Dune

The November 2001 issue of SFX magazine contains my in-depth article on the many attempts to bring Frank Herbert's epic science fiction novel to the big screen. In researching this article, I uncovered many fascinating facts, including a great deal of information about a little known project launched by Arthur P, Jacobs, the talented producer behind the original Planet Of The Apes movie franchise. The following page offers a brief overview of my research to date, but will expand considerably in due course.

The Dune Of Arthur P Jacobs.

On August 10th 1972 Arthur P. Jacobs obtained the rights to Dune in a deal that would net Frank Herbert $10,000 and a 5% cut of the projected profits. Unfortunately for Herbert, Jacob died soon after making the deal and the project languished in development hell until the rights lapsed, but for a while his Dune movie had been vigorously pursued, with casting calls made, scripts written, directors wooed and locations scouted.

Perhaps the most curious part of the story concerns attempts to secure locations in Turkey. At the time, the Turkish government was very keen to encourage foreign investment, and was actively promoting the country as a place to shoot movies, mainly on the basis of the great locations that were available. Jacobs had his people travel to Turkey on a number of occasions, and had actually settled on an area known as the Goreme Valley. Renowned for it's bizarre rock formations and caves, it seemed the ideal place to stand in for the homes of the desert dwelling Fremen.

For a director, Jacob's first choice has a certain resonance. David Lean was of course intimately familiar with the problems of shooting in a desert, but perhaps he had his fill of the genre after Lawrence Of Arabia, and appears to have passed on the project. Another big name considered was Charles Jarrott. He too had some potentially useful experience with the Oscar nominated period piece Anne Of A Thousand Days. A man who could bring to life the intrigues of the court of Henry The VIII would certainly have no problem creating the feudal society of Dune, but though Jacob was very keen on Jarrott, the two were never to formally cement any relationship.

While the hunt for a director went on, work was also under way on a script. Initially, the first treatment had been handled by Robert Greenhut, the producer who had lobbied Jacob to make the movie in the first place, but subsequently, a writer by the name of Rospo Pallenberg was approached. He was fresh from writing a script for The Lord Of The Rings for John Boorman, and though history records that Boorman failed to make that particular movie, the script (and the fact that he had condensed another major tome into cinematic terms) had impressed Jacob. Pallenburg went on to produce a number of interesting drafts, but alas the death of Jacobs was to be the end of the creative process.

Considering the sort of talent that Jacobs was assembling (and even hints that actor James Coburn was in the frame for a part), the result could have been really fascinating, but as with all good ideas, the idea was just too good to fade away, and within a short period of time, preparation was once again under way to bring Dune to the big screen.