Ahead of Denis Villeneauve’s Dune Part Two landing in March, and just in time for its own 40th anniversary, David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of Frank Herbert’s famous sci-fi epic Dune is returning to the big screen.
Fathom Events is putting on a special event. The screening will be the 137-minute theatrical cut of the movie. It won’t be the 177-minute TV version, or the famed fan-cut Spicediver Edit that is a big favorite among Outposters. It certainly won’t be Lynch’s original 3+ hour version.
Lynch has borderline disowned the film for decades, on some edits appearing as “Alan Smithee” in the credits.
Alan Smithee an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project. Coined in 1968 and used until it was formally discontinued in 2000, it was the sole pseudonym used by members of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) when directors, dissatisfied with the final product, proved to the satisfaction of a guild panel that they had not been able to exercise creative control over a film. The director was also required by guild rules not to discuss the circumstances leading to the movie or even to acknowledge being the project’s director.
Lynch has been downright hostile to his own movie, and any subsequent adaptions, such were his experiences on the movie. More recently he has softened when talking about it, but is clear he has no desire to return to the project and create an ultimate director’s cut.
You all know the story by now. In the year 10191, a galactic power play involving the valuable spice melange and animosity between great houses sets a path to war. Unfortunately for those involved, a slight cock-up in a centuries-long, secretive breeding programme has meant that one of those involved is accidental space Jesus and intergalactic Mohammed all rolled into one, and things are going to get explodey on the desert planet of Arrakis.
The Lynch version of Dune had an intriguing, spectacular cast. Kyle MacLachlan, Sean Young, Francesca Annis, Jurgen Prochnow, Patrick Stewart, Jose Ferrer, Virginia Madsen, Sian Phillips, Max Von Sydow, Dean Stockwell, Linda Hunt, Everett McGill, Kenneth McMillan, Richard Jordan, Leonardo Cimino, and Sting all star.
You can find out venues and showtimes via FathomEvents.
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