Posted in: Dune, Legendary, Movies | Tagged: dune, movies, ridley scott

Ridley Scott Could Have Made Dune But Didn't Want to Shoot in Mexico

It seems that Sir Ridley Scott is on a bit of a tirade these days. It started with him blaming millennials for The Last Duel bombing at the box office and not the at least three if not more likely options for why the movie failed to connect with an audience. Now he's coming in and throwing some shade at Dune. He's not throwing shade at the film that just came out but the 1984 version that David Lynch ultimately directed. There have been many people who have said the reason the Lynch version stumbled is that the book is unfilmable, but Scott disagrees. He apparently had quite the script for Dune between Alien and Blade Runner productions and was about to make the movie. However, according to a new interview with Total Film, the reason it didn't get off of the ground had nothing to do with the movie not working from a script level but that Scott didn't like the filming location.

"It's always been filmable. I had a writer called Rudy Wurlitzer, of the Wurlitzer family, you know the Jukebox?," Scott said "He'd written two films: Two-Lane Blacktop with James Taylor, and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, which had Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson. My brain's working quite well today, actually! We did a very good take on Dune, because early days, I'd work very, very closely with the writer. I was always glomming the look of the film onto what he or she was writing."

"And then [producer] Dino [De Laurentiis] had got me into it and we said, "We did a script, and the script is pretty fucking good,"" Scott continued. "Then Dino said, "It's expensive, we're going to have to make it in Mexico." I said, "What!" He said, "Mexico." I said, "Really?" So he sent me to Mexico City. And with the greatest respect to Mexico City, in those days [it was] pretty pongy. I didn't love it. I went to the studio in Mexico City where the floors were Earth floors in the studio. I said, "Nah, Dino, I don't want to make this a hardship." And so I actually backed out and instead moved on to Legend. Tim Curry and Tom Cruise."

So Scott has thrown down the gauntlet and basically said he could have made a "pretty fucking good" version of Dune if he could have gotten a good filming location which he didn't. We'll never really know since this script has never been released and the movie doesn't exist, but Scott has been pretty aggressive in the media lately, which is an interesting take on things.

Dune Summary: A mythic and emotionally charged hero's journey, "Dune" tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet's exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity's greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

Dune, directed by Denis Villeneuve and the film stars Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet ("Call Me by Your Name," "Little Women"), Rebecca Ferguson ("Stephen King's Doctor Sleep," "Mission: Impossible – Fallout"), Oscar Isaac (the "Star Wars" franchise) Oscar nominee Josh Brolin ("Milk," "Avengers: Infinity War"), Stellan Skarsgård (HBO's "Chernobyl," "Avengers: Age of Ultron"), Dave Bautista (the "Guardians of the Galaxy" films, "Avengers: Endgame"), Stephen McKinley Henderson ("Fences," "Lady Bird"), Zendaya ("Spider-Man: Homecoming," HBO's "Euphoria"), Chang Chen ("Mr. Long," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"), David Dastmalchian ("Blade Runner 2049," "The Dark Knight"), Sharon Duncan-Brewster ("Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," Netflix's "Sex Education"), with Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling ("45 Years," "Assassin's Creed"), with Jason Momoa ("Aquaman," HBO's "Game of Thrones"), and Oscar winner Javier Bardem ("No Country for Old Men," "Skyfall"). Dune opened in theaters and on HBO Max on October 22, 2021.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!