Jodorowsky's Dune

An ode to all unrealized big projects - Life Through Movies #9

Grandiosity. 
That was the word that kept popping in my head as Ricardo was explaining the aim of the startup: developing an electric car to empower people in wheelchairs by giving them a worthy, sporty option to drive.

Ricardo, the founder, needed people to partner with and make the project a reality. He was recruiting a designer, an engineer and someone to develop the business side of the project.

By chance, I was one of the 48 people invited to interview.

I was 20, mid-way through a prestigious university studying something I wasn't the least interested in, living in my hometown, a conservative mid-sized city in the heart of Mexico. This startup came to show me a bigger world out there.

It was the scope and ambition that attracted me: not only building a car from scratch, but making it a sports one, electric, and on top of that, for a vulnerable minority. It just felt bigger than life and filled a void I didn’t know I was craving.

The name of the startup was Quanax, and I wanted in.

Through a series of interviews with Ricardo and consultants, for which I prepared for like few things in my life, I got the business spot.

It was my first dip into the world of startups and Ricardo took notice to accompany me through the process as a mentor. He is only a couple of years older than me, but had much more experience. He eventually became my business shaman, a role he wore effortlessly by being so good at teaching by example. Together we embarked on a 2 year journey of going all-in on the project.

It’s an understatement to say that building a car is hard. We approached the mammoth endeavor in chunks, with the first big milestone being to produce a working prototype.

We first got a PT Cruiser carcass from a junkyard. Then, we started designing the interior mechanism that would allow the wheelchair to go in from the back, slide in front of the steering wheel and block in place, allowing the wheelchair-bound person to drive the car.

That was only the start of it, as every small detail would unveil an endless string of subsequent problems to solve. And we hadn’t even begun figuring out the electric system.

We enlisted CIATEC, a national agency for technology development; Mats Hammarlund Racing, a German rally car maker in San Miguel, and plenty of notorious names from the disabled community. We even developed an international collaboration between our university and another one specialized on automotive engineering in Aachen, Germany.

The startup started getting a lot of attention, we got interviewed for numerous newspapers and magazines. It eventually caught the eye of Discovery Channel, who made a documentary on us. We slowly but surely were making progress on the prototype, but we were far from done.

All this while having zero outside money, which was another big problem to solve. We once had a meeting with a potential investor that had made an empire out of industrial oxygen. He invited Ricardo and I to his end-of-year company party to talk about investing in Quanax. We were tucked away in his office, with his consiglieri by his side and banda pounding from the walls. It felt like a cartel version of the first scene from The Godfather, where they’re asking him for favors at his son’s wedding.

I remember looking the businessman in the eyes and telling him: “I will not die without having made this car”. He signed the Letter of Intent right there and then, promising to put in the money if another investor came in. It was exhilarating, as I firmly believed in what I’d just said.

We kept meeting with endless funds and investors that were equally astonished by the scope of the project and the sheer ingenuity of five guys with no prior automotive experience. This would prove an understandably difficult combination in the still conservative startup ecosystem Mexico was in. No one would make a commitment.

After 2 intense years, having no money for the project or for the logistics of our own life, we started neglecting it. A few people from the core team dropped out to pursue more practical projects, and Ricardo and I got a juicy offer at managing someone’s investments.

The guilt and disappointment from realizing all the previous effort amounted to nothing made a deep impact on me. I blocked it by convincing myself we would soon get back to it, but deep down knowing I wasn’t going to be able to keep the promise I made to the investor.

Life went on and some time later I was watching the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune. They masterfully narrate the failed attempt of Alejandro Jodorowsky to bring the book Dune onto the screen in the mid-70s. They developed 3,000 drawings depicting the film and a script that would make for a 14-hour movie. Salvador Dalí was enlisted as the main actor, demanding an outrageous salary. The whole endeavor became bigger and bigger, up until 3 years later it just stalled due to financial complications and differences in vision.

At one point, Jodorowsky explains how his failed Dune eventually inspired and influenced big movies. Sketches and ideas developed there became the alien in the famous movie Alien, the starships and laser swords in Star Wars, and the robots in Terminator. He says it all whispered "Dune, Dune, Dune…".

I realized everything that came afterwards for our team was influenced by those 2 ambitious years with Quanax. The car itself didn’t get made, but tangible wooden and electric bikes flourished from it. And all subsequent projects Ricardo and I got involved in had the echo from that period.

Up until today, 10 years later, every time I’m setting a goal or scope of a project, I’m reminded of those grandiose feelings and whisper under my breath “Quanax, Quanax, Quanax…”.

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LOOK OUT FOR:

• Alejandro’s sheer enthusiasm and ambition to be inspired with. The documentary has become a cult movie about the most spectacular unrealized film, you have to see it to understand the true scope of it, and be inspired in the process

• The scraps of the project would eventually be revived and made into the 1984 version of Dune. A controversial and much hated version that is technically directed by David Lynch, but that he would eventually ask to be removed from it

• And as you may know, Dune would eventually get successfully adapted by Denis Villeneuve in 2021. A great version, in my opinion

• Nicolas Winding Refn, one of my favorite directors, makes a constant appearance in the documentary. Jodorowsky is his biggest cinematic influence and spiritual dad, baptize and all

Enjoy!