Where to watch Dune (1984)
Dune is available to stream in AU on Lionsgate+. It can also be rented or bought from AppleTV and Amazon.
In a distant future, a powerful substance that extends life and enables space travel is found only on the desert planet Arrakis. When control of this resource is contested, a young heir becomes entangled with the planet’s people and their prophecy of a liberating messiah.
Cast: Francesca Annis, Kyle MacLachlan, Patrick Stewart, Linda Hunt, José Ferrer, Freddie Jones, Brad Dourif, Richard Jordan, Virginia Madsen, Silvana Mangano, Everett McGill, Sting
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Trivia & production notes
- Arthur P. Jacobs optioned the Dune film rights in 1972 with director David Lean attached, but died before production began and the rights reverted two years later.
- Alejandro Jodorowsky's unrealized Dune adaptation planned to cast Salvador Dalí as the Emperor, Orson Welles as Baron Harkonnen, and Mick Jagger as Feyd-Rautha.
- Jodorowsky's Dune storyboard book, containing artwork and design concepts, sold for over $2 million in late 2021 and significantly influenced subsequent sci-fi films including Alien, Star Wars, and The Terminator.
- Ridley Scott was hired to direct Dune in 1979 and intended to split the book into two movies, but left the project after seven months, partly due to his brother Frank's unexpected death from cancer.
- David Lynch was chosen to direct Dune after producer Raffaella De Laurentiis saw The Elephant Man, and Lynch agreed to the project despite initially not having heard of the source novel.
- Kyle MacLachlan beat out Tom Cruise, Kevin Costner, Val Kilmer, and Kenneth Branagh for the role of Paul Atreides after Kilmer's screen test was surpassed by MacLachlan's audition.
- Helena Bonham Carter was originally cast as Princess Irulan but left due to scheduling conflicts with A Room with a View.
- Dune was shot entirely in Mexico over six months at Churubusco Studios and the Samalayuca Dune Fields, with a budget over $40-42 million and a crew of 1,700 people managing 80 sets across 16 sound stages.
- The rough cut of Dune ran over four hours, but Lynch, Dino De Laurentiis, and Raffaella De Laurentiis trimmed it to nearly three hours by excising scenes, filming new ones, and adding voice-over narration.
- Lynch disavowed the 1988 television version of Dune and had his name removed from credits, with Alan Smithee credited instead as a pseudonym for directors disowning their work.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article Dune (1984 film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.
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