What do you think?
Rate this book
A Masterpiece in Disarray: David Lynch’s Dune—An Oral History
LIMITED FIRST EDITION contains red foil gilded page edges and a black satin ribbon marker. As featured in Pitchfork , Empire , MovieMaker , Nerdist , Mashable , Wired , IGN , SFX , The Wrap , Gizmodo and more! “I see many things. I see plans within plans.” Following his underground hit Eraserhead and critically acclaimed The Elephant Man , visionary filmmaker David Lynch set his sights on bringing Frank Herbert’s beloved sci-fi novel Dune to the screen. The project had already vexed directors such as Alejandro Jodorowsky ( El Topo ) and Ridley Scott ( Alien ). But by the early ‘80s Universal Pictures was prepared to give Lynch the keys to the kingdom – and the highest budget in the studio’s history at the time – so that he could lend his surrealistic chops to this sprawling story of feuding space dynasties. They would also hopefully be creating a “ Star Wars for adults” franchise-starter. As the hot young filmmaker commanded a cast with 42 major speaking parts as well as a crew of 1,700 (plus over 20,000 extras) on 80 sets built on 8 sound stages in Mexico, what happened next became as wild, complex, and full of intrigue as Herbert’s novel itself. Film writer Max Evry goes behind the erratic ride of David Lynch’s Dune like never before, with a years-in-the-making oral history culled from a lineup of new interviews with the film’s stars (Kyle MacLachlan, Sean Young, Virginia Madsen, etc.), creatives, film executives, and insiders – not to mention Lynch himself. David Lynch’s Dune initially left many filmgoers and reviewers scratching their heads, most dismissing the film upon its release. However, four decades and a big-budget remake later, Lynch’s Dune is finally poised to find its rightful place alongside the director’s other masterpieces such as Blue Velvet and Mullholland Drive . Max Evry’s A Masterpiece in Disarray takes you back to 1984 with the deepest dive yet into the cult classic that is David Lynch’s Dune .
520 pages, Hardcover
First published September 5, 2023
107 people are currently reading
628 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
October 6, 2023
RAFFAELLA DE LAURENTIIS: Definitely a flawed movie, and definitely a movie with issues based on the fact that the best adaptation of Dune is Star Wars.
While this book is as imposing as Shai-Hulud itself in terms of length – over 700 pages? – it is well written but, perhaps more importantly, well edited to make for a tight and enthralling read. Yes, there is some repetition, but this is inevitable given the format, which consists of an overview by author Max Evry in each section, followed by the meat of the oral history itself, which consists of interviews with a bewilderingly vast array of people involved. Only Chris Tucker (81) died before Evry was able to interview him.
Will this go down in history as the definitive ‘making of’ tome about Lynch’s ill-fated adaptation? I am not sure. I was surprised to find a big chunk about Dune in his biography/memoir ‘Room to Dream’, which Evry does quote here. Yes, he does manage to secure a brief interview with the OG himself, included at the end as the pièce de resistance.
Sorry to say this, but it is a bit slight and apologetic, and would have worked much better – especially in terms of whimsy – if it had been used to rather kick off the book. But Evry uses it to book end his theory that the weirding module is, in fact, a kind of ‘mantra meditation’ device and hence infuses the movie with Lynch’s unique take on transcendental meditation.
I remain unconvinced by that theory and was contemplating lopping a star off my rating because Evry chose to conclude his book with this ‘definitive proof’ that ‘Dune’ is, indeed, a ‘David Lynch film’. That kind of sidebar speculation belonged in a footnote (of which, by the way, there are none, which helps make this such a seamless reading experience.)
The weirding module was a terrible idea that flew in the face of the ban on machines since the Butlerian Jihad. Given how deftly Lynch managed to adapt the book (perhaps compress is a better word), even opening with a scene straight out of the beginning of ‘Dune Messiah’ (the introduction of the third-stage Guild Navigator as a key conspirator against the Atreides), that I have always been baffled by the nonsensical weirding module. I mean, I did not even blink at the ‘war pugs’.
Okay, so in terms of being faithful to its source material, it is interesting that both Lynch and Denis Villeneuve filmed and then chose to exclude what for me is one of the most important character moments in the entire book: Gurney Halleck playing the baliset. I am sorry; this is unforgivable.
Both auteurs profess to be major Frank Herbert fans. I mean, Villeneuve has the temerity to waste precious seconds on a fucking desert mouse – this ain’t a Disney reference, by the way – but we get no gentle baliset strumming?
I have distinct memories of seeing both ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Dune’ when I was young. The former was fast-paced and exciting and had a clear sense of good and bad. ‘Dune’ was another beast entirely. Dense and murky, once it slips into your subconscious, you are changed forever. Like ingesting the visual and aural equivalent of melange.
‘Blue Velvet’ was released with a 2-21 age restriction in South Africa, so I was only able to watch that upon its VHS release. Similarly, I watched the ‘European’ cut of the ‘Twin Peaks’ pilot on VHS; I cannot remember if it ever showed on television here. I have remained a Lynch fan ever since, up to what is perhaps his finest achievement ever, those astonishing 18 hours of ‘Twin Peaks: The Return’. And even his weather and ‘guess the number’ YouTube spots.
