10 Directors Who Knew Their Movies Were Ridiculous
5. David Lynch - Dune
The film adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune in the early 1980s is well-known to have been problematic, to say the least. The production has become notorious for the conflict between the director, the studio producers, and financiers. Director David Lynch hated working on the movie so much, he refuses to discuss it to this day.
Lynch's Dune is one of those movies that's not too ridiculous to someone who never read the book, but for anyone who has, there's a lot about the movie that's... well, ridiculous, and David Lynch knew it. Not only did he know his movie wasn't up to par, but he also didn't want his name attached to it.
When the movie was released, Lynch completely disowned it and insisted his name be removed from the credits. The pseudonym "Alan Smithee" was listed as the director, and Lynch walked away from the movie, never to discuss it again.
Ultimately, micromanaging by the studio and financiers kept Lynch from achieving his vision in the movie, and the fact that he wasn't given the final cut was unforgivable as far as he was concerned. The result was a film that suffered from slow pacing, a complete diversion from the source material, and for many fans of the book, it was unwatchable.