WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Dune (1984), Part 1 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:08.800 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:15.000 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:18.040 This is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick, and 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:20.759 oh boy, have we got a movie to talk about today. 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:23.880 We're pretty sure this is going to be our first 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:28.280 and perhaps only ever two part episode of Weird House Cinema. 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:32.040 And you might be thinking what movie could possibly cause 0:00:32.120 --> 0:00:35.160 them to split Weird House Cinema into two parts? It's 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:37.360 David Lynch's Dune from nineteen eighty four. 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:40.000 That's right. Yeah. We normally try and keep Weird House 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:45.600 as a single episode installment situation, but the cast is 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:48.280 too rich here, the weirdness is too deep. And with 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:52.760 release of Dnis Villeneuve's Dune Part two, obviously Dune is 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:55.760 in the air once more. Everybody's going crazy for this film, 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:59.960 and rightfully so, and that gives us the excuse. All right, everybody, 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.000 he's digging Dune. Right now, we can do a two 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:04.920 parter on Weird House Cinema about David Lynch's adaptation. 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:07.640 Wait did you see the new one? 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:12.080 Yes? Over the weekend just slammed the Dune. My son 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:15.200 had never seen Dune Part one, so we rewatched that 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:17.399 with him, and then we all went out to the 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:21.440 movie theater for you know, three hours and watched Dune 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:25.280 Part two with a full cinematic experience. We didn't get 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:27.800 the popcorn bucket, but we still had a great time. 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:31.000 It's definitely a film worth seeing on a big screen. 0:01:31.640 --> 0:01:34.479 Well, I'm very jealous of that experience because I am 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:36.520 so excited to see it. I haven't been able to 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:38.480 make it out yet because we you know, we got 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:41.160 a seventeen month old. We don't get out to movies 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:44.720 these days. But as soon as it hits streaming, I'm 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:47.400 going to be there. And I'm very excited about that 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:50.000 because I really did love the twenty twenty one Dune, 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:55.720 and that one really surpassed my expectations in so many ways. 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:58.320 Because Robert, you know, we've long been fans of the 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:00.440 book and talked about it on the show all time, 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:04.240 and have been in certain ways fans of the movie 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:06.960 we're talking about in this episode today. But it is 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:10.400 not a book that lends itself to the screen. You know. 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:14.160 It is like a It is a wonderful novel, but 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:17.720 it almost feels like it was written to be specifically 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:20.359 difficult to adapt to the movie format. 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:26.120 Yeah it is. It's a complex novel, full of interstellar feudalism, 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:32.800 psychotropic drugs, sandworms, lots of plots within plots, lots of conversations, 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:35.880 and then when the action does take place, when there 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:39.440 are big action spectacles, they generally happen off the page 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:42.360 and are referred to after the fact, you know. So 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:45.320 it's not one of these things where you can just 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:47.200 like PLoP it on the table and like this is 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:51.240 what we're filming today. You know, it has a reputation 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:55.200 for being a difficult adaptation. And yeah, credit where credits due. 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:57.760 Danny v nailed it. I think he nailed it in 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:01.200 part one, and then part two really seals the deal. 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:05.040 And it's a true spectacle with the caveat. I have 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:08.600 to say, like I've always been a Doom Book first fan, 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:10.800 and I don't mean that in a snobby way, and 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:13.120 I mean that and like that's how I read it 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:15.200 for the first time, That's how I explored the world 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:18.160 for the first time, and therefore, like that's always my 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:22.400 starting point. And given the difficulties of that of adapting it, 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:23.880 you know, you have to go into it with the 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:27.799 expectation that any filmmaker, regardless of what they're working with, 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:31.560 they're they're going to have to pick and choose, as 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:33.919 with most adaptations, to varying degrees, but you know, you're 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:36.160 going to have to pick and choose, like what aspects 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:39.240 of Doom you're going to realize on the screen, what 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:41.520 aspects of the characters you're going to realize, and what 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:43.480 you're going to condense and what you're going to leave out. 