A new DUNE movie has been greenlit with Denis Villeneuve (ARRIVAL, BLADE RUNNER 2049) to direct.
The plan at the moment is for a movie (or two) of DUNE (and maybe more for the sequels) and a spin-off TV series at some point.
I'm hoping for a two-film adaptation of DUNE, maybe another film each for Books 2 and 3 and then kind of forget that everything else exists (and certainly don't touch the non-canon sequels-and-prequels-by-other-people with a 50-foot bargepole).
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While I rather enjoy Dune, it's been done a number of times, so i'm not pining for another adaption. Certainly don't want to see Dune stretched into 2+ films (not a fan of this latest trend)I'll be interested in seeing how it goes though. I understand Dune is a deep novel and not an easy single film adaption.
Man, i'm sad my Sci-Fi adaption DVD got a scratch since its no longer in print. Too expensive to replace at the moment...
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My real question is if they're gonna use the actual wording from the books on some stuff. Jihad is a bit of a hit button word these days and Dune is chock full of jihad and holy war terrorism. It will be interesting to see what direction the studio lets villenueve take this.
I mean washing over the holy war aspect like the lynch version seems too safe, but can we expect a story that has half of its pages dedicated to a messianic figure waging an insurgency holy war against foreign oppressors to even make it to screen in an alternative facts world?
My real question is if they're gonna use the actual wording from the books on some stuff. Jihad is a bit of a hit button word these days and Dune is chock full of jihad and holy war terrorism. It will be interesting to see what direction the studio lets villenueve take this.
I imagine they will JUST because it's a hot button topic these days. In fact I think the only reason the movie is being remade at all is because of this. Especially if they go for doing the sequels, but honestly I'm not sure that many of the sequels are filmable. Children of Dune might be, but I have strong doubts on the later books.
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While I rather enjoy Dune, it's been done a number of times, so i'm not pining for another adaption. Certainly don't want to see Dune stretched into 2+ films (not a fan of this latest trend)I'll be interested in seeing how it goes though. I understand Dune is a deep novel and not an easy single film adaption.
DUNE is over 500 pages long and the David Lynch film version shows that squeezing the story into a single, coherent 2-3 hour movie is pretty much impossible. The Sci-Fi adaptation was more like 6 hours and got the story done quite well. So I think 2 films is perfectly reasonable in this case (for certain other recent movies, not so much). You could even make an argument for 3, since the book is split into three distinct story arcs - Paul, The Prophet and Muad'dib - each self-contained within one section, although IIRC these parts are not equal in size.
My real question is if they're gonna use the actual wording from the books on some stuff. Jihad is a bit of a hit button word these days and Dune is chock full of jihad and holy war terrorism. It will be interesting to see what direction the studio lets villenueve take this.
I mean washing over the holy war aspect like the lynch version seems too safe, but can we expect a story that has half of its pages dedicated to a messianic figure waging an insurgency holy war against foreign oppressors to even make it to screen in an alternative facts world?
The fact that the Fremen follow a faith that is an amalgamation of Zen Buddhism and Sunni Islam will go down quite well, I'm sure, as will the fact that all of the Christian faiths reconciled themselves through the creation of the Orange Catholic Bible (SPACE TRAVEL!). Both Lynch and SyFy really lowballed these concepts, but they are pretty core to what Herbert was doing thematically: Paul has been described as Space Muhammad.
Honestly I'm not sure that many of the sequels are filmable. Children of Dune might be, but I have strong doubts on the later books.
DUNE MESSIAH and CHILDREN OF DUNE are very difficult to film because they basically deconstruct and invert the ending of DUNE, showing that Paul's victory may not be the best thing. He himself eventually recants the decisions he made in DUNE. That's a really interesting, cool thing, but a tough sell to an audience who will be tuning in for the sandworms and big desert battle sequences. I think you can do that in a HBO-style mini series but in a movie trilogy or series, it's going to be tough.
I think we can safely say that GOD-EMPEROR OF DUNE (which is 450 pages of talk) and the closing duology (featuring evil space nymphomaniacs) are not going to be adapted for the screen.
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In contrast to the lynch version which was very heavy on the Paul side of the book, I think the best film would be made out of the muadib side of the book. Lynch didn't really cover his kwizatz haderach prescience beyond a few dreams of arakis and chani, and his heavy contemplation on what to do, peace jihad or surrender, is nearly absent from both adaptations. His inner struggle with seeing possible futures and not having complete mentat training to suppress his emotions is one of the more compelling stories in the book.
Dot.
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Dune is one of my favorite novels, but it just seems to be one of those books that's really difficult (if not impossible) to make into a great movie. The Lynch movie was a fun film, and the Sci-Fi channel's version was a bit more faithful, I think.
