We saw this last week (April 2014). I wanted to go because I'd read Dune (many years ago); because I knew that the De Laurentiis version was pretty bad; and because I had no idea who this Jodorowsky is.
The documentary starts by reviewing AJ's earlier films. To say that he was then a surrealist would not be an exaggeration. Then it takes up his plan to film Dune; it follows his efforts - successful - to get the best artists, technicians and actors to work on the film.
On the list: Dan O'Bannon, H. R. Giger, Chris Foss, Mick Jagger, Pink Floyd, ....
He wanted Orson Welles to play the Emperor. He tracked Welles down in Paris - eating at his favorite restaurant - and though he wasn't interested in doing any more movies, AJ promised him that if he took the job, AJ would hire the restaurant's chef and OW could eat as he wished. OW accepted.
He wanted Salvador Dali for another role. SD wanted $100,000 an hour - so he could be the highest paid actor. AJ asked the script writer how long SD would be on screen - about 4 or 5 minutes, total. So AJ went back to SD and offered him $100,000 a minute.
AJ is a fascinating, interesting, engaging, complex man - the kind that the world could use more of.
The interviews with Giger, Foss, Dali, O'Bannon (we only hear audio clips - he died before the film was made) are fascinating (Giger is a bit older than the last time I saw his picture).
In terms of a single-minded effort to realize a dream, it reminds me of another documentary, "Tim's Vermeer" (check IMDb). Tim Jenison takes 3 or 4 years of his life to show - by doing it himself - that Vermeer might have painted "The Music Lesson" using a form of optical projection. He goes as far as building a perfect replica of Vermeer's room - in his warehouse in Texas, learning to read Dutch, going to see the original in Buckingham Palace).
The documentary starts by reviewing AJ's earlier films. To say that he was then a surrealist would not be an exaggeration. Then it takes up his plan to film Dune; it follows his efforts - successful - to get the best artists, technicians and actors to work on the film.
On the list: Dan O'Bannon, H. R. Giger, Chris Foss, Mick Jagger, Pink Floyd, ....
He wanted Orson Welles to play the Emperor. He tracked Welles down in Paris - eating at his favorite restaurant - and though he wasn't interested in doing any more movies, AJ promised him that if he took the job, AJ would hire the restaurant's chef and OW could eat as he wished. OW accepted.
He wanted Salvador Dali for another role. SD wanted $100,000 an hour - so he could be the highest paid actor. AJ asked the script writer how long SD would be on screen - about 4 or 5 minutes, total. So AJ went back to SD and offered him $100,000 a minute.
AJ is a fascinating, interesting, engaging, complex man - the kind that the world could use more of.
The interviews with Giger, Foss, Dali, O'Bannon (we only hear audio clips - he died before the film was made) are fascinating (Giger is a bit older than the last time I saw his picture).
In terms of a single-minded effort to realize a dream, it reminds me of another documentary, "Tim's Vermeer" (check IMDb). Tim Jenison takes 3 or 4 years of his life to show - by doing it himself - that Vermeer might have painted "The Music Lesson" using a form of optical projection. He goes as far as building a perfect replica of Vermeer's room - in his warehouse in Texas, learning to read Dutch, going to see the original in Buckingham Palace).