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:46.960 Yeah, well, I mean, I think some stories do just 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:51.240 naturally translate to the screen more easily if they're I 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:54.080 don't know, you know, if the story is written more 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:57.840 like a play, like if it's very dialogue driven already, 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:00.320 if you know, if a lot of the story is 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:03.960 contained already in the exchanges between the characters, and so 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:07.600 if it's already kind of an external story, Dune I 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:10.760 think is really difficult for at least a couple of 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:13.200 reasons I can think of. One is that understanding the 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:18.960 story relies so heavily on like this deep understanding of 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:23.080 the setting and the world, which relies on a glossary actually, 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:26.800 like there's you know, an encyclopedia, So it's very fun 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:29.480 to explore in written format and to like learn all 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:32.880 the politics and the technology, and you know, the strange 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:36.719 world that Frank Herbert created. But it's hard to get 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:41.039 all of that into a movie format without having just 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:45.960 big dumps of exposition, which unfortunately the Lynch movie does have. 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:49.400 There are scenes where there's just characters sitting around explaining 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:53.120 or even voiceover narrating lots of stuff about politics and 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:56.160 technology and what happens in the Dune universe, and it 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:58.960 does get kind of overwhelming at times. Another thing I 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:01.360 would say, though, is that in addition to the importance 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:04.159 of the setting, there's also just a lot of internal 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:09.400 stuff in Dune, like characters having visions, thinking through things. 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:13.920 A lot of the drama is within character's minds, and 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:16.680 so that's also kind of difficult to externalize in a 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:19.560 way that the viewer can participate in without just having 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:23.680 people again doing like voiceover of their internal monologue, which 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:27.640 Lynch's adaptation also does and is occasionally funny. 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:31.279 Yeah, especially we ended up watching it when I rewatched 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:35.040 this with my wife, who was who's I was surprised 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:37.480 she was game for it. Monday night, the day after 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:40.840 watching Dune Part two, we watched David Lynch's Doom and 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:44.360 we watched it with the subtitles because I'd read somewhere 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:46.800 someone advised like, this is a good choice because you 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:49.200 can keep a little better track of who's saying what. 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:54.400 But there's a lot of internal voice colon what's being said, 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:58.159 which makes it a little little more hilarious at times 0:05:58.200 --> 0:05:59.040 when this occurs. 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:02.680 Yes, especially well. Actually, one of the funniest parts of 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:05.080 it is that you will often get a close up 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:08.000 of the actor making like a serious face while we 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:09.400 see them thinking. 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:14.440 Yeah, it's a hard one to pull off. But that 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:16.719 being said, you know, if you're gonna do it, commit 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:18.520 to it fully, don't do it just in a couple 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:20.359 of places where it's like, oh, they lost track of 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:22.840 what they were doing. This scene wasn't working, so they're 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:24.360 going to do a little bit of this. No, No, 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:27.040 it's throughout the film, so it's in a way it's 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:29.120 more forgivable since it's ubiquitous. 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:31.960 But hey, we're not here to knock the nineteen eighty 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:35.600 four Dune because I would say that I'm going to 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:39.480 be forthright and acknowledged this movie has a lot of shortcomings. 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:42.159 There are many things about it that don't work. But 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.080 also I love it. I love David Lynch's Dune. 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:48.040 Yeah, I mean, is it the most faithful adaptation? No, 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:52.400 it is it the best? Well, it's hard to make 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.000 an argument for that, perhaps, but is it absolutely weird? 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:58.719 Is it? Is it consistently entertaining? Absolutely? 0:06:58.960 --> 0:06:59.200 Yes? 