Lynch's screenplay and direction In 1981, the nine-year film rights were set to expire. De Laurentiis renegotiated the rights from the author, adding to them the rights to the Dune sequels, written and unwritten. He then showed the book to Sid Sheinberg, president of MCA, the parent company of Universal City Studios, which approved the book. After seeing The Elephant Man (1980), producer Raffaella De Laurentiis decided that David Lynch should direct the movie. Around that time, Lynch received several other directing offers, including Return of the Jedi. De Laurentiis contacted Lynch, who said he had not heard of the book. After reading it and "loving it", he met with De Laurentiis and agreed to direct the film. Lynch worked on the script for six months with Eric Bergren and Christopher De Vore. The team yielded two drafts of the script and split over creative differences. Lynch then worked on five more drafts. Initially, Lynch had scripted Dune across two films, but eventually it was condensed into a single film.
Lynch's screenplay and direction In 1981 the nine-year film rights were set to expire. De Laurentiis renegotiated the rights from the author, adding to them the rights to the Dune sequels, written and unwritten. He then showed the book to Sid Sheinberg, president of MCA, the parent company of Universal City Studios, which approved the book. After seeing The Elephant Man (1980), producer Raffaella De Laurentiis decided that David Lynch should direct the movie. Around that time, Lynch received several other directing offers, including Return of the Jedi. De Laurentiis contacted Lynch, who said he had not heard of the book. After reading it and "loving it", he met with De Laurentiis and agreed to direct the film. Lynch worked on the script for six months with Eric Bergren and Christopher De Vore. The team yielded two drafts of the script and split over creative differences. Lynch then worked on five more drafts. Initially, Lynch had scripted Dune across two films, but eventually it was condensed into a single film.