A thread about the Denis Villeneuve-helmed reboot of DUNE

Nerds everywhere seem mostly ambivalent

https://www.cnet.com/news/as-if-blade-runner-wasnt-enough-denis-villeneuve-is-rebooting-dune/

http://www.polygon.com/2017/2/1/14469524/dune-director-denis-villeneuve-arrival-blade-runner

The new Dune movie, being produced by Legendary Pictures, marks the second time the book will be adapted on the big screen. The first adaptation, directed by David Lynch (Twin Peaks) in 1984 only made $30 million at the box office and was scorned by critics. Prior to Lynch’s adaptation, cult director Alejandro Jodorowsky tried to capture the world of Herbert’s book to no avail. The events and problems surrounding the making of the film were eventually collected and edited together in a 2013 documentary, Jodorowsky’s Dune.

There is no estimated release date for the project at this time.

completely unnecessary!

the original is a stone cold classic

totally into it

this guy is a menace

it's gonna end up playing like Gods of Egypt.

This seems v unnecessary

Last (necessary) movies you saw [Started by Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz) in January 2003]

I guess I'm ok with this. I'm sure Villeneuve will make a visually interesting movie. The real problem is making some kind of good and coherent script out of Dune.

I'm not sure what qualities a movie needs to have to be necessary.

Dune is maybe the worst novel i have ever finished aside from The Hotel New Hampshire

ambivalent or full of loathing, nerds will show up

(also i wd probably watch for free at home to see who inherits the thong from Sting and Matt Keeslaar)

baron harkonnen is currently occupying the white house so there's plenty of latitude for villeneuve to play with heavy-handed allegory

could be watchable, but they'll probably need to make it a trilogy to capture everything. Also, please do not go overboard on CGI -- Dune is mostly talking and getting insight into what people are thinking, so if they do this right, more than billion dollar FX, they need good actors, screenwriter, and yeah the director.

like if they say "we wanted to make sure we got the sandworms juuuust right", it's gonna suck, badly

let lynch do it again

trailer better have exactly zero BRAAAAMMMMS in it
if there's a BRAAAAAMMMM with sandworms coming out of the ground trying to eat an ornithopter then basically, fuck everything

haha you know that's exactly what it's going to be like

It'll be told from the sandworms' POV

ryan gosling running towards the screen, jumping, the sound DROPS OUT, he grabs onto a vehicle escaping, a sandworm JUMPS out of the ground behind him, jaws snapping (and a second, smaller but lengthier jaw snapping after him ever closer), and that "dying engine" sound kinda comes up on the soundtrack.

title card

DUNE

tagline -- some things were never meant to be unearthed

SPICE

MUST

FLOW

coming summer 2019

Uh.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-new-dune-movie-is-being-written-by-the-man-who-wrot-1794046167

Variety reports that Eric Roth, who won an Oscar for his adapted screenplay for Forrest Gump, has been hired to adapt the Frank Herbert novel Dune for director Denis Villeneuve. Roth also wrote The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Insider, Munich, Ali, and many, many more. So even though you say the words “Forrest Gump” and some people get nauseous, Roth is still a writer who is respected and has worked with some of the best filmmakers of all time: Fincher, Mann, Spielberg, and Zemeckis, just to name a few.

This is good news.

Is it now.

Even if Roth has previously only written one science fiction film: Kevin Costner’s The Postman.

IS IT GOOD NEWS NOW.

to be fair, i suspect most of the problems with the postman were caused by costner's ego

i'm more concerned that this guy's track record suggests we'll end up with a solidly middlebrow dune which won't satisfy anyone. what's the point in a dune which isn't batshit?!

"...and Brad Pitt as Leto."

when I think of the best guy to helm a mushroom fueled sci fi epic I think of the dude who wrote forrest gump

nerds everywhere increasingly ambivalent

we're talking Robocop remake ambivalent

I note that this fellow, who is indeed an industry pro (to a fault, perhaps) also wrote The Horse Whisperer and The Concorde...Airport 79.

I feel like if Blade Runner 2049 bombs maybe this doesn't have to happen

At least not with that screenwriter either.

Well, it's still happening and...this is actually a smart idea.

https://www.avclub.com/denis-villeneuve-says-hes-now-making-two-dune-movies-1823660070

this guy started out so promisingly, and now it's nerdstuff til he's done

Gotta get paid. To be fair this is top tier nerd stuff, imo.

nertz to that, other filmmakers alternate lucre with arthouse

Kinda having it both ways simultaneously now. As much as you can for Mega Budget sci fi. I’m glad he’s around and doing these things.