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:04.200 Yes, it's also shorter. Uh. In caveat here, we are 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.919 going to be only dealing with the theatrical cut of 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:10.160 the film, the only cut that that David Lynch ever, 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:14.400 you know, acknowledged and approved, and we'll get back into 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:17.440 that later on. But yeah, it's like, it's it's a reasonable, 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:21.120 reasonably linked film. Uh, that's also part of the problem here, 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:25.280 we'll discuss. But uh, yeah, it's uh, it's it's shorter 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:27.280 than some of your other options. Right. 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:29.760 So on the downside, that does mean, especially in the 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:31.280 first half of the movie, you do get a lot 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:36.320 of scenes of incredibly just heavy deposits of exposition, where 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:38.440 there's like a narrator just telling you a lot of 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:41.080 stuff really fast, and I think, especially if you were 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:43.920 not already familiar with the story, you'd just be like 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:47.640 what what what? All the like, it just comes thick 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:50.480 and fast when you're not really ready for it. Often, 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:52.520 I think, so that is a problem with trying to 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:54.960 cram this much story into this short of a runtime. 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:58.400 On the other hand, given how much they fit into 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:00.960 this short of a runtime, I am shocked how well 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:02.040 it works. 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:05.560 Yeah, yeah, I imagine we had the same experience on this, 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:08.600 but because I think you have something that notes to 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:10.840 this effect. But a lot of the reviews for this 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:14.600 film make a point of saying it's incomprehensible. You have 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:18.520 no idea what's going on any given point. I did 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:21.760 not have that experience rewatching the film, and I don't 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:24.560 think you did either, obviously, because we know the major beats, 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:26.440 we know what's going to happen, we know who everyone 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:27.200 is supposed to. 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:30.400 Be, right, so we can't really come at the movie cold. 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:33.400 Like I'd read the novel before I saw this movie, 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:36.600 so I already knew the story. So it's kind of 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:38.920 hard for me to imagine what it would be like 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:42.960 not being familiar going in. Though when I try to 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:45.040 imagine that, I can say, like, yeah, I think this 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:48.440 opening narration would be a little would be a little 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:50.680 hard to get past. You'd be like, wait, I can't 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:54.439 keep track of everything you're saying, what's the spacing guild? Huh? 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:57.560 Yeah, and people have these issues too, even with the 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:00.360 more recent adaptations, Like I remember seeing stuff online where 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:03.920 people with the first film were confused and thought that 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:07.959 perhaps the Baron was also the Emperor. They were a 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:12.480 little unclear on that. And I know that my wife 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:16.960 initially had some confusion over two different blonde characters in 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:19.679 part two. I'm not going to reveal who they are, 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:21.720 but she was like, at least momentarily, like, wait, are 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:23.880 these the same character? No, these are two different characters. 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:27.520 And so yeah, this stuff's going to happen anytime you're 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:30.400 adapting something so complex. Now, speaking of fitting a lot 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:32.560 into a limited runtime, I also just want to quickly 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:36.120 note that this movie has been out for a while, 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:39.280 It has a cult following. It is a David Lynch movie. 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.800 There have been multiple great documentaries, books, papers, etc. On 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:47.200 this production, on previous attempts at producing done for the screen, 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:50.480 subsequent productions. We can't possibly get into all of that, 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:52.600 but we'll reference a little of it as we go. 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:55.880 Have you watched the documentary about Yodorowski's Done. 0:09:56.440 --> 0:10:00.280 No. I had read about it plenty before it came out, 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:03.679 and I've just never gotten around to watching it. But 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:07.760 that is of course, a fascinating slash infamous example of 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:12.040 you know, what if what if Jodorowski had actually made 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:17.000 this stupendous semi adaptation of Dune with this just colossally 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:22.600 Bonker's cast, I'm glad he didn't, and not just because 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.160 I'm protective of Dune to a certain extent, but also 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:31.480 because you see the influence of Doune in his later 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:34.960 works with Mobius in the Metabaron series. These are graphic 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:39.000 novels that Jodorowski wrote, and those are tremendously fun and trippy, 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:42.120 and they have elements of that kind of like Dune 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:48.880 feudal psychedelic world, but it's it's removed from Herbert's novels 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:50.720 and it can be its own thing. So I think 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:53.560 like ultimately everything landed for the best. On that regard, 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:56.120 that makes sense. So you're saying you'd rather instead of 0:10:56.160 --> 0:11:01.160 seeing Yodowski like impose his vision upon an adaptation of Dune, 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:03.440 you'd rather see him take a bunch of influence from 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:06.240 Dune and make his own thing. It's exactly yeah, I 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:07.400 think it worked out for the best. 