So, what went wrong? Zaki Hasan from the San Francisco Chronicle puts it succinctly in the ‘Modern Impressions of Dune’ section:
What did you think you were going to get letting the Eraserhead guy do a big sci-fi movie? They wanted their Star Wars, but the subject matter is not really a Star Wars thing. Then you give somebody as idiosyncratic as Lynch that big a budget and say, ‘Go nuts!’ We’re never going to see something like that again.
Simon Pegg (a real SF geek if there ever was one) adds: “Obviously, Star Wars was kind of unassailable. If people went in expecting more of that, then Dune was a real slap in the face, which I’m sure is what David Lynch intended.” And the studio definitely created that impression, especially in terms of the merchandising developed to coincide with the movie’s release (I remember a ‘Dune’ sticker book, but that’s all).
John Devore from Medium tells Evry:
I will forever love my mom for seeing this disgusting ‘ribbed for your pleasure’ worm toy and being like, ‘Yes, my son, you can have a toy that Freud would advise against buying.’ Also, I’m a little kid, and the Baron Harkonnen action figure had painted black toenails? What the fuck is that? Versus my He-Man dolls that didn’t have nipples, right? It was kinky.
Despite the appalling on-site conditions in Mexico, every single cast and crew member, including Lynch himself, seemed to have had a peachy keen time during the gruelling shoot, probably because most were drunk all the time. Critically, a lot of those crew and actors would become lifelong Lynch go-tos and muses, especially in terms of ‘Twin Peaks’.
The real trouble started with the VFX, with John Dykstra and team abandoning the project at the crucial end stage due to payment issues. Raffaella De Laurentiis then had to scramble to get the complex visuals done as quickly (and sadly sometimes as shoddily) as possible.
Then there was the issue of the assembly cut, which came in at a length of about four hours (Evry quotes different people as saying it could have been up to six.) From this, a three-hour rough cut was produced. Internal politics led to a shake-up at Universal Studios that forced Dino De Laurentiis to insist on Lynch cutting it to two-hours. Evy reveals that Lynch was already well into writing ‘Dune Messiah’ at that time, as the general expectation among everybody was that they were in for a three-movie haul.
The rest, as they say, is history. The worm did indeed turn, and we ended up with two semi-passable television mini-series and then Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 take. Well, Part One. Perhaps I will change my mind after having seeing Part Two in 2024, but Lynch’s version is incomparable.
A shoutout to Evry for highlighting the work done by Spicediver in assembling all the material available to date for a comprehensive three-hour fan re-edit, which has been upped to 4K thanks to AI. I recently started watching it on YouTube to see what it is like, and it is highly recommended for ‘Dune’ aficionados.
While Evry does note that Lynch has expressed an interest on several occasions about a ‘Director’s Cut’ of ‘Dune’, mystery surrounds the fire at Universal Studios that saw all the unused, stored ‘Dune’ footage literally go up in smoke. Plus, some of what has emerged is, of course, incomplete, as the VFX budget could not nearly match the ambitions of its visionary filmmaker.
Even in its current form, ‘Dune’ remains one of the most influential movies ever made, SF or otherwise. Its nightmarish aesthetic would feed into everything from Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’ to the Marvel cinematic universe.
While this book is as imposing as Shai-Hulud itself in terms of length – over 700 pages? – it is well written but, perhaps more importantly, well edited to make for a tight and enthralling read. Yes, there is some repetition, but this is inevitable given the format, which consists of an overview by author Max Evry in each section, followed by the meat of the oral history itself, which consists of interviews with a bewilderingly vast array of people involved. Only Chris Tucker (81) died before Evry was able to interview him.
Will this go down in history as the definitive ‘making of’ tome about Lynch’s ill-fated adaptation? I am not sure. I was surprised to find a big chunk about Dune in his biography/memoir ‘Room to Dream’, which Evry does quote here. Yes, he does manage to secure a brief interview with the OG himself, included at the end as the pièce de resistance.
Sorry to say this, but it is a bit slight and apologetic, and would have worked much better – especially in terms of whimsy – if it had been used to rather kick off the book. But Evry uses it to book end his theory that the weirding module is, in fact, a kind of ‘mantra meditation’ device and hence infuses the movie with Lynch’s unique take on transcendental meditation.
I remain unconvinced by that theory and was contemplating lopping a star off my rating because Evry chose to conclude his book with this ‘definitive proof’ that ‘Dune’ is, indeed, a ‘David Lynch film’. That kind of sidebar speculation belonged in a footnote (of which, by the way, there are none, which helps make this such a seamless reading experience.)
The weirding module was a terrible idea that flew in the face of the ban on machines since the Butlerian Jihad. Given how deftly Lynch managed to adapt the book (perhaps compress is a better word), even opening with a scene straight out of the beginning of ‘Dune Messiah’ (the introduction of the third-stage Guild Navigator as a key conspirator against the Atreides), that I have always been baffled by the nonsensical weirding module. I mean, I did not even blink at the ‘war pugs’.
Okay, so in terms of being faithful to its source material, it is interesting that both Lynch and Denis Villeneuve filmed and then chose to exclude what for me is one of the most important character moments in the entire book: Gurney Halleck playing the baliset. I am sorry; this is unforgivable.
