Dune is one of the most celebrated books of all time, and through the years, taking things from the pages to the big screen has been a tough task. It’s not an easy story to tell, and with a new film on the horizon, longtime fans are hoping that the new cast and crew have the goods to bring the story to life in an amazing way.
Back in the 80s, Sting was a massively popular musician who was dabbling in acting, and the star musician took a role in David Lynch’s Dune. Turns out, the musician wanted little to do with the movie.
Let’s take a closer look at Sting’s time in Dune.
Sting Appeared In ‘Dune’
Back in 1984, director David Lynch was going for broke when he decided to bring Dune to life. This was quite an ambitious project at the time given the source material, but the director was up to task. He was able to assemble a solid cast, which included Sting, who had risen to fame as a musician.
Despite being a popular musician, co-star, Patrick Stewart, had no idea who he was.
According to Stewart, “Music, at least popular music, has never played a big part in my life. I had never heard of Sting. That’s how isolated I was from the music world.”
“I heard he was a musician … and so the second or third day we’re just hanging out on the set, just him and me, and I say, ‘So, you’re a musician?’ And he said, ‘Yup.’ And I said, ‘What do you play?’ And he said, ‘Bass.’ And I said, ‘You know, I’ve often wondered what is it like carrying that huge thing around everywhere you go.'And God bless him, he said, ‘No, bass guitar.’ And I said, ‘Are you a solo artist?’ And he said, ‘No, I’m in a band.’ And I said, Oh, what kind of band?’ And he said, ‘The Police,'” Stewart recalled. “Folks, I said, ‘You play in a police band,'” he revealed.
Even though Patrick didn’t know who Sting was, the duo were able to find some common ground and get through filming. Once it hit theaters, Dune didn’t exactly set the world on fire with its box office haul.
The Film Was Underwhelming
Despite the popular nature of the source material, Dune was not able to find a major global audience, and it wound up underperforming. The December crowds back in 1984 might have had some interest, but the interest wasn’t great enough to pay for a ticket.
According to Box Office Mojo, the film, which had a $40 million budget, was only able to gross $30 million domestically. This was a major swing and a miss for all involved, and it certainly pumped the breaks on anything involving the franchise. Even though it wasn’t able to make a fortune at the box office, the film did gather a cult following as the years went by.
Sting had an interesting part in the film itself, but as fans would eventually learn, the musician wasn’t exactly on board from the jump.
He Didn’t Want To Be In It
According to the musician, “I'm doing Dune because of [director David Lynch] and for no other reason. I didn't really want to do the movie, because I didn't think it was wise for me to be in an enormous movie. I'd rather keep a groundswell building up in my movie career. So, I sort of went along dragging my heels.”
That’s right, Sting wanted no part of this movie and only agreed to do it because of David Lynch. The fact that the movie was a huge flop must have served as little more than insult to injury. Fortunately, the lack of success from this movie did not deter the musician from taking on other acting roles in the future.
Later on in 2021, Dune is making a return to the big screen, but this time, it has the benefit of hindsight, a massive budget, and a whole lot of talent in the cast. There is hope that this version can become a hit and ignite a new franchise of films. If it becomes a hit, then expect to see Dune become a force on the big screen. The studio would like to make a sequel flick, and they are even planning on doing a prequel series, so there is a lot riding on this movie.
1984’s Dune may be a cult classic, but Sting probably wishes that he would have just steered clear from this one.
