I met Jodorowsky
in a producer's doorway.
He was with someone
who knew me and who introduced us,
and right away he said:
"I was looking for you."
I was getting ready to make a movie
based on the science
fiction novel of "Dune",
and I was looking for someone
to help recreate the script,
drawing by drawing.
So I was impressed
to be standing next to Jodorowsky,
as I had seen his films.
At that time, he was really IT.
Three days later,
I was leaving for Los Angeles,
so I asked him to come with me.
I was looking for someone
to do the special effects.
He said he wasn't too sure.
So, I said: "Okay, if you
don't come I'll ask Druillet."
He said: "I'm in."
One week later, I was on the plane
sitting next to Alejandro
and I discovered that Jodorowsky
is really an exceptional and ...
extraordinary person and character.
That was the beginning of a very
long and lasting friendship.
Jodorowsky had seen the film "Dark Star"
that John Carpenter and I had just made.
I saw it and wanted O'Bannon
to do the special effects.
Took me over to France, to Paris
and introduced me to some
artist that he was using
and one of them was this
amazing man named Jean Giraud
I have never seen as
fast an artist in my life
and when you combine that fact of that speed
with the stunning quality
of what he draws and paints
it was like watching
something supernatural happen
he wasn't the only great artist they had,
but he was the most important one.
Alejandro rented a big office space in Paris
and he put all of us in one big room
and he set everyone up with
the equipment he wanted.
Salvador Dalí was going
to take part in it,
but then I came across Giger.
Bob Venoza, who lived at
Dalí's house, called and said
that Jodorowsky had seen my book there.
I flew to Paris soon afterwards
and met with Jodorowsky and Moebius.
Moebius could draw like a machine.
He was like a robot.
It was astounding.
The project was gigantic.
There were enormous sets,
enormous scenes.
There were supposed to be armies
battling each other in the desert.
When I was alone, I'd tell myself
that it was impossible, unimaginable.
For me, it took going
through certain doorways,
and in the end,
I realized that Alejandro was very
serious and that we could trust him.
We had enough money
from France to produce it,
but the United States didn't
give us enough distribution.
To break even, we needed
at least a thousand theaters.
The large companies
refused to show the film.
I was a very great shock to find
out the project had been cancelled
because I had planned the next
several years of my life around it
and working with these wonderful people
and the movie was going
to be simply remarkable
and all of a sudden it was all gone.
I wept, I think that was
the first thing I did was cry
I know how to deal with loss.
For me, failure
means changing direction.
I told myself:
"Well, I couldn't do it,
it's not going to happen.
But I won't cry,
as that'd please the imbeciles
who ruined the production."
O'Bannon suffered so much that
he went to a clinic for many years.
For him it was very hard,
because he was like a
sprinter on the starting block
and the starting shot never came.
That was very fustrating.
My life was so derailed by that point.
I needed a life again,
and the only thing I could
think to do at that moment
was to write a screenplay,
so I did "Alien".