Both auteurs profess to be major Frank Herbert fans. I mean, Villeneuve has the temerity to waste precious seconds on a fucking desert mouse – this ain’t a Disney reference, by the way – but we get no gentle baliset strumming?
I have distinct memories of seeing both ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Dune’ when I was young. The former was fast-paced and exciting and had a clear sense of good and bad. ‘Dune’ was another beast entirely. Dense and murky, once it slips into your subconscious, you are changed forever. Like ingesting the visual and aural equivalent of melange.
‘Blue Velvet’ was released with a 2-21 age restriction in South Africa, so I was only able to watch that upon its VHS release. Similarly, I watched the ‘European’ cut of the ‘Twin Peaks’ pilot on VHS; I cannot remember if it ever showed on television here. I have remained a Lynch fan ever since, up to what is perhaps his finest achievement ever, those astonishing 18 hours of ‘Twin Peaks: The Return’. And even his weather and ‘guess the number’ YouTube spots.
So, what went wrong? Zaki Hasan from the San Francisco Chronicle puts it succinctly in the ‘Modern Impressions of Dune’ section:
What did you think you were going to get letting the Eraserhead guy do a big sci-fi movie? They wanted their Star Wars, but the subject matter is not really a Star Wars thing. Then you give somebody as idiosyncratic as Lynch that big a budget and say, ‘Go nuts!’ We’re never going to see something like that again.
Simon Pegg (a real SF geek if there ever was one) adds: “Obviously, Star Wars was kind of unassailable. If people went in expecting more of that, then Dune was a real slap in the face, which I’m sure is what David Lynch intended.” And the studio definitely created that impression, especially in terms of the merchandising developed to coincide with the movie’s release (I remember a ‘Dune’ sticker book, but that’s all).
John Devore from Medium tells Evry:
I will forever love my mom for seeing this disgusting ‘ribbed for your pleasure’ worm toy and being like, ‘Yes, my son, you can have a toy that Freud would advise against buying.’ Also, I’m a little kid, and the Baron Harkonnen action figure had painted black toenails? What the fuck is that? Versus my He-Man dolls that didn’t have nipples, right? It was kinky.
Despite the appalling on-site conditions in Mexico, every single cast and crew member, including Lynch himself, seemed to have had a peachy keen time during the gruelling shoot, probably because most were drunk all the time. Critically, a lot of those crew and actors would become lifelong Lynch go-tos and muses, especially in terms of ‘Twin Peaks’.
The real trouble started with the VFX, with John Dykstra and team abandoning the project at the crucial end stage due to payment issues. Raffaella De Laurentiis then had to scramble to get the complex visuals done as quickly (and sadly sometimes as shoddily) as possible.
Then there was the issue of the assembly cut, which came in at a length of about four hours (Evry quotes different people as saying it could have been up to six.) From this, a three-hour rough cut was produced. Internal politics led to a shake-up at Universal Studios that forced Dino De Laurentiis to insist on Lynch cutting it to two-hours. Evy reveals that Lynch was already well into writing ‘Dune Messiah’ at that time, as the general expectation among everybody was that they were in for a three-movie haul.
The rest, as they say, is history. The worm did indeed turn, and we ended up with two semi-passable television mini-series and then Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 take. Well, Part One. Perhaps I will change my mind after having seeing Part Two in 2024, but Lynch’s version is incomparable.
A shoutout to Evry for highlighting the work done by Spicediver in assembling all the material available to date for a comprehensive three-hour fan re-edit, which has been upped to 4K thanks to AI. I recently started watching it on YouTube to see what it is like, and it is highly recommended for ‘Dune’ aficionados.
While Evry does note that Lynch has expressed an interest on several occasions about a ‘Director’s Cut’ of ‘Dune’, mystery surrounds the fire at Universal Studios that saw all the unused, stored ‘Dune’ footage literally go up in smoke. Plus, some of what has emerged is, of course, incomplete, as the VFX budget could not nearly match the ambitions of its visionary filmmaker.
Even in its current form, ‘Dune’ remains one of the most influential movies ever made, SF or otherwise. Its nightmarish aesthetic would feed into everything from Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’ to the Marvel cinematic universe.
December 2, 2023
David Lynch's Dune opens with one of the greatest scenes ever in sci-fi, with the Emperor of the Galaxy clearing his court to receive a Guild Navigator. The Navigator arrives in an immense black casket, which slides open to reveal an aquarium of orange gas, out of which swims a horrific vagina-faced man-fish who speaks in a harsh buzz that is translated by a nearby gimp in a latex raincoat. It is harsh, and stunning and like nothing else put to film. And the rest of the movie kind of limps downwards, until at some point you realize that this is awful, and it's never going to get better. Hopefully you have consumed a lot of "Spice Essence" yourself.
Lynch's Guild Navigator is the high point of the movie, which unfortunately occurs right at the start.
So it's not a good film. It might be a great one, but it's not a good one. Defeat is an orphan, and there's been a lot of finger pointing over the years. The producers, Dino and Rafaella de Laurentiis, murdered the movie in the edit, David Lynch wasn't the right director, the story made no sense, the effects were laughable, and so on.
Objectively, Dune is a tricky book to adapt to a movie. There have been a lot more failed versions than successes. Of the existing versions, both the recent Villeneuve Dune and the early 2000s SyFy miniseries cheat by spreading the story over more hours of film than Lynch was allowed. Ridley Scott abandoned the project before Lynch, and Jodorowsky's Dune inspired a documentary movie, but would have been an insane version with almost nothing in common with the book.
