Comprised of production design sketches, behind-the-scenes production photos, slides, and over 100 film negatives, the present lot offers an unprecedented glimpse into the creation of David Lynch’s sprawling 1984 sci-fi epic, Dune.
As he recalls it, Ron Miller—science fiction author, artist, and Dune’s production illustrator—and his wife and fellow artist Judith “were sitting in the studio with [their] feet propped up, wondering where [their] next cheeseburger was coming from” when they got the call from Tony Masters inviting them to join David Lynch’s upcoming project. “Apparently,” Miller continued his recollection, “[Lynch] thought my paintings of Mars looked just like Dune” (Sammon).
The Miller’s would soon join Masters and the rest of the production at Churubusco Studios, Mexico City, with Ron in the role of production illustrator and Judith as a model-maker for sets and machines. Ron contributed designs for the Fremen props and utensils, the alphabets for the different languages spoken in the Dune universe, and the Shai-Hulud, or Sandworms— the supreme deity of Frank Hebert’s Dune. Along with the models for the mechanical sets, Judith also created the molds that Carlo Rambaldi—Italian special effects artist and animatronics engineer—used to construct the film’s iconic Sandworms. The present lot features not only sketches and illustrations by Miller and Masters, but reams of never-before-seen, behind-the-scenes photography taken by the Millers during their year on the set of Dune in Mexico City.
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