear is the mind-killer.” Some variation on, “The spice must flow.”
or, “He who controls the spice controls the universe.” Even the lyrics of Fatboy
Slim’s song ‘Weapon of Choice’, “walk without rhythm” and “It won’t attract
the worm”. It might simply be the case of, it’s easier to spot these references once
you’ve read or seen the material. “Lisa, is that too spicy for you?” “I can see
through time…” But I think there are few things quotes *as heavily* as Dune. It’s
that well known, and well loved, without a majorly successful or recent adaptation. Here
is the quickest summary of the novel I can give. In the distant future, humans have survived
a war with robots, banishing all AI and technology that resembles the human mind. Instead, select
humans have evolved to fill this role, with enhanced mental and psychic abilities - powered
by melange, AKA “the spice”, a drug harvested from the inhospitable sand-planet of Arrakis.
There is a massive political war between our young protagonist, Paul Atreides’ family,
and the Harkonnen’s. Paul flees into the sand of Arrakis, attempting to earn the trust
and loyalty of the Fremen who inhabit this sand planet to aid him in a rebellion, while
trying not to be killed by giant, 400 meter long sandworms. Simple, right? (screaming)
Obviously you can craft sets, put actors in costumes, and film the result. But is it really
possible to capture all the idiosyncrasies of that original novel? Fully realizing the
scope of the rivalry between houses Atreides and Harkonnen - zooming in on that aspect,
with all of the political intrigue, backstabbing, and scheming - that alone is a challenge to
adapt! Think of the Starks vs the Lannisters. You can understand that opposition on a basic
level immediately. Give us some physical altercations, some nasty words, and a few well-timed stink
eyes, and we can understand those types of feuds quite wholly, very early on. But imagine
trying to compress the subtleties of the Stark and Lannister relationship into 2.5 hours,
instead of 8 seasons of TV. How do you stop that fast forwarded version from turning into
cartoonish black-and-white heroes and villains? Nailing that one aspect alone, could compromise
the entire movie! These two families already supply a lot of characters and relationships
to introduce and establish, giving us the full breadth of their multigenerational war.
At some point they’ll also need to make room for those just outside those family circles,
and *their* bonds. Then you reach even further, to fold in the Fremen, and their society that
is uniquely built to defy the ever present dangers of life on Arrakis. Their clothes,
mannerisms, customs, setting, everything is going to be completely different. You can
show us the sun beating down, and comment on the lack of water - and that will sell
us pretty quickly on the struggles of this alien planet. But the true extent of this
extreme aridity will take more time to communicate. It’s not like the deserts on Earth. One
of the most fascinating parts of Dune, is what an incomprehensible super-desert Arrakis
really is! Citizens must wear skin-tight suits that work to dissipate heat, and preserve
water - a resource that is incredibly scarce - and only second in value to “the spice”.
And what about *the spice*!? A hyped-up drug that fuels the entire galactic economy, granting
long life, heightened cognitive capacity, and in some cases unlocking psychic abilities.
Mind-based powers! Another thing traditionally quite hard to put to film. You usually have
your characters squint and tilt their head. Maybe if they get really into it, they raise
their open hand and point that towards wherever they’re using their ability. It usually
just doesn’t translate that well. The spice is something that everyone wants - and once
you have it, it becomes a dependency. The Melange has fatal withdrawals. Now that we
know what spice is capable of, we need to bring in the world of the Bene Gesserit, a
sisterhood who have reached a peak of mental and physical conditioning through careful
use and experimentation with spice. Once you feel like you’re starting to grasp things,
be prepared to have terms like Mentet, Gom jabbar, Muad’Dib, and Kwisatz Haderach thrown
around willy-nilly. Fitting all these physical facets, relationships, conflicts, and otherworldly
details into a film is already going to be tricky. But could anyone truly capture all
the depth and symbolism intricately laced throughout Frank Herbert’s novel, without
simply filming hour after hour of straight exposition? I feel the efficiency in storytelling
needed here has to be some of the best ever attempted! A novel can take all the time it
needs to explain every aspect of this fictional culture, it’s innerworkings, challenges,
and more; while also layering in all the necessary subtext - that is a TALL order for a film.
Hell, it will be difficult to fit adequately into 2 films (which would be intended to cover
the first novel), or the 3 that Denis is now hoping to make! That’s not even including
the incredibly cerebral finale of the book that becomes much more mystical, and ethereal.
Seriously, the tonal shift and differing subject matter is a lot to come to terms with, even
in written form. I don’t see how anyone could adequately interpret a storyline so
intangible? The double edged sword of Denis’ first 2 movies, is that the most dense material
can be saved for the sequel, BUT that requires leaving this first movie on a cliffhanger
that would make Sylvestor Stallone uncomfortable. And that second movie, still isn’t guaranteed.