A Masterpiece in Disarray is a 500 page oral history of pre-production, filming, the release, and legacy, which interviews pretty much the entire living cast and major crew, as well as a variety of fans. The basic thesis is that David Lynch is a visionary who got many things right, and who's style of filmmaking taps directly into the collective subconscious. Evry even managed an interview with David Lynch himself, since David does not like to talk about a movie he regards as a traumatic experience. Somewhat surprisingly, the de Laurentiises come off better than I expected. While Dino was a charming old pirate, he and Rafaella apparently genuinely cared for the story. Dune was the favorite book of Dino's dead son Federico, and the film is dedicated to his memory. Universal studios expected something fun and toyetic, a new Star Wars, and they definitely failed to market the movie that they got. Lynch was the only person who had an actively bad time on the movie, and unlike a lot of directors he kept his pain private. Everybody is still friends.
The flipside is that the production was genuinely a fiasco. Preproduction dragged out forever and somehow ended without a filmable script. Filming in Mexico presented major challenges, including customs barriers, unreliable electricity, and food poisoning that afflicted cast and crew. A lot of people were drunk much of the time. Filming proceeded without call sheets, with every day an improvisation. Lynch responded to calls for discipline from Los Angeles by inventing new scenes to film. Ultimately, when filming was done, there was no budget left for effects, and the original effects house, John Dykstra's Apogee (Dyskstra basically invented modern special effects working on Star Wars) demanded a lot of money from empty pockets. The second choice studio did their best, but didn't have the chops, leaving a film with some amazing shots, like the combined miniatures and live action shot of the Arrakis landing field, and a lot of stuff that simply didn't work.
When Dune hews close of Lynch's passions of biological monstrosity and industrial decay, it works very well. But the political intrigue is pro-forma, and so far none of the adaptations have managed to capture Paul-the-prophet.
Evry's book is probably the first and last word on Lynch's Dune. It's not for everyone, but the obsessive Dune fan, Lynch fan, or cvlt fan will absolutely love it.
Lynch's Guild Navigator is the high point of the movie, which unfortunately occurs right at the start.
So it's not a good film. It might be a great one, but it's not a good one. Defeat is an orphan, and there's been a lot of finger pointing over the years. The producers, Dino and Rafaella de Laurentiis, murdered the movie in the edit, David Lynch wasn't the right director, the story made no sense, the effects were laughable, and so on.
Objectively, Dune is a tricky book to adapt to a movie. There have been a lot more failed versions than successes. Of the existing versions, both the recent Villeneuve Dune and the early 2000s SyFy miniseries cheat by spreading the story over more hours of film than Lynch was allowed. Ridley Scott abandoned the project before Lynch, and Jodorowsky's Dune inspired a documentary movie, but would have been an insane version with almost nothing in common with the book.
A Masterpiece in Disarray is a 500 page oral history of pre-production, filming, the release, and legacy, which interviews pretty much the entire living cast and major crew, as well as a variety of fans. The basic thesis is that David Lynch is a visionary who got many things right, and who's style of filmmaking taps directly into the collective subconscious. Evry even managed an interview with David Lynch himself, since David does not like to talk about a movie he regards as a traumatic experience. Somewhat surprisingly, the de Laurentiises come off better than I expected. While Dino was a charming old pirate, he and Rafaella apparently genuinely cared for the story. Dune was the favorite book of Dino's dead son Federico, and the film is dedicated to his memory. Universal studios expected something fun and toyetic, a new Star Wars, and they definitely failed to market the movie that they got. Lynch was the only person who had an actively bad time on the movie, and unlike a lot of directors he kept his pain private. Everybody is still friends.
The flipside is that the production was genuinely a fiasco. Preproduction dragged out forever and somehow ended without a filmable script. Filming in Mexico presented major challenges, including customs barriers, unreliable electricity, and food poisoning that afflicted cast and crew. A lot of people were drunk much of the time. Filming proceeded without call sheets, with every day an improvisation. Lynch responded to calls for discipline from Los Angeles by inventing new scenes to film. Ultimately, when filming was done, there was no budget left for effects, and the original effects house, John Dykstra's Apogee (Dyskstra basically invented modern special effects working on Star Wars) demanded a lot of money from empty pockets. The second choice studio did their best, but didn't have the chops, leaving a film with some amazing shots, like the combined miniatures and live action shot of the Arrakis landing field, and a lot of stuff that simply didn't work.
When Dune hews close of Lynch's passions of biological monstrosity and industrial decay, it works very well. But the political intrigue is pro-forma, and so far none of the adaptations have managed to capture Paul-the-prophet.
Evry's book is probably the first and last word on Lynch's Dune. It's not for everyone, but the obsessive Dune fan, Lynch fan, or cvlt fan will absolutely love it.
May 31, 2024
So, is it authoritative, definitive, or exhaustive? The hardcover has a ribbon, and it talks quite a bit about the shitty action figures and modern replication of the shitty action figures. It's _exhaustive_.
