Following the first photo yesterday, Vanity Fair has done a major feature piece on Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming adaptation of Frank Herbert’s legendary sci-fi novel “Dune”.
The piece includes nine photos offering first looks at many of the key characters, along with plenty of details about the big-budget film shot last year – primarily in Jordan and remote regions outside Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Villeneuve says he didn’t agree to make this adaptation of the book if it were to be one movie because “the world is too complex. It’s a world that takes its power in details.” So the key was to break the sprawling narrative in half, telling the story across two films much like with the recent adaptation of Stephen King’s “IT”. Villeneuve also says the lessons of “Dune” still apply today:
“No matter what you believe, Earth is changing, and we will have to adapt. That’s why I think that Dune, this book, was written in the 20th century. It was a distant portrait of the reality of the oil and the capitalism and the exploitation – the overexploitation – of Earth. Today, things are just worse. It’s a coming-of-age story, but also a call for action for the youth.”
Stellan Skarsgard’s Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is said to be “like a rhino in human form” created by a full-body prosthetic. The new take is “less of a madman and more of a predator” than in the book says Villeneuve:
“As much as I deeply love the book, I felt that the baron was flirting very often with caricature, and I tried to bring him a bit more dimension. That’s why I brought in Stellan. Stellan has something in the eyes. You feel that there’s someone thinking, thinking, thinking – that has tension and is calculating inside, deep in the eyes. I can testify, it can be quite frightening.”
The director has also expanded the role of Paul’s mother, Lady Jessica, making her “more fearsome than before” and more of a ‘warrior priestess’ than a ‘space nun’. Actress Rebecca Ferguson, who plays the role, says:
“She’s a mother, she’s a concubine, she’s a soldier. Denis was very respectful of Frank’s work in the book, [but] the quality of the arcs for much of the women have been brought up to a new level. There were some shifts he did, and they are beautifully portrayed now.”
Villeneuve has also reportedly updated the role of Dr. Liet Kynes, turning the part from a white man into a black woman played by Sharon Duncan-Brewster.
Villeneuve labels the project “by far the most difficult thing I’ve done in my life.” “Dune” is slated to open in cinemas in December.
This is Arrakis, the world of #Dune. @DuneMovie
Check out all the new photos: https://t.co/WH0OSfxbrd pic.twitter.com/KaCnJTxR5G
— Hans Zimmer (@HansZimmer) April 14, 2020
