"Beyond fear, destiny awaits" in Dune (or titled onscreen as Dune: Part One) (2021). This epic science fiction film directed by Denis Villeneuve, adapted by Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth, and based on the 1965 novel of the same name by Frank Herbert. It is the first of a planned two-part adaptation, primarily covering the first half of the book. A mythic and emotionally charged hero's journey, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet's exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence-a commodity capable of unlocking humanity's greatest potential-only those who can conquer their fear will survive.
Since its publication in 1965, the rights to cinematically adapt Herbert's seminal science-fiction epic classic have been held by several producers. Multiple attempts to make such a film have been made, and it is considered to be "unfilmable", a difficult work to adapt to the screen owing to its breadth of content. Further, because of the book's status among passionate fans, any deviations from the original material without strong justification have the potential to harm the film's reputation. Famously, cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky had acquired the rights in the 1970s to make an extravagant fourteen-hour adaptation of the book, but the project fell apart. In 1984, David Lynch's Dune was released, but became a critical and commercial failure. In 2000, a live-action miniseries on the Sci Fi Channel was released and went on to become one of the three highest-rated programs ever to be broadcast on the Sci Fi Channel. Prospects to make a successful adaption of Dune came after critically-acclaimed adaptions of The Lord of the Rings film series and the Harry Potter film series, both which maintained most of the works' key characters and plots while managing the limited film time. In 2008, Paramount Pictures were developing a new feature film adaptation with Peter Berg set to direct. However, in October 2009, Berg left the project with director. In January 2010, Pierre Morel brought on to direct before Paramount dropped the project in March 2011 as they could not come to key agreements with their rights expiring back to Rubinstein.
In late November 2016, Legendary Entertainment acquired the film and TV rights for the book. In December 2016, Variety reported that Villeneuve was in talks with the studio to helm the film. Since September 2016, Villeneuve expressed his interest in the project. Adapting Dune for the big screen has been a lifelong dream of Villeneuve, ever since he learned about Lynch's Dune (1984) from the magazines Fantastic Films and Starlog, and read the novel when he was around twelve years old. He wanted to make a faithful adaptation, so he waited until he'd done sci-fi films Arrival (2016) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017) first so that he would have sufficient experience in the genre before starting work on the film. By February 2017, Brian Herbert, son of Frank and author of later books in the Dune series, confirmed that Villeneuve would be directing the project. It was also confirmed that the film will be produced by Villeneuve, Mary Parent, and Cale Boyter, with Tanya Lapointe, Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, Kim Herbert, Thomas Tull, Jon Spaihts, Richard P. Rubinstein, John Harrison and Herbert W. Gain serving as executive producers and Kevin J. Anderson as creative consultant. In March 2018, Villeneuve stated that his goal was to adapt the novel into a two-part film series. Villeneuve ultimately secured a two-movie deal with Warner Bros. Pictures, in the same style as the two-part adaptation of Stephen King's It. However, all subsequent dealings were to secure the production of the first film, and new production deals will need to be made to start production for the second film. Villeneuve to make it the Star Wars he never saw. In an interview, he explained that most of the main ideas of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) came from Dune so it will be a challenge to tackle this project. In April, Roth was hired to pen the adaptation with Villeneuve, and Spaihts was later confirmed to pen the adaptation with Roth and Villeneuve. In adapting the book written in the 1960s for the 21st century, Villeneuve wanted to reflect on realities that have happened related to overexploitation of the Earth. Other changes included altering some of the arcs of the female characters in the book. Lady Jessica was given an expanded role as a soldier as well as being part of the Bene Gesserit. The studio labelled this role a "warrior priestess", in contrast to the joking label of "space nun" that Villeneuve felt the book gave across. Villeneuve also wanted to move the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen from being a caricature as he was presented in the novel to a more complex antagonist. In May 2018, Villeneuve said that the first draft of the script had been finished. By July 2018, Brian Herbert confirmed that the latest draft of the screenplay covered "approximately half of the novel Dune." In April 2019, Legendary CEO Joshua Grode confirmed that they plan to make a sequel. Also, Game of Thrones language creator David Peterson was confirmed to be developing languages for the film.
By late March, Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, David Dastmalchian, Chang Chen, Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem were cast. In July, it was reported that the film would "gender swap" the character Liet-Kynes by casting Duncan-Brewster in the role. According to Duncan-Brewster, Villeneuve felt it was necessary to capture the essence of the character from the book, but was not necessary to remain consistent with all other facets, and thus opted for this change. Also, this was to help expand the cast's diversity. By late March, principal photography commenced and wrapped in late July. Filming took place at the Origo Film Studios in Budapest, Hungary; Wadi Rum, Jordan; Stadlandet, Norway, and Liwa Oasis, United Arab Emirates. The film was shot for the IMAX format with an IMAX-certified Arri Alexa LF camera and an IMAX-certified Alexa Mini LF prototype, equipped with Panavision's large-format lenses in the Ultra Vista and H-series line-up. In March, it was confirmed that Hans Zimmer would be scoring the film near the start of its production. At the time, Zimmer had been approached by Christopher Nolan for composing Tenet (2020), but Zimmer opted for Dune—citing his personal love for the book as the reason. The film was originally scheduled for a November 20, 2020 release date, but was pushed back to December 18, 2020. However, the film was then delayed to October 1, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In early December 2020, it was announced the studio's entire 2021 film line-up, including Dune, would see a simultaneous theatrical release and a one-month limited release on the streaming service. Like all 2021 Warner Bros. films, the film will be streamed simultaneously on HBO Max for a period of one month. The film will then be removed from the service and follow the normal home media release schedule. Villeneuve was one of several directors, alongside movie theater chains and production companies (including Legendary Entertainment, which financed 75% of the film), who expressed disappointment and displeasure over the move. In late June 2021, Warner Bros. once again delayed the film's American release date again by three weeks to October 22, 2021, to avoid competition with No Time to Die (2021).
The cast, skilfully chosen and directed with intelligence, performed as a polished unit. Paul, as portrayed by Chalamet with a career-making and career-defining performance, is one of cinema's most fascinatingly complex characters. Whatever Paul is, he makes an intriguing subject for dramatization. In the role, Chalamet is most effective in conveying the many facets of the man's personality. Chalamet makes an effective Paul, his skills putting much shading into a many-sided and contradictory character, and his support from an impressive cast is uniformly excellent. The supporting cast can only be described as unbeatable. The performances given, by Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Isaac as Duke Leto, Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen, Bautista as Glossu Rabban, Henderson as Thufir Hawat, Zendaya as Chai, Dastmalchian as Piter De Vries, Chen as Dr. Wellington Yueh, Duncan-Brewster as Dr. Liet-Kynes, Rampling as Gaius Helen Mohiam, Momoa as Duncan Idaho, and Bardem as Stilgar, are all outstanding pieces of acting.
Villeneuve does the impossible: he makes a faithful, magical, thrilling, and-most importantly-compelling film version of Herbert's seminal science-fiction epic classic. A grand old-fashioned entertainment and an undeniable technical achievement with its breath-taking scenery, epic score & gorgeous cinematography. All in all, I would definitely say that Villeneuve and his talented associates have done an incredible job with an almost impossible subject.
Simon says Dune (2021) receives:
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