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:08.200 Well. 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:10.240 On that note, let's go ahead and listen to some 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:14.280 trailer audio. Specifically, I believe this is a radio spot. 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:16.199 I love it when we can feature a radio spot 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:21.680 since it is ideally tuned for the listening audience. Here 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:25.079 this one. I found this one online. This was apparently 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:28.400 something that aired in Salt Lake City, So let's have 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:36.000 a listen. No, the most widely read, talked about, and 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:39.520 cherished masterpiece of the generation comes to the screen. 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:44.320 Su I see doing great houses. 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:48.840 A world that holds creation's greatest treasure. You controls the 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:51.400 snice controls the universe comp. 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:56.840 And greatest terrorst A world with a mighty. 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:01.840 All I can see is it a Treadees that I 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:06.080 wanted to kill and the magical the Sleeper. Oh my god, 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:07.960 we'll have their final battle. 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:11.160 A world called Dune. 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:17.760 Long live the fight us. We will kill until no 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:25.079 har Conan breeze, aercane air duel. A world beyond your experience, 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:30.640 beyond your imagination. Details about the Dune Adventure in Washington, 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:34.079 d C. Are coming soon from Uni Brussel Pictures Eastern 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:37.679 Airlines at one L six afm KCGL. 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:43.160 You know, Rob, I went to rewatch this movie on 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:47.760 Max HBO. Max, I guess formerly and Max has a 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:50.080 great little thing where it's like you know, if some 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:52.319 of these streaming services do this, they say, hey, if 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:54.680 you liked this movie, you might also like do you 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:57.160 want to know what the fan of Dune nineteen eighty 0:12:57.160 --> 0:12:58.400 four might also like? 0:12:58.880 --> 0:12:59.360 Let's have it. 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:02.600 Okay, it's Dune twenty twenty one. I guess that's not surprising, 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:08.440 Leviathan nineteen eighty nine one of our faves. Yeah, war 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:12.079 games and Escape from La from La. 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:16.000 You know, I've never had the courage to watch Escape 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:20.760 from La. Oh love Carpenter, love love the cast for 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:22.880 Escape from La And I remember it had a fun 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:25.520 soundtrack that came out at the time. 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:28.640 But yeah, not anybody's best work. 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:33.520 Yeah, we know, speaking of Max. That is also where 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:37.280 I ended up rewatching it. But if anyone out there, 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:39.559 if you want to go watch nineteen eighty four, is 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:43.160 Dune in full before continuing with these episodes? Yeah, it's 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:47.599 also widely available in digital and physical formats anywhere you 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:50.320 might want to watch it. Unlike the sci fi mini series, 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:51.800 which is a little hard to get your hands on 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:54.240 right now, you can definitely get the nineteen eighty four 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:57.920 adaptation any way you want to get it. Aero Video 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:00.200 put out a very nice blu ray package of the 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:02.520 film in twenty twenty one, if you're a collector and 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:04.040 or want that physical media. 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:06.880 Speaking of I've never seen the sci fi mini series, 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:07.160 have you? 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:10.880 Yeah? I watched, well, I watched the first one, and 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:13.240 I've only seen bits and pieces of the follow up 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:17.559 where they adapted Doune Messiah and Children of Doune, and 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:21.320 I remember it being lavish. You know, it has some 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:24.520 very great costumes, It has a lot of good casting 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:29.440 and in some great casting in places. So as we proceed, 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:32.720 I'll at times refer to alternate castings for some of 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:35.040 these characters and which ones I like, which ones I didn't, 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:38.160 And they did nail it at least on a couple 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:41.160 of the castings. So's it's I don't know how the 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:43.720 effects hold up, but the costumes are great and some 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:45.120 of the performances are nice. 