Everyone involved acknowledges that every version splashed onscreen (with the possible exception of the 'spicediver' fan rework) is a fascinating hot mess absolutely crippled by the disconnect between "WE LIKE MONEY" studio goals and Lynch's auteur art house vision. Their collision and the lack of understanding/communication between the two halves is fascinating.
It circles Lynch but is conspicuous by his absence. The entire cast and crew repeat messages of their pleasure to work with him despite/because of his personal oddity and you can feel in the oral history a sense of the camaraderie that developed during a challenging filming and the almost familial care that the director and producers provided. But much of the thinking and technical decisions are described secondhand. Evry managed to pull a short interview out of Lynch that serves as coda to the rest and a perfunctory statement about the influence of transcendental meditation but comes off as timid and uninformative and does not serve to frame the rest.
Everyone involved acknowledges that every version splashed onscreen (with the possible exception of the 'spicediver' fan rework) is a fascinating hot mess absolutely crippled by the disconnect between "WE LIKE MONEY" studio goals and Lynch's auteur art house vision. Their collision and the lack of understanding/communication between the two halves is fascinating.
It circles Lynch but is conspicuous by his absence. The entire cast and crew repeat messages of their pleasure to work with him despite/because of his personal oddity and you can feel in the oral history a sense of the camaraderie that developed during a challenging filming and the almost familial care that the director and producers provided. But much of the thinking and technical decisions are described secondhand. Evry managed to pull a short interview out of Lynch that serves as coda to the rest and a perfunctory statement about the influence of transcendental meditation but comes off as timid and uninformative and does not serve to frame the rest.
March 8, 2024
dreams are messages from the deep
23
23
September 22, 2023
Lynch’s version of Dune is not great. A serviceable film that was the poster child for “The Book Was Better.” However, Evry finds a way to bring new light and need to re-evaluate what it took to bring Dune to life in the first place and the effect it has had on not only Hollywood but those involved in it.
January 27, 2024
The oral history chapters are great, the essays that precede each bit good but repeat the same stuff too often, and the chapters about the legacy are incredibly dull. Also, I am glad I have read another book that confirms Lynch is just a great dude to work with.
February 5, 2025
An amazing and insightful oral history of David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of Dune filled with great interviews, interesting facts and thoughtful analysis.
February 14, 2024
An absolute must read for anyone who loves hearing about how movies are made, is a Lynch fan, or a Dune fan. Fantastic read.
March 12, 2024
Meticulously and exhaustingly reasearched book aimed not just for David Lynch or Dune fans, but for movie buffs in general. Author conducted many interviews with people who was actually there, actors and crew (e.g. Kyle MacLachlan, Raffaella Di Laurentis, Bob Ringwood, John Dykstra and plethora of others). Author even managed to secure an interview with the man himself! It's only a couple of questions spread across three pages, but still, he manage to talk to Lynch about Dune and this is feat in itself and just a cherry on top of a fantastic (cherry pie) book.
October 24, 2023
An excellent look at an (imo) excellent film - interesting and well written. It also put me onto the Spicediver edit which I watched earlier today and also thoroughly enjoyed.
November 14, 2023
I learned something new - Everett McGill was the voice of the Guild Navigator. Seems obvious in retrospect.
December 13, 2024
I prefer an interesting failure to a bland success.
September 12, 2024
I really enjoy the 1984 film adaptation of Dune. Though by no means a perfect movie, it does some things better the recent two films. Lynch brought a strangeness to visuals and sounds that suits Herbert’s book much better than the ultra-Hollywood-ized version by Villeneuve. Where Villeneuve took the original story and created a blockbuster spectacle out of it (and introduced so many changes that the original story becomes in some ways barely visible), Lynch understood that the story should feel foreign and unsettling. The heroes are not entirely relatable, and the villains are evil in more deeply disturbing ways than the typical movie villain (especially at that time). Both versions of the movie omit a lot, alter major plot points, and falter in the conclusion. But I’m more likely to return to Lynch’s. It conveys something unspeakable and eerie that intrigues me.
Given all of that, I was excited to read Max Evry’s recent tome that pieces together the whole process of making the 1984 film. Weighing in at over 500 pages, and packaged in a physical book that feels extremely gimmicky (even including, for reasons I don’t understand, red foil edges of the pages, so that as I read, the reflected light turns my hands bright red; I have no idea what this has to do with Dune, or with the reading experience generally), the book presents new and archival interviews, Evry’s own history and commentary, and a small selection of black and white photos to explain what happened in this infamous Hollywood failure. Evry has spoken with nearly all the people still alive who had some role in the making of the film, with especially substantial and insightful comments from costume designer Bob Ringwood, a very “tell it like it is” kind of guy. Evry also presents commentary from Sean “I’m not opinionated” Young, Alicia Witt, Everett McGill, Raffaella De Laurentiis (who doesn’t seem to have thought about Dune at all for decades but loves talking), members of Toto, and, notably, Kyle MacLachlan, along with many others. I loved reading MacLachlan’s contributions, as I could hear his voice saying all of it; and he has an excellent perspective on that first film role of his career. Arranged according to pre-production, production, post, and reception and legacy, the interviews gave me a really clear sense of the process—though I couldn’t say exactly where the potential blockbuster success broke down. At many, many points, and aligned with so many people, the film essentially ceased to be what Lynch and others originally envisioned. I take comfort realizing that no single moment that broke the film, but I feel sad that the version finally released had so little resemblance to the initial vision (even though I love the theatrical release, with all its flaws; and I haven’t even watched the Spicediver Edit yet). I also think Evry’s piecing together of interviews with various cast and crew members does a great job of conveying the way people can be together in a room and yet have very different interpretations of what happened in that room. Multiple times in the book, we see that several people thought one thing about a particular situation, and then someone else (presumably independent of knowing what the others said) says something very different. I found that fascinating.