Remember how at the very end of Game of Thrones season 1, they eased you in with a medieval
political drama, then the show takes a hard left towards straight fantasy? We went from
swords, and cloaks - to zombies and dragons on a dime. Now imagine if in season 3, when
all of the magical elements are well established, and you were just getting comfortable, the
series suddenly introduced a new faction of Westeros that wielded lazer guns, and rode
around on giant mech fighters! Dune is maybe a hint shy of being that extreme of a conceptual
shift, but if it’s not handled well, it’s going to feel like that! Trying to keep all
this straight in just 150 minutes is going to make you feel like you’ve hit the hypnobong
one too many times. Our earliest attempt to adapt Dune came early in the novel's life,
from cult director Alejandro Jodorowsky. He intended to have the film scored by Pink Floyd,
with designs by HR Giger before he ever worked on Alien, with a *confusing* cast that included
an assortment of individuals spanning many actors, and non-actors in equal measure. This
intended lineup included Salvador Dalí, Orson Welles, Gloria Swanson, David Carradine, Mick
Jagger, Udo Kier, Amanda Lear - with Jodorowsky’s own 12 year old son set to play Paul Atreides.
The central character in the film, was going to be the director’s son, who had next to
no acting experience, sharing scenes with Salvador Dali, and Mick Jagger? Whhhyy?? He
was quickly blowing through his budget, and his script would have been a 14 hours film!
Herbert saw this, and described the script as “a phonebook”. But apparently, they
were on pretty good terms! He didn’t mind. Even though it was loaded with creative liberties.
It still ended up frozen, spending many years in pre-production, and it never got very far.
There is an entire documentary dedicated to this insane attempt at adapting the unadaptable.
After 10 year the film rights had lapsed, pulling it out of development hell, and this
insurmountable task was now instead attempted by David Lynch in 1984. “And if yoooooooooouuu
can believe it!” Herbert himself was relatively pleased with this adaptation, which came 20
years after his original work. Maybe he’s an easy guy to please? He seems to like both
adaptations, that were both a little… out there. He himself said, “It begins as Dune
does. And I hear my dialogue all the way through. There are some interpretations and liberties,
but you’re gonna come out knowing you’ve seen Dune”. While I’m happy Herbert lived
to see an adaptation he could be happy with, passing only 2 years later, the critical and
audience responses to the film were less than favourable. Roger Ebert called it “... a
real mess, an incomprehensible, ugly, unstructured, pointless excursion into the murkier realms
of one of the most confusing screenplays of all time”, later naming it “the worst
movie of the year”. “We agree that the biggest disappointment of the year is, Dune.”
“THE PAIN!” “oo” Herbert, and readers of the novel, had the benefit of knowing exactly
what they were getting into. And while I personally believe movies should show, not tell - this
is a series that essentially cannot exist on screen without a healthy dose of exposition
and “telling” to guide the viewer. And this movie, didn’t really do that… Lynch
has come to view his own work so unfavourably, “David, do you want to say anything about
Dune?” “Not a lot.” that on certain cuts the pseudonym ‘Alan Smithee’ is used
- which is a fake name used by filmmakers when they want to distance themselves from
their own work. “Uh, wh- elaborate on that.” “No.” (laughing) In 2000 we had the 4
and half hour miniseries, ‘Frank Herbert’s Dune’, created by John Harrison. The added
length was seen as beneficial to this adaptation, and it has largely been considered the superior
version. Yet, as the title bearing the author’s name would suggest, there was a concerted
effort to remain as close to the source material as possible. You know: that source material
that is wildly inaccessible, and considered unfit in it’s written state to be brought
directly to the screen. Yeah. They stayed very close to that… Critic Emmet Asher-Perrin
wrote, "it doesn't reach spectacular heights due to the desire to be as close to the written
text as possible." adding, "the narrative gets over-explained in an effort to be sure
that no one watching is left behind." This is the exact problem I outlined earlier. The
more you attempt to hand-hold and over-explain, the more the viewer is going to tune out,
and be desensitized to what should be the majesty of this fictional world! Something
wildly confusing… there is a 2001 video game titled “FranCk Herbert’s Dune”
that is an adaptation of that miniseries, rather than an adaptation of the original
book. It was not a commercial, or critical success. The studio went bankrupt pretty shortly
after. Much of the physical translation of the sets, costumes and effects of both adaptations
were praised. But I would argue that the simultaneous clarity, and ambiguousness through which Herbert
detailed those aspects, grants any designer worth their salt (or, maybe worth their spice…)
a strong foundation for these costumes and sets. Allowing them to envision how they might
function within Arrakis, and how those functions would be practically achieved, and following
that logic - the general form that might necessitate. That feels very structured, but with *plenty*
of room for creative interpretation. I’m not saying it’s an easy task, but you would
almost have to TRY to not be inspired by that framework given from Herbert’s novel. I
should hope that this would be one of the less troubling aspects of adapting Dune! Looking
to either end from those 2 completed adaptations: we have an artistic indulgence that carried
forward a lot of dialogue, with little explanation, that left uninitiated viewers baffled and
uncertain of what they had seen; *or* something that stuck so close to the source that the
story dragged, and was bogged down trying to summarize all the important expository