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:47.400 I've never seen it, and in saying this, I don't 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:50.080 want to malign it, so maybe it's better than it looks. 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:53.600 But in some screenshots or stills I've seen from it, 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:56.440 it does kind of have that made for TV look. 0:14:56.920 --> 0:14:59.640 Yeah, yeah, or almost kind of like a film stage 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:03.840 production sort of a thing. Yeah. Yeah. One more thing 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:06.640 I want to quickly add about this version of the 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:09.080 film that we're watching today. Again, I was kind of 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:12.320 a book first fan, and I remember the first time 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:16.120 that I bought a copy of Doone at the I 0:15:16.160 --> 0:15:18.200 think it was a books a million, you know, so 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:20.640 it wasn't like a nice cozy local bookstore. Is one 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:24.920 of the big warehouse bookstores. But the cashier was so 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:27.480 excited when I brought up the book, and she was like, Oh, 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:29.680 you were going to love this. This is a great novel. 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:32.920 This is one of the best. And she explained to 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:36.440 me that she and her husband were huge fans of Doune, 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:39.320 and they were such huge fans that they would watch 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:42.360 David Lynch's Dune, and at that time it was just 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:45.280 the movie. It was the only movie version out. They 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:48.600 would watch the movie version every night as they went 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:52.240 to sleep, every night this film. And so I think 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:56.400 from an early age, despite the criticisms and rejections of 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:58.520 this film that were already out there, it's like I 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.840 knew it's like this. This lady and her husband loved 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:04.360 this film and they love the book, so it can't 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:06.960 be too far off base. And therefore I think I've 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:09.600 always been been more than a little willing to invite 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:13.160 aspects of this film and its look and it sound 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:15.640 into my head version of. 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:20.160 That is fascinating. So literally, as you said, as they 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:23.480 go to sleep, so they're like, yeah, drifting off to 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:27.880 the to the sounds of like Baron Harkonen's doctor singing 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:30.640 love songs to his boils as he's poking them with 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:31.200 a needle. 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:36.440 Yeah, or Baron Harkonen like just laughing maniacally and floating 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:39.720 around the room. Yeah. Yeah, it's their lullaby. I hope 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:41.840 they're still doing it. They're still together, and they're still 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:43.640 watching David Lynch's Doom every night. 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:46.480 Why, Baron, I love your precious diseases. 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:58.400 All right, well, let's start getting into the connections here. 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:02.200 We're gonna tackle every thing a little differently here, so 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:05.600 you know, first of all, on some of these we're 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:08.159 gonna try and maybe spend a little less time with 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:10.399 them just because we have such a huge cast to 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:13.960 go through. And additionally, we're not gonna just divide the 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:17.040 episode like normal. We're not gonna do like just connections, 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:20.119 just cast and crew in this episode and then plot 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:22.359 in the next. We're gonna run through like a few 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:27.040 key behind the scenes individuals, and then we're gonna get 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:29.880 into the plot and then talk about the key actors 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:31.480 as they appear in the narrative. 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:34.480 Okay, I think that is a good approach for a 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:35.920 two part Weird House episode. 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:38.040 Yeah. Yeah, we labored over this a little bit, and 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:40.360 this is this is what we came up with. Okay, 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:43.600 all right, let's start at the top. Yeah. The director 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:48.119 also the writer the adapted screenplay on this one is, 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:53.000 of course, David Lynch born nineteen forty six. Now, I'm 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:56.000 gonna have to defer to you, Joe on on some 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:59.719 of the details of David Lynch's filmography, and certainly about 0:17:59.840 --> 0:18:03.400 like the texture of what a Lynchian film is, because 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:06.040 I haven't seen as many David Lynch films. I've basically 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:09.280 just seen his Dune. I've seen Eraserhead, and I've seen 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:12.520 Mulholland Drive. But that leaves out a number of like 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:15.199 huge films that are highly influential in his sort of 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:18.480 like neo noir weird aesthetic. 