If 500 pages seems excessive to discuss a movie so widely panned, then and now, you’re right. Evry desperately needed an editor with the confidence to say no—as in, “No, Max, you cannot include an interview with some random person whose father watches Dune every year on his birthday,” or “No, Max, if you asked Patton Oswalt about Dune and he didn’t have anything interesting to say, you cannot include that in the book.” And even more than such examples: “No, Max, we don’t need to know that much about Val Kilmer, because even though he auditioned for the role of Paul, he did not actually appear in the film.” You just can’t believe how much the book says about Val Kilmer. Then a section near the end of the book catalogs every time a sitcom has referenced Dune. In attempting to be comprehensive, the book becomes unnecessarily cumbersome. I enjoyed it, but I often laughed at the random details the author thought worthy of including.
For all of the extraneous details, however, the book neglects to include a vital feature: an index. I find that incredible. If you ever want to go back to that story about Tom Cruise’s grin, you’re going to have to flip through the entire book until you happen upon it. That’s a major shortcoming in a book of this length with this many details.
Everyone who picks up this book will ask, “Did Evry get to interview David Lynch?” Yes, he did; but no, the interview doesn't reveal anything especially interesting. Lynch clearly says as little as he can and still show himself courteous. Evry asks Lynch about a theory he has about a connection between transcendental meditation and the Dune film, and Lynch says, “Yeah, sure, sure.” And Evry hits the ceiling with delight at having confirmation from the man himself. I’m less confident that Lynch intended anything significant in his response.
I know there’s very little chance of this happening, but now that Lynch is housebound with severe emphysema, I wish he would collect all the footage from Dune and cut a new version of whatever length. This would be a wonderful opportunity to complete a project that didn’t go as he’d hoped, finding closure for “the one that got away.” Everyone who participated in the book indicated that four-hour and even three-hour versions they saw before the final theatrical version were amazing. I’d love to see that.
Given all of that, I was excited to read Max Evry’s recent tome that pieces together the whole process of making the 1984 film. Weighing in at over 500 pages, and packaged in a physical book that feels extremely gimmicky (even including, for reasons I don’t understand, red foil edges of the pages, so that as I read, the reflected light turns my hands bright red; I have no idea what this has to do with Dune, or with the reading experience generally), the book presents new and archival interviews, Evry’s own history and commentary, and a small selection of black and white photos to explain what happened in this infamous Hollywood failure. Evry has spoken with nearly all the people still alive who had some role in the making of the film, with especially substantial and insightful comments from costume designer Bob Ringwood, a very “tell it like it is” kind of guy. Evry also presents commentary from Sean “I’m not opinionated” Young, Alicia Witt, Everett McGill, Raffaella De Laurentiis (who doesn’t seem to have thought about Dune at all for decades but loves talking), members of Toto, and, notably, Kyle MacLachlan, along with many others. I loved reading MacLachlan’s contributions, as I could hear his voice saying all of it; and he has an excellent perspective on that first film role of his career. Arranged according to pre-production, production, post, and reception and legacy, the interviews gave me a really clear sense of the process—though I couldn’t say exactly where the potential blockbuster success broke down. At many, many points, and aligned with so many people, the film essentially ceased to be what Lynch and others originally envisioned. I take comfort realizing that no single moment that broke the film, but I feel sad that the version finally released had so little resemblance to the initial vision (even though I love the theatrical release, with all its flaws; and I haven’t even watched the Spicediver Edit yet). I also think Evry’s piecing together of interviews with various cast and crew members does a great job of conveying the way people can be together in a room and yet have very different interpretations of what happened in that room. Multiple times in the book, we see that several people thought one thing about a particular situation, and then someone else (presumably independent of knowing what the others said) says something very different. I found that fascinating.
If 500 pages seems excessive to discuss a movie so widely panned, then and now, you’re right. Evry desperately needed an editor with the confidence to say no—as in, “No, Max, you cannot include an interview with some random person whose father watches Dune every year on his birthday,” or “No, Max, if you asked Patton Oswalt about Dune and he didn’t have anything interesting to say, you cannot include that in the book.” And even more than such examples: “No, Max, we don’t need to know that much about Val Kilmer, because even though he auditioned for the role of Paul, he did not actually appear in the film.” You just can’t believe how much the book says about Val Kilmer. Then a section near the end of the book catalogs every time a sitcom has referenced Dune. In attempting to be comprehensive, the book becomes unnecessarily cumbersome. I enjoyed it, but I often laughed at the random details the author thought worthy of including.
For all of the extraneous details, however, the book neglects to include a vital feature: an index. I find that incredible. If you ever want to go back to that story about Tom Cruise’s grin, you’re going to have to flip through the entire book until you happen upon it. That’s a major shortcoming in a book of this length with this many details.
