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".