David Lynch Talks About Meeting George Lucas For Return Of The Jedi

Friends, it is probably not a big secret these days, but David Lynch was initially approached to direct 1983’s Return of the Jedi. Obviously the Director of The Elephant Man would end up passing on the project after his initial meeting with George Lucas – although he would go on to tackle a science fiction epic with his adaptation of Dune the following year. In this clip from an interview with Joel Pascal of the Hudson Union Society – Lynch regales an audience as only he can – on Wookies, salads, and passing up on millions of dollars.

For what it might be worth, my first encounter with the work of David Lynch was that 1984 version of Dune. I remember it quite clearly because when my Father bought our tickets, we were handed a terminology sheet for the film. So while I waited impatiently for the house lights in the auditorium to dim, I read this two-sided sheet of paper over and over again. Learning of Caladan, the home planet of House Atreides, or the importance of a Stillsuit. It was a lot for my 12-year-old self to try and grasp before the film began… and when I left the theater there were two things that were quite certain. One, was that my Father hated the film with a passion – perhaps only rivaled by his anger over Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Special Edition. Two, experiencing Lynch’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s first book resulted in my becoming a lifelong fan of the Dune saga.

Speaking of film adaptations for Dune – in the very near future (We hope!) – we will be experiencing a new film helmed by Denis Villeneuve (Arrival, Blade Runner 2049). Much like the 1984 version featured some rather incredible actors – this upcoming film features an impressive list itself – with the likes of Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, and Jason Momoa to name just a few.

Originally schedule to be released in December of this year – I fear that with COVID-19 still wrecking havoc on movie release schedules as well as our lives… we will not see Dune in theaters until 2021.