On the other hand, I've heard good things about this director. If he gets a decent screenplay, and a good cast, who knows what he can pull off.
Still, I'd much prefer some of Herbert's other works to get attention. Maybe Destination: Void. Or Whipping Star. Maybe even The White Plague.
I think they should adapt everything except God-emperor of Dune, and try to incorporate some things from the Yodorowski's Dune
Especially when the desert dwelling fanatic terrorists are the good guys!My real question is if they're gonna use the actual wording from the books on some stuff. Jihad is a bit of a hit button word these days and Dune is chock full of jihad and holy war terrorism. It will be interesting to see what direction the studio lets villenueve take this.
I mean washing over the holy war aspect like the lynch version seems too safe, but can we expect a story that has half of its pages dedicated to a messianic figure waging an insurgency holy war against foreign oppressors to even make it to screen in an alternative facts world?
You make your battle drums from the skins of your enemies a couple of times, and it's all anyone ever talks about . . . *sigh*
The new DUNE movie will be released in two parts.
Excellent. One was never going to work, as David Lynch has already discovered.
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...but is Sting going to be in it?
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I imagine they will JUST because it's a hot button topic these days. In fact I think the only reason the movie is being remade at all is because of this. Especially if they go for doing the sequels, but honestly I'm not sure that many of the sequels are filmable. Children of Dune might be, but I have strong doubts on the later books.My real question is if they're gonna use the actual wording from the books on some stuff. Jihad is a bit of a hit button word these days and Dune is chock full of jihad and holy war terrorism. It will be interesting to see what direction the studio lets villenueve take this.
The SciFi Channel did a fairly decent adaptations that kind of merged Children of Dune and Dune Messiah. It wasn't as good as their adaptation of Dune, but it wasn't horrible. But year, God Emperor of Doom is just about as unfilmable as something could be while still having a (fairly) coherent storyline.
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Timothée Hal Chalamet, who was nominated for an Oscar for CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, is apparently the current favourite to play Paul Atreides and Denis Villeneuve is closing him down.
Also, confirmation that Legendary are eyeing production to start at the start of 2019.
Not sure how I feel about that Wert...since I always imagined Paul, even when he's young, as more...mature looking.
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This would have to be a series of impressive trailers to convince me to see this in a theater. Dune is one of those series generally best savored from the written word.
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I would agree, but Denis Villeneuve is an excellent director. I would have said that STORY OF YOUR LIFE was unfilmable, but he absolutely nailed it with ARRIVAL, and then BR2049 was brilliant as well. I have high hopes for this.
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Dave Bautista cast in DUNE. He'll be playing the Beast Rabban.
Dave Bautista cast in DUNE. He'll be playing the Beast Rabban.
Called it!
I saw an earlier announcement that he'd been cast, and I was like, "he's GOTTA be Beast Rabban."
Mostly 'cause, uh... the role combines a certain physicality with a rather limited presence in the story...
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And now Stellan Skarsgard has been cast as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.
I'm liking this casting a lot.
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Oscar Isaac in talks to play Duke Leto Atreides.
This cast is pretty good.
Is he old enough tho?Oscar Isaac in talks to play Duke Leto Atreides.
This cast is pretty good.
He'll be 40 in a little over a month, so he meets the test of being old enough to be Paul's father. He probably isn't old enough if you take the Dune prequels as canon.
Also, the spice retards the ageing process and makes everyone look a lot younger than they are, which they deliberately addressed in the Lynch movie by casting really young (Jurgen Prochnow was only 18 years older than Kyle MacLachlan, but in the books Duke Leto is 35 years older than his son).
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Javier Bardem cast as Stilgar, Zendaya cast as Chani.
This movie's cast is now officially more impressive than David Lynch's.
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Better and better!
Jason Momoa as...Duncan Idaho?
First casting decision to make me go hmm. Momoa is a charismatic performer, but I not at all what I saw as Idaho. I suppose they're thinking they needed a star for Idaho given his importance to the over-arcing story of the whole series.
Well... given Idaho's small actual onscreen presence in the first book, after which his gholas become load-bearing plot elements...
Makes sense they'd want somebody they can come back for.
So 10/20/2020. ;) More than 2020 vision! ;)
So 10/20/2020. ;) More than 2020 vision! ;)
...?
If it's November 20th, 2020, then shouldn't it be 11/20/2020?
Carry on...?
--C.
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Meanwhile, everywhere else on Earth it'd be 20/11/2020, which is less scanful.
More to come this week, but this first image of Paul on a beach on Caladan is hitting the right spot in terms of atmosphere.
This is looking excellent.
The teaser was excellent. I wish we could move past this "trailers for trailers" phase we're in, but it did a good job of whetting the appetite.