The legend of "Jodorowsky's DUNE" [Mizumaru Kawahara's CINEMONOLOGUE Vol.63]

As the home of creators

However, personally, what I am most interested in are the many artworks created for this project, and the creators who gathered under Jodorowsky, who were originally warriors. In particular, the legendary French bande dessinée artist Möbius (Jean Giraud) played a major role in visualizing the concept through storyboards and character setting drawings, which became Jodorowsky's camera and brought those images to life.

Moebius's storyboards, which appear with animation effects in the documentary, are no longer storyboards but more like graphic novels that depict scenes every few seconds. The one-shot opening scene, in which we approach a galaxy that was initially just a point of light from the darkness of space, passing through a destroyed spaceship and a group of asteroids along the way, is fun, and it's a scene we often see now. I'm amazed that he already had that perspective when such images didn't exist yet.

It is well known that many historical figures, such as Salvador Dali and Orson Welles, were planned to appear in the film, and this is also featured prominently in this film, but the character designs drawn by Mobius depended on the casting. It is a splendor that is second to none. The Galactic Emperor, who was supposed to be played by Dali (his performance fee is $100,000 per minute!), is especially impressive, but all the characters and costumes are beautiful with generous use of color. I find it powerful that they are not afraid to increase the number of colors at all, and I am drawn to the cool and interesting aspects of their decorations and shapes, which at first glance have nothing to do with catchiness.

Speaking of color, I also love the drawings of Chris Foss, the illustrator who was called upon to design the spaceship. A far cry from the realism of ` `2001: A Space Odyssey '' or the grimy industrial mechanics of ``Star Wars,'' the organic forms and brightly colored spaceships look like tropical fish swimming through outer space. . I admire paintings that are harmonious even though they have many colors. Foss later participated in the design of spaceships for Guardians of the Galaxy , creating colorful and organic spaceships reminiscent of tropical fish and The Birds, including the Milan, which the main character Star-Lord rides. You can see the characteristics of Phos.

Swiss artist H.R. Giger was also recruited by Jodorowsky. Giger, who would later create the nightmarish creatures in `` Alien ,'' left behind a design about the Harkonnen family, which was in conflict with the main character, the Atreides family, over the planet Arrakis. The castle is modeled after the obese Baron Harkonnen himself, making Harkonnen twice as evil as in the original.

Dan O'Bannon, who would go on to write the screenplay for Alien, was also discovered by Jodorowsky, who happened to see O'Bannon and John Carpenter's Dark Star at a Hollywood movie theater. O'Bannon was supposed to be in charge of special effects, but Giger and Mobius ended up participating in the design of Alien because they met him through Dune, and the Alien eggs were secretly hidden inside a sandy planet. You could say that he was growing up. Designer Ron Cobb, who was previously introduced in this series, also participated in "Dune" from "Dark Star" and has drawn sketches such as Thopter (a vehicle that flies with insect-like wings) that flies around the planet Arrakis. Of course, he also played an important role in the design of Alien.

Although the movie itself has become a phantom, the talent of the creators of the Dune group gave rise to other works, and the Dune genes certainly remain to this day.