15 little known facts about the making of Dune

David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of Dune remains one of the most ambitious and divisive science fiction projects in cinema history. The production was as vast and unforgiving as the desert planet of Arrakis itself.

From casting near-misses to the use of actual body bags for costumes, the behind-the-scenes reality of the film was often stranger than the fiction. These are the facts about the making of a cult classic.

Casting and directing

1. Director David Lynch turned down the opportunity to direct Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi in order to direct Dune.

2. Helena Bonham Carter was originally cast as Princess Irulan. Scheduling conflicts with A Room with a View forced her to leave the film. Jodie Foster, Brooke Shields, Kim Basinger, Melanie Griffith, Michelle Pfeiffer, Meg Ryan, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kristy McNichol, Tatum O’Neal, Bridget Fonda and Sarah Jessica Parker were also considered for the role.

3. Several high-profile actors were in the running for the role of Paul Atreides. Val Kilmer turned it down. Dexter Fletcher was seriously considered and Christopher Reeve auditioned.

An epic production

4. Dune was an immense production. It employed 1700 production crew members and required eighty sets built upon sixteen sound stages. It took over six years to make. David Lynch worked on the project for three and a half years.

5. To prepare the location for shooting, two hundred workers spent two months hand-clearing three square miles of Mexican desert.

6. Parts of the movie were filmed at the same location and time as the fantasy film Conan the Destroyer starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Biblical allusions and costumes

7. The movie alludes strongly to Bible stories, particularly the story of Moses. Patrick Stewart’s character, Gurney Halleck, gives two quotations from the Old Testament. The first is from Job 24:5: “Behold, as a wild ass in the desert go I forth to my work.” The second is from Habakkuk 1:9: “They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup as the east wind. And they shall gather the captivity of the sand.”

8. Sting’s character Feyd-Rautha was originally intended to step out of the steam bath nude. Sting agreed to the scene, but the studio panicked. They instructed costume designers to provide coverage. The winged g-string was created at the last minute before filming.

9. The instrument played by Patrick Stewart, the baliset, is actually a Chapman Stick. This electric guitar and bass hybrid was created in the 1970s by Emmett Chapman, who plays the music heard in the movie.

Technical firsts and oddities

10. The bodyshields used in Dune represent the first time in film history that a computer-generated human form was used in a movie.

11. Feyd-Rautha and The Beast Rabban are men of few words. Paul L. Smith spoke only 34 words. Sting says 90 words in the three-hour version of the film.

12. The suits worn by the Guild members were body bags found in a disused fire station dating back to the early 1920s. The bags had been used several times. This fact was kept from the cast until after shooting was completed.

13. The production employed over 1,700 crew members during principal photography, making it one of the largest film crews assembled in Europe at that time. Much of the filming took place at Churubusco Studios in Mexico City, where entire soundstages were converted into the desert landscapes of Arrakis.

14. David Lynch was contractually denied final cut of the film. The theatrical release was significantly shorter than his original vision. Lynch was so unhappy with the studio’s interference that when an extended television version was later broadcast, he had his name removed from the credits and replaced with the pseudonym Alan Smithee.

15. Despite its troubled production and mixed critical reception, the 1984 Dune developed a devoted cult following over the subsequent decades. Its influence is visible in everything from the visual design of later science fiction films to the resurgence of interest that ultimately led to Denis Villeneuve’s acclaimed 2021 adaptation.