Giger attempts to board Lynch's Dune

leading from
David Lynch

a) Giger's urge to work on Dune
Giger had been asked to work on Jodorowsky's Dune and then Ridley Scott. Later the daughter of Dino de Laurentiis had the rights for Dune and she gave the project to David Lynch. Giger's immediate thought was that he wanted to work on Dune, and through friends he asked if Lynch was interested in Giger's co-operation, and wrote David Lynch a letter stating "I have a pile of skeletons waiting to be turned into tables. "bombarding him with photos of his drawings and of his furniture projects, but personally Giger heard nothing as if meeting deaf ears.

b) The reason to reject Giger
In 1985, David Lynch presented himself in an interview as someone who "loved Giger" and there was consideration in the production being made to work with Giger, but final decision was that the "Alien" and Giger's style were still far too present in the minds of the public. On top of that, another time Lynch revealed that he didn't like Giger style, he didn't like the designs that he had seen in the book, in fact he didn't like any of the designs and so this made Giger's involvement a problem.

c) Later words from David Lynch
Later Giger would learn through others that David Lynch was not happy with the way that Alien seemed to borrow from his Eraserhead movie.  (See: Alien vs Eraserhead)

1. Vice:What ever happened with Dune?
   HR Giger: Dune never happened with me. I was asked to do it two times. Once with Jodorowsky and then another time with Ridley Scott, but the daughter of Dino de Laurentiis had the rights for Dune and she gave them to David Lynch. And David Lynch was not very happy with me.
   Vice: Why’s that?
   HR Giger: He said that I had stolen his ideas, that I’d stolen his baby. I said I liked his baby from Eraserhead. I always said very nice things about him but he was a little strange. And he was jealous because I exhibited in a New York gallery and he couldn’t. He was sour. But I like him.
   Vice: Do you have a favorite Lynch movie?
   HR Giger: Yes, I mean all of Twin Peaks. That was really fabulous. And of course it all started with Eraserhead. All the films he did were wonderful. (http://motherboard.vice.com/ 2009)
2. Fear:  You've said before that David Lynch's Eraserhead is one of your favourite films, and that you'd like to work with him. A lot of your rusty, steamy machinery is reminiscent of his work
   HR Giger: Yes, that's true. People have asked him about me, but he isn't really enthusiastic about my work. I've been told that he thinks we stole his Eraserhead baby for the Alien chestburster, but that's not true. I told Ridley Scott that he should see the film, though he never did. David Lynch said that it was filmed exactly as his was, but it couldn't have been because Ridley hadn't seen it! Lynch talked like it was some sort of homage to his work. I don't know why he's like that. Probably jealousy - I don't know. I worked on Dune and then finally he got it. He doesn't seem to want to be friendly to me, and I don't know why. It's stupid. (Fear, December 1990, p21)
3. Cinefantastique: You made designs for DUNE (CFQ9:1:35 and CFQ14:4/5:33) for two aborted productions, but when David Lynch finally filmed it, you were not involved. Why? 
   HR Giger: I was very eager to be. Through friends I asked Lynch if he was interested in my co- operation. I never heard from him. Later I came to know that he was upset because he thought we copied the chestburster in ALIEN from his monster baby in ERASERHEAD, which was not so.(Cinefantastique, vol 14, no 4, May, 1988, p35) 
4. Pre-production had begun much earlier, in May 1981, with one of Lynch¹s first decisions being to reject Giger¹s designs (The Complete Lynch, David  Hughes, 2001). 
5. "I didn¹t like [his approach], I didn¹t like the design in the book, and I didn¹t like any designs that I¹d seen," says Lynch. "It was a problem." (quote source to be discovered)
6. TIP: It surprised me that you didn`t collaborate with Giger, because Giger`s work is close to yours in a way. 
   Lynch: Yes, I love Giger. We considered working with him. But the "Alien"-movie and Giger`s style was still far too present in the people`s minds.  (tip Filmjahrbuch Nr. 1 (1985 http://www.davidlynch.de/tiplynchtrans.html)
7.  Fear:  You've said before that David Lynch's Eraserhead is one of your favourite films, and that you'd like to work with him. A lot of your rusty, steamy machinery is reminiscent of his work
   HR Giger: Yes, that's true. People have asked him about me, but he isn't really enthusiastic about my work. I've been told that he thinks we stole his Eraserhead baby for the Alien chestburster, but that's not true. I told Ridley Scott that he should see the film, though he never did. David Lynch said that it was filmed exactly as his was, but it couldn't have been because Ridley hadn't seen it! Lynch talked like it was some sort of homage to his work. I don't know why he's like that. Probably jealousy - I don't know. I worked on Dune and then finally he got it. He doesn't seem to want to be friendly to me, and I don't know why. It's stupid. (Fear, December 1990, p21)
8. When Giger hears that David Lynch will be the one to shoot Dune, he does not lose hope.
   (HR Giger's Biomechanics)
9. So he writes to Lynch; he bombards him with photos of his drawings and of his furniture projects  . "I have a pile of skeletons waiting to be turned into tables." But he meets with Lynch's deaf ears. (HR Giger's Biomechanics)