What is this?
In 1973, Alexandro Jodorowsky, newly anointed "cult film director" after the art-house release of El Topo, was asked by French producer Michel Seydoux what his dream movie project would be if he could have anything in the world...
That same morning Jodorowsky who had overheard a hipster say that Frank Herbert's DUNE was the hottest ticket in Science Fiction literature, without skipping a beat, managed to recall the title; he replied "I must make Dune!"
Seydoux offered to produce the film, and immediately went home to buy the rights, while Jorodowsky snuck into a bookstore to find a copy of the novel, for good measure.
The rest is the subject of a documentary by Frank Pavitch about Jodorowsky's failed attempt at bringing Dune to the screen.
Jodorowsky was told that the best artist to tap for imagining a science fiction film was comic book rising star Jean Giraud, otherwise known as Moebius.
Jodorowsky lurked in the lobby of Giraud's publisher and cornered him.
When first approached, Moebius was ambivalent about embarking on what he knew would amount to a grueling, herculean task. He also didn't want to get on a plane for LA right away, as challenged.
Jodorowsky, who had been told that the "second hottest ticket" in SF design was artist Philippe Druillet, told Moebius that he didn't mind the hesitancy and would simply put the same question to his rival.
Moebius took the bait and was hooked.
​
If no film came close to being executed, amid a maelstrom of 1970s-style delirious excesses by showbiz figures, artist Moebius didn't squander his time over the following months, and delivered a finished 3000 storyboard panel visualization of the project which, when added to Jodorowsky's movie script retelling of Herbert's dizzying novel, combined into a remarkable illustrated document, which is the stuff of legends. Only about a dozen copies were made, mostly for members of the would-be production, and most of those copies are scattered to the four winds.
40 years of legends and occasional fanzine articles about this mythical movie ambition, fueled by an occasional leak of artwork, kept a dream going in the minds of eager fans of the Sci-Fi genre, and even allowed that dream to conveniently exceed any possible would-be reality.
As charismatic leaders well know, 'the imagination of an audience does all the work.' Who would disagree, aside, perhaps from the artist sitting alone at his desk?
​
Few have seen the complete storyboard, and legal scuffles surrounding the original pencil sketches made by Moebius, their whereabouts, and all the rights connected to the long expired movie option, make it unlikely that this visual treasure will ever be made available commercially (the Frank Herbert estate's own rights notwithstanding).
Artists H.R. Giger and Chris Foss, who were also involved in some designs, are included in this visual "bible".
​
Later-life acrimony between Jodorowsky and Moebius led to the latter's refusal to participate in the documentary film about this book, (though many people simply assumed that Moebius's health was the reason for his inconspicuous absence, he indeed went on to do the largest exhibit of his life at the Cartier Foundation in the year following the taping), yet all we will ever have left of this endeavor is a collection of work done by three great visual artists, with one carrying the bulk of the load: Moebius, Giger and Foss.
Jean "Moebius" Giraud had grown tired of validating a lot of the chatter about the project, holding his own take on it, and felt he didn't need the publicity; he thought, furthermore, that enough had been said about the whole thing.
One copy of the whole storyboard bible, signed respectively in 1996 and 1997 by Moebius and Alexandro Jodorowsky, does exist, (one among very known few) and is the subject of this tribute site.
​
What is posted here is a mere sampler. But it's more than has been seen anywhere.
​
Think of it as a virtual exhibit, if you will.