Everyone who picks up this book will ask, “Did Evry get to interview David Lynch?” Yes, he did; but no, the interview doesn't reveal anything especially interesting. Lynch clearly says as little as he can and still show himself courteous. Evry asks Lynch about a theory he has about a connection between transcendental meditation and the Dune film, and Lynch says, “Yeah, sure, sure.” And Evry hits the ceiling with delight at having confirmation from the man himself. I’m less confident that Lynch intended anything significant in his response.
I know there’s very little chance of this happening, but now that Lynch is housebound with severe emphysema, I wish he would collect all the footage from Dune and cut a new version of whatever length. This would be a wonderful opportunity to complete a project that didn’t go as he’d hoped, finding closure for “the one that got away.” Everyone who participated in the book indicated that four-hour and even three-hour versions they saw before the final theatrical version were amazing. I’d love to see that.
March 14, 2024
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. A Masterpiece in Disarray explores many of the reasons David Lynch's Dune was literally in disarray, and I am convinced that it still would've been in that state if money and time had been no object. That isn't necessarily the fault of Lynch or Dino De Laurentiis, but I believe (especially after reading this book) that failure was inevitable. Yet I came away with a very enlightened idea of what (at least at the time, and maybe also now) you can and can't do when you want to shoot a film in Mexico.
The book itself is frequently fascinating, but (1) it contains a *lot* of repetition and (2) probably too much detail for a casual fan like me. But if you're a big fan of the movie, this is going to be a book you'll want to keep forever.
The book itself is frequently fascinating, but (1) it contains a *lot* of repetition and (2) probably too much detail for a casual fan like me. But if you're a big fan of the movie, this is going to be a book you'll want to keep forever.
October 10, 2023
A beautiful book.
The interviews were interesting and illustrated that the film was never going to be what Lynch wanted, and he knew it going in. There was optimism from the producers in the beginning but it was never going to be Star Wars, which is what Paramount hoped for.
I've never hated the film but, after reading this book, I will watch it differently in the future.
The interviews were interesting and illustrated that the film was never going to be what Lynch wanted, and he knew it going in. There was optimism from the producers in the beginning but it was never going to be Star Wars, which is what Paramount hoped for.
I've never hated the film but, after reading this book, I will watch it differently in the future.
January 22, 2024
I wish Lynch himself would have weighed in more, but I'll never think of this movie the same. Funny to think of how close to greatness they came.
February 12, 2025
I think like everyone else affected by him, I've been scrabbling for anything new about David Lynch since he passed. Though perverse, I think there is a power in going back and reclaiming a notorious disaster that Lynch himself was intent on rejecting. We will never see the version of the film he intended on making, and I love the idea that David Lynch's Dune is as much of a lost film as Jodorowsky's Dune is, but we can choose to treasure what we do have. I am going to go dust off my blu-ray copy of this weird little freak project and salvage joy from it as an act of pointless rebellion. That's a treat for Henry.
February 9, 2025
Exhaustive... and exhausting.
January 30, 2024
Of course, this deluxe tome is really only intended for devoted followers of Paul Muad'Dib, but anyone intending to ride Shai Hulud into battle against the vile Harkonnens will find plenty worthwhile here.
Like most oral histories, there can be a bit of filler. But Evry does a great job placing this movie within Lynch's career, particularly for what's often called the least Lynchian of his works. As I'm watching Twin Peaks for the first time now, it was fun to see how many of those actors got their start with Lynch thanks to Dune.
Like most oral histories, there can be a bit of filler. But Evry does a great job placing this movie within Lynch's career, particularly for what's often called the least Lynchian of his works. As I'm watching Twin Peaks for the first time now, it was fun to see how many of those actors got their start with Lynch thanks to Dune.
August 21, 2024
With all due respect to author Max Evry, I just couldn't love this one. I started reading Kyle Buchanan's account of the making of Mad Max Fury Road, and it's served to highlight the ways A MASTERPIECE IN DISARRAY didn't work for me. There's not a clear story being told, and that's part-and-parcel with the structure of the book: an oral history with "before filming", "during filming", "after filming" sections. But, IMO, it's the authors when working with oral histories to make it into a story, to make it coherent. Some of this just feels like e-mail replies, and some voices get way too much air-time compared to others. Good round-up of actors and crew; came away admiring Kyle MacLachlan even more! Lots of cool details throughout the book! Very interesting stuff, and Max Evry's love for DUNE '84 is clear and infectious.
A really nice reference, but not always a good read.
A really nice reference, but not always a good read.
March 25, 2024
A solid read that paints a clear picture of the process of developing Dune into a film. Evry interviews a huge number of the people involved, which helps form a more dimensional shape of the production. Some details seemed less necessary (I’m not sure I needed a list of how many times the Lynch Dune was referenced in popular media), and the crowning Lynch interview was a bit anticlimactic. Still, a worthy volume of stories and anecdotes that’ll be compelling to long-time admirers of the film, as well as curious newcomers who enjoyed the Villeneuve movies.
July 16, 2024
'A Masterpiece in Disarray' is in itself something of a masterpiece, delving deeper than expected into the development and legacy of the 84 Dune and positioning it within Lynch's wider canon. The nature of the book really puts you into the chaos of the production, allowing you to absorb that and the passion that many felt for the project, before moving into the release and ultimate box office failure of that film. I loved every page of this book, a must read for anyone interested in cinema and what it takes to make a beautiful failure.
