Index > Now it’s dark > Well that's one more Twin Peaks cast member to die > Re: Well that's one more Twin Peaks cast member to die > He was definitely prepared to do more work after The Return > He almost got a series going at Netflix but covid apparently killed it > I'm not sure how possible it ever would have been to get Lynch's "preferred cut" for Dune.

Here's where he talks about it:

Posted by Paul C (@paulc) on Jan. 17, 2025, 11:31 a.m.

Not that long ago, which is depressing to think about:

https://www.avclub.com/david-lynch-inland-empire-interview-dune-restoration-1848795394

AVC: Some notable filmmakers have returned to their works years later with re-edits, because just as a viewer’s relationship to a piece of art can change over time, so too can a creator’s. Was a new narrative cut something you ever considered with Inland Empire?

DL: No. But Dune—people have said, “Don’t you want to go back and fiddle with Dune?” And I was so depressed and sickened by it, you know? I want to say, I loved everybody that I worked with; they were so fantastic. I loved all the actors; I loved the crew; I loved working in Mexico; I loved everything except that I didn’t have final cut. And I even loved Dino [De Laurentiis], who wouldn’t give me what I wanted [laughs]. And Raffaella, the producer, who was his daughter—I loved her. But the thing was a horrible sadness and failure to me, and if I could go back in I’ve thought, well, maybe I would on that one go back in.

AVC: Really?

DL: Yeah, but I mean, nobody’s…it’s not going to happen.

AVC: Well that’s interesting, because in the past you were always much less open to it.

David Lynch: Yeah, I wanted to walk away. I always say, and it’s true, that with Dune, I sold out before I finished. It’s not like there’s a bunch of gold in the vaults waiting to be cut and put back together. It’s like, early on I knew what Dino wanted and what I could get away with and what I couldn’t. And so I started selling out, and it’s a sad, sad, pathetic, ridiculous story. But I would like to see what is there. I can’t remember, that’s the weird thing [laughs]. I can’t remember. And so it might be interesting—there could be something there. But I don’t think it’s a silk purse. I know it’s a sow’s ear.

So really it doesn’t sound like he had any serious hope of it happening, and even if it did, it would’ve been making something new out of what they had, rather than doing what he would’ve done had he had full control all along.

I’m not sure how fixable his Dune is, really. I watched about half of that super extended cut, and it’s slightly more understandable, but still not that great.