details. In both, we have consistently unique interpretations of the costume, sets, and
other elements of production design. I largely think one of the reasons filmmakers keep attempting
this source material is their desire to bring Arrakis to life. That feeling of terror on
this unimaginable planet is beyond captivating, and a wonderful challenge for all creative
teams! Dune is seen as this dense, original, once in a generation creation, which positions
it to be difficult to adapt. Several failed attempts at translating this spectacular universe
to other mediums are what have deemed it “unadaptable”. And while I agree that Dune is a massive beast
(approximately 400 meters massive), and more challenging to adapt than most, I prefer to
remain somewhat optimistic here. While I doubt I’ll ever live to see adequate adaptations
of stories like House of Leaves, or World War Z - I have to believe that there are creative,
passionate individuals out there who have the vision and talent to bring those stories
to life. There are many who thought the manic, deranged tone of Fight Club could not work
in film; or that a story like Moneyball, that is essentially a list of stats, didn’t have
a marketable story to tell. Yet we now have 2 Oscar nominated classics! Dune is an incredible
piece of literature, and something I highly recommend to almost anyone. Different people
will enjoy it in a variety of ways, from the sci-fi, to the drama, it’s strong messages
of environmentalism and above all else: the world-building! Plus 1000s other details and
important messages layered throughout. I personally have only read the original installment, but
it is an epic 6 book saga! I’ve heard that many of the later books focus more on the
mystical and psychedelic elements, further expanding the lore for superfans. But I personally
felt that the original novel had enough finality to it for me to feel fully satisfied, and
that the end-point of that novel was a turning point where the book was starting to risk
losing me entirely. If Denis is able to fulfill his dream of making 3 movies that cover both
‘Dune’ and ‘Dune Messiah’, then I may have to consider picking up the sequel.
The audiobook I listened to was phenomenally well voice acted! Although for some inexplicable
reason, the voice actors are only used for like half the chapters, and it alternates
between someone just narrating it by themselves? The parts that work well are amazing, but
it makes for a weird listening experience. Put that on while you’re doing the dishes,
and I promise you’ll be swept up in this world like the winds sweeping away your rhythmless
footsteps in the sand. Overall, I am over the moon about the prospects of this adaptation.
I have grown to love the novel, reading it only about a year before talks of this new
adaptation really began. When murmurs first emerged, I thought, “Nah. Can’t be done.”
The novel has the luxury of time to both tell a grandiose story, while also spending time
on the world building necessary for what is one of the most unique settings in all of
science fiction. That really doesn’t feel like something that could be adequately done
in a series of movies, let alone one. I had fallen into the narrative of Dune being unadaptable,
and perhaps lacked the personal creativity to imagine it being done justice. Then I saw
Denis Villeneuve was the one taking this on, planning to do that first novel as 2 movies.
Coming fresh off Arrival and Blade Runner 2049: this man clearly knows sci-fi, can execute
a variety of futuristic styles, and has more vision than most working directors. Not to
mention Denis’ other incredible films in more contemporary settings. This guy *delivers*,
and is slowly earning a Spielberg-like reputation. Villeneuve and Nolan are 2 of the only working
directors who I feels names have elevated to that status. So when I heard Denis’ name
brought up for Dune, I shifted to, “yeah. Maybe this can be done”. This might be the
lightning in the bottle moment that finally delivers a worthy adaptation! A once in a
generation director, stepping up to tackle a once in a generation story. At a minimum,
we are going to get a stunning visual journey, with one of the most insane A-list casts I’ve
ever seen assembled! Seriously, when they were announcing the castings for this alongside
‘Once Upon A Time in Hollywood…’, it was a wonder how any other filmmaker was going
to get anything done in that time? Everyone you’ve ever heard of signed onto those 2
movies in like a 1 week period! Tarantino! Another phenomenal director. But I think there
are people who seriously dislike that guy. “So I’m trying to ask you-” “And I’m
shutting your butt down!” So, he didn’t make the list. Even if he’s a name everyone
knows. There seems to be a collective agreement that Denis is the man for the job. Even if
it DOES live up, and is still a financial flop, odds are it will be at least another
generation before someone else is granted the funds necessary to even attempt. And if
Denis cannot do it, then perhaps Dune will undeniably, and irrefutably earn this growing
legacy of being “unadaptable”? I know many people have recently subscribed to the
channel for all things Deltarune, and easter egg related. But hey, just cut out most of
the letters in the middle there, and Deltarune turns into Dune. So whaddya know! You’re
already a Dune fan, and you didn’t even know it. I don’t want to suggest that I’m
planning to stop making videos like that, but I do want to start making more videos
like *this*. It’s just very experimental, and fun for me to work through. Thank you
so much for giving a video like this a chance! Imma keep taking those chances, I’m gonna
keep making them. And hopefully you enjoy them. I’ll have a playlist in the End Cards
of all my video essay-like content. So yeah, if you’re willing to try something different,
I’d highly encourage you to follow up on that. Thank you all so much for watching!
Thank you to the Patrons of the channel for their additional support. And I hope to see
you all again (Dune).
