kwebb@opus.UUCP (Kirk Webb) (01/09/85)
Here is an article from the Boulder Daily Camera, Sunday, Jan 6, 1985. It is by Kathryn Bernheimer, the paper's film critic. Novelists are notoriously critical of what film directors do to their books. They leave too much out. They try to put too much in. They distort the author's intention. They alter the tone. They spice the story up with unwarranted sex and violence. They omit the best scene. They rewrite already perfect dialogue. They change the ending. Frank Herbert is the exception, a completely contented writer. "Dune," to hear Herbert tell it, is not only an admirably accurate adaptation of his sci-fi classic, it's one hell of a good movie. You just can't coax a grumble out of the man. And that's after he's read the mostly negative reviews. "The movie is absolutely faithful to the essential thrust of the book," Herbert said cheerfully during a recent phone interview. "It creates a charismatic leader just the way I did. Some scenes are precisely the way they are in the book. Others are better visually. David (director David Lynch) actually helped my writing by getting me to think more visually." Herbert served as technical advisor on "Dune," and reports that the filmmakers actually listened to him. He only had to put his foot down once, and was in perfect agreement on a number of important points, such as the decision not to cast a well-known actor in the leading role. (Newcomer Kyle MacLachlan was cast as Paul Atreides after a year-long search). Herbert did not write the screenplay -- at least not the one used, which was written by Lynch. "I wrote a dismal screenplay," Herbert candidly remarked. "It was too long, and I didn't choose the right visual metaphors. It's a major problem to condense a book with so many layers in it." Since Herbert's first "Dune" book appeared in 1965, followed by four sequels with a fifth due to be published in the spring, numerous attempts have been made to bring his best seller to the screen. Directors such as Chilean filmmaker Alejandro "El Topo" Jodorowsky tried their hand at transformig the mystical, mythical novel, which has sold more than 10 million copies and been translated into 14 languages, into a workable screenplay. Jodorowsky's plans for a 12-hour film failed, and he lost his financing in 1975. Producer Dino de Laurentiis purchased the rights to "Dune" three years later. De Laurentiis and his daughter Raffaella De Laurentiis, who eventually co-produced the $40 million "Dune," promised Herbert they would remain true to the book. They kept their word, according to Herbert, who noted that "Hollywood is notorious for the cheap shot. But when director Ridley Scott mentioned that he wanted to introduce incest between the hero and his mother to Dino, he was out." Lynch was chosen on the basis of "The Elephant Man," which garnered eight Oscar nominations. Herbert admired the 1980 film for the way the director "took you to Victorian England without focusing hard on the environment, but on the characters," Herbert said, adding, "I think he did the same with 'Dune.' "It's a real departure from hardware science fiction films because the focus is not on special effects but on ambience. He keeps your eye on the characters. Even the textures have the right mood; they're not the bright plastic, chrome and white jumpsuits you usually see. In the book, I was working on the idea of a feudal society, so Lynch looked at Renaissance and rococo art for the background, which suggests a feudal society to the audience." Herbert is delighted with Lynch's flair for finding the appropriate visual metaphor, but he is equally pleased with his thematic treatment of the story. "I know that the themes came out clearly because I hear people coming out of the theaters talking about them. It makes people question exactly what I wanted. "The main idea is an openness to change. We have to be able to deal with change because adaptability is the key to survival as a species. You have to adapt to new conditions or you are dead." Herbert is often called a futurist, and terms like "future think" are often applied to his writing, but Herbert is wary of being considered a visionary. "I do write future histories, which I think of as adventure fiction or technological fiction, but I don't think I have to put on the mantle of prescient futurist. The number of things we can't predict is astounding. It is the surprises we have to be able to deal with. When we get down to it, we are talking about technological changes in society and how we cope with them. "I'm interested in the things I read into history. For example, I think it's a dangerous misapprehension to think that absolute power corrupts absolutely. I think that power attracts the corruptible. I also think that all bureaucracies become aristocracies. It's close to that now in our military, which is a dynasty where the powerful pass power to their children. My theories haven't changed (since "Dune" was written 20 years ago). In fact they have been borne out by history." The sixth in the "Dune" series, "Charterhouse: Dune," deals with "the evolutionary thrust of a society that has come out of 'Dune.' It's about a collision between two enormous forces, and if you want to draw a comparison between America and Russia, be my guest." Since Herbert acquired a word processor, he can turn our a book in about six t eight months. But "Dune" took six years of research before he even began writing. The idea for the novel began when Herbert, then a reporter who worked newspaper night shifts so he could write fiction during the day, was researching an article on the ecology of sand dunes. While flying over the desert in eastern Oregon he began to think about a desert planet. Herbert went to live in a desert in New Mexico and began reading about desert ecology. Soon he was immersed in research dealing with comparative religion, linguistics, political science and the psychology of mass movements. It all went into the writing of "Dune," and now, Herbert thinks it's all up there on the screen. "We wanted to challenge the viewer," Herbert said. "It's probable that people who haven't read the book will have to go back and see the movie again, or go back and read the book. In any event, you have to pay attention to the movie. Very close attention." -- ====================================== Kirk Webb ..!seismo!hao!nbires!kwebb (USENET) NBI, Inc. Boulder, CO