Now playing in limited release, Jodorowsky's Dune documents the history of the legendary  unmade treasure that is/would-have-been Dune, a planned adaption of Frank Herbet's classic science fiction novel undertaken in the 1970s by filmmaker and comics writer Alejandro Jodorowsky. Readers of Jodorowsky's works including The Incal can imagine, the writer-director's intentions for Dune were positively grandiose and envisioned to transcend all known boundaries of filmmaking, particularly special effects and design. Alas, for reasons explained in the documentary by Frank Pavich, it was not to be.

 

 

So what makes an unmade movie so special? Well, in a sense, we've seen the movie. Or at least its creative progeny. Jodorowsky's preproduction team was loaded with true geniuses whose work on the project became so well known in the world of film, they -- and in some cases their ideas -- were recruited for service in other directors' masterpieces. Most famously, Jodorowky's would-be special effects supervisor Dan O'Bannon and conceptual artists/designers H.R. Giger and Jean "Moebius" Giraud would collaborate with Ridley Scott on Alien, but of course the team's influence spread to other films as well, such as Tron, The Fifth Element, Blade Runner and beyond.

Jodorowsky has of course made other films like El Topo, Holy Mountain and the recent The Dance of Reality, but his vision for Dune as a transcendent, psychedelic saga into time and space can best be glimpsed in his enduringly popular comic book work. Among those that best demonstrate these space-operatic qualities are The Incal, his most famous collaboration with Moebius, and its spinoffs The Metabarons (with Juan Gimenez) and The Technopriests (with Zoran Janjetov). All three are available in handsome hardcover collections from Humanoids.

Courtesy of Jodorowsky's Dune distributor Sony Pictures Classics, we're very pleased to offer ComicsAlliance readers a chance to win all three books (well over $100 in value) as well as a copy of the film poster. Use the widget above to enter for free.

 

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