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:21.919 I think if you've seen eraser Head and Mulholland Drive, 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:24.679 you have a pretty good idea of what some of 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:27.159 his dominant themes are. But we'll come back to that 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:28.040 all right. 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:31.920 Now, at this point in his career, this was only Lynch. 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:36.120 This was Lynch's third full length motion picture, following the 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:40.000 ultra weird eraser Head in nineteen seventy seven, and this 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:41.800 was more in keeping with a lot of his previous 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:46.199 short film films and nineteen eighties The Elephant Man. You know, 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:48.320 I think I also have seen The Elephant Man, but 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:50.320 I'm not sure if I've seen The Elephant Man in full. 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:52.560 I've at least seen enough of it to know what 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:54.919 it's about that at least was a box office and 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:55.600 critical hit. 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:58.400 Yeah, I actually haven't seen The Elephant Man. I've meant 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.280 too for years. I know it's a widely revered movie. 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:04.520 People say it's great. I have seen a raser Head 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:09.560 eraser Head is. It's funny to contrast that with Dune, 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:13.800 because eraser Head is only barely a narrative film. It 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:19.200 is much more like, well, it's sort of an art 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:23.520 horror film. I would almost say it is a film 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:27.679 about images and feelings and the I would say the 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:32.359 main emotion that it conveys is fear and desperation. 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:36.600 Yeah. Yeah, it's a feel good hit for sure. So 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:39.520 at this point in David Lynch's career. He was like 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:41.800 a hot up and comer, you know. At the time, 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:44.399 he was even discussed as a potential director for Return 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:46.720 the Jedi. So a lot of big producers were eyeing 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:48.640 this guy as you know, as they still do today, 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:51.120 you know, hot new director. And then incomes a producer 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:55.000 in this case like Dino di Laurentez, who we've has 0:19:55.000 --> 0:19:56.960 come up on the show multiple times before, you know, 0:19:57.160 --> 0:20:00.720 major producer of the time period, putting together such epics 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:03.639 as Flash Gordon, which we recently talked about on the show. 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:07.080 And he was like definitely the kind of guy who 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:09.560 want who was attracted to talent, like he wanted to 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:13.639 bring in someone that had vision, but would also of 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:15.760 course fall in line and play the studio game. 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:18.880 Yes, so I think this was not a match made 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:20.200 in heaven with David Lynch. 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:25.520 Yeah, it ended up not to be the case. I 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:27.439 don't know. I mean, we have this film which is 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:31.639 such a joy to watch and discuss, and like, this 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:33.439 is the trajectory we're on. We can't go back and 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:37.000 change it. But yeah, while this vision of Doune eventually 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:40.760 earned a cult following, it was a commercial and critical disaster. 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:43.280 At the time considered again by many to be just 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:46.600 an incomprehensible mess. You look back at like what Ebert 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:49.240 said about it, like everyone was just like, this is awful. 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:52.399 Yeah. Tons of critics at the time said it was 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:56.720 impossible to follow the plot, that it was super confusing, 0:20:57.359 --> 0:21:00.080 they didn't know what was going on. People thought it 0:20:59.920 --> 0:21:04.040 was like weird and unpleasant. People thought that it looked 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:07.160 that despite the fact that it was an incredibly big 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:09.760 budget production, like it huge, you know, and you can 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:12.920 see it in some of the like gorgeous, lavishly realized 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:16.399 sets and costumes and all that. Yeah, people did single 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:18.560 out that there were parts of it that looked cheap, 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:21.520 and I actually do kind of agree. There are, like 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:25.440 most of the the design in it does look amazing, 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:27.800 but there are some weird shots that look kind of 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:30.360 slapped together in there, and I don't know where that 0:21:30.400 --> 0:21:34.280 comes from. Just generally, critics were very very harsh about it. 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:36.320 It made a lot of like worst movie of the 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:38.400