February 14, 2024
Some incredible researching and writing in here! It is a little bloated, however, and includes A LOT of periphery information and interviews with people not involved, and a lot of the info is repeated.
While the context might be appreciated for some, I feel like the majority of people eager to dive into a book like this … don’t need that. So, so glad it exists, though, and appreciate the author give different “ways” to read it.
While the context might be appreciated for some, I feel like the majority of people eager to dive into a book like this … don’t need that. So, so glad it exists, though, and appreciate the author give different “ways” to read it.
April 4, 2024
I didn't read this book cover to cover; it's too dense for that. Instead, I randomly browsed some handpicked chapters. It's packed with intriguing and insightful accounts of one of the most underrated sci-fi movies.
January 30, 2024
Interesting read but a lot of filler the last 60 or so pages.
June 30, 2024
Well, it's definitely thorough! Could have lived without the super fans bits and every reference to Dune ever made, but it's a hell of a read and a beautiful book.
December 19, 2024
Not a fan of all the Villeneuve Dune slander in this but still a very interesting read!
November 28, 2023
Este libro funciona como un homenaje al legado de "Dune", la película de 1984 dirigida por David LYNCH, que a su vez fue una adaptación ambiciosa y surrealista de la clásica novela de ciencia ficción de
. La película recibió críticas mixtas tras su estreno, y fue un fracaso en la taquilla. Mientras que algunos elogiaron el enfoque audaz e imaginativo de Lynch, otros encontraron difícil seguir la compleja narrativa de la película. La adaptación del intrincado y denso material original de HERBERT planteó un desafío importante, lo que dio como resultado una película abrumadora e inconexa para quienes no estaban familiarizados con la novela.
A pesar de su decepcionante recepción, "Dune" se ha ganado un culto a lo largo de los años, apreciado por su espectáculo visual y la distintiva huella creativa de LYNCH, y ese es el tema principal de este libro. El escritor Max EVRY hace una exploración a fondo del viaje errático de Dune con abundantes testimonios extraídos de una serie de entrevistas con los actores de la película (Kyle MacLachlan, Sean Young, Virginia Madsen, etc. .), creativos, ejecutivos cinematográficos y conocedores.
Ojo: ¡recomendable solo para mega aficionados de la película y la saga de !.
A pesar de su decepcionante recepción, "Dune" se ha ganado un culto a lo largo de los años, apreciado por su espectáculo visual y la distintiva huella creativa de LYNCH, y ese es el tema principal de este libro. El escritor Max EVRY hace una exploración a fondo del viaje errático de Dune con abundantes testimonios extraídos de una serie de entrevistas con los actores de la película (Kyle MacLachlan, Sean Young, Virginia Madsen, etc. .), creativos, ejecutivos cinematográficos y conocedores.
Ojo: ¡recomendable solo para mega aficionados de la película y la saga de !.
September 11, 2024
If you’ve been following this site/blog for a while you’ll know that Frank Herbert’s Dune is something of a favourite of mine in its many forms from the original novels dating back to the 1960s up to the Denis Villeneuve films of the last few years, and that among them one is particularly pivotal – David Lynch’s 1984 movie, Dune.
When I heard then that film journalist Max Evry was compiling ‘an oral history’ of Lynch’s cinematic take on Herbert’s book, brilliantly titled A Masterpiece In Disarray, I knew I had to read it as soon as possible and I have now made my way through its densely packed 500+ pages – and what a tale it tells.
Split into four sections, with each following a similar approach ranging from the earliest days of pre-production, including a quick run through previous attempts to make the film including Alejandro Jodorowsky’s impossible dream version and Ridley Scott’s that ultimately led him from Alien to Blade Runner, through the production itself, the post-production and immediate aftermath as well as the ‘legacy’ and versions that have come since…
When I heard then that film journalist Max Evry was compiling ‘an oral history’ of Lynch’s cinematic take on Herbert’s book, brilliantly titled A Masterpiece In Disarray, I knew I had to read it as soon as possible and I have now made my way through its densely packed 500+ pages – and what a tale it tells.
Split into four sections, with each following a similar approach ranging from the earliest days of pre-production, including a quick run through previous attempts to make the film including Alejandro Jodorowsky’s impossible dream version and Ridley Scott’s that ultimately led him from Alien to Blade Runner, through the production itself, the post-production and immediate aftermath as well as the ‘legacy’ and versions that have come since…
May 23, 2024
Best oral history I've ever read, and I've read a lot. My previous favourite was Lizzy Goodman's Meet 'Me in the Bathroom,' which expertly captures a moment in music history, but 'A Masterpiece in Disarray' is beyond. It's the making of a sci-fi classic (or train wreck, depending on your opinion) but it's also the history of science fiction, the history of the Dune, the history of Lynch, the history of motion pictures, the history of the cast and crew's careers and current lives, as well as the impact the film and Lynch have had on people from all corners of the cinematic world. If you've ever sat down and thought, "I wonder what James Cameron thinks of Dune," wonder no further. The sheer amount of people Evry spoke to is insane, and the fact that this film was made forty years ago and everyone recalls their experience so succinctly is pretty fascinating and really indicative of the impact Lynch has had on people's lives. Can't say enough good things about this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.