LONG LIVE THE CHALAMET

Timothee Chalamet (@RealChalamet) in talks to star in Denis Villeneuve's 'Dune' https://t.co/CLKsqLD7jV pic.twitter.com/k6r8WvadDU

— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) July 16, 2018

I'm trying to think of who they could cast to plausibly lose a duel to T.C. Paul Dano?

Smart move

I have just received Draft #4 of the DUNE screenplay from Legendary Pictures. This is for the first movie, covering approximately half of the novel DUNE. I'm very excited and pleased about this, and I'm beginning to burn the midnight oil. pic.twitter.com/nIfgb2zJ2J

— Brian Herbert (@DuneAuthor) July 23, 2018

Feel like Brian Herbert being very excited and pleased about the dune screenplay is a bad sign.

Oh my god yes, get him away from it!
"DuneAuthor" as his Twitter handle, what a nerve.

If I wanted to read the Dune series should I stop at Chapterhouse or are their post Frank Herbert books worth reading?

The consensus is that the post-FH books are pretty weak fanfic at best. Certainly when I picked one of them up in a bookstore I found the writing cringeworthy, and apparently the stories are not much chop ("you know how they ended up banning thinking machines? well here's a story where a thinking machine went bad and t was bad for humanity so they fought back and outlawed them").

Ok so basically like ‘Solo’ then, got it, thanks.

I never got further than ‘Children’ and that was years ago. I wouldn’t mind revisiting them.

I think I have about 150 pages or so left to read in Chapterhouse Dune. I stopped reading it about 20 years ago, every once in a while I have the urge to go back and finish it. I still have the book on the bookshelf with the bookmark where I stopped.

Dave Bautista as Beast Rabban

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/dave-bautista-joins-timoth-e-chalamet-denis-villeneuves-dune-1174273

(Kinda brilliant, really -- that was the only role I could guess would work for him and behold. Also enough of a blank slate character in the book that they can really go to town.)

And Stellan Skarsgard as Baron Harkonnen

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/stellan-skarsg-play-villain-legendarys-dune-1174870

This cast is getting more and more interesting by the day. Charlotte Rampling as Gaius Helen Mohiam.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/charlotte-rampling-joins-timothee-chalamet-dune-1176429

I saw the Lynch version for the first time last year and was surprised to find that it was a faithful and fairly straight-ahead adaptation of the book, hampered by apparently not having shot enough scenes, or else having had the connective tissue edited out by the studio and replaced by voiceover in a panic

anyway I'll watch this for Timothee

Herbert’s characterization beyond Paul and Jessica is pretty light,- even everyone’s favorite character, Duncan Idaho is barely in the book, so there’s a lot that casting can bring to the table. I like it so far.

somebody should write this up

Oscar Isaac potentially in as Leto.

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/oscar-isaac-dune-reboot-1203109822/

the first mildly enticing detail of this farrago tbh

Οὖτις in as a Sam Elliottesque narrator.

“Now this big ol’ dusty planet wasn’t the kind of place folks were fit to survive on...”

Sometimes the you ride the warm, and sometimes the warm rides you.

I saw the Lynch version for the first time last year and was surprised to find that it was a faithful and fairly straight-ahead adaptation of the book, hampered by apparently not having shot enough scenes, or else having had the connective tissue edited out by the studio and replaced by voiceover in a panic

There were a lot of scenes filmed that were cut from the theatrical release - the wiki page gets into some of the details. Of all the cut scenes I've always been hoping that the banquet scene would resurface. It's somewhere out there sitting in a vault - I saw some stills at the 1984 Worldcon promo presentation about three months before the release.

with Count Fenring and the rest of that? that'd be great- i reread the book recently and forgot all about that part of it.

in the book paul is like some suburban white kid's wet dream, total mary sue, and harkonnen is so cartoonishly evil that he comes off as parody... with that being said, the world building is fantastic enough to justify adaptations. i think this movie could really be great if the characters get fleshed out. cast is promising, fingers crossed

Not confirmed but...interesting rumor.

http://collider.com/zendaya-dune-reboot

all the stunt casting that’s engineered to elicit a twitter response isn’t going to change the fact that Villeneuve is gonna make this movie with all the personality of a loaf of Wonder Bread https://t.co/Md8VsfoBbR

— Awards Tse-son (@CarmanTse) January 30, 2019

Kinda true, that.

If Deakins shoots it, I'll just enjoy the view.

Deakins is not involved

Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/josh-brolin-joins-timothee-chalamet-dune-1186144

he may be ugly enough, but is he lumpy enough?

josh brolin is hansy imo

Gurney NOT ugly enough and NOT lumpy enough—Dune certified rotten!!!

And Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho!

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/jason-momoa-dune-reboot-legendary-1203140272/

My favorite thing about "Dune"? There's a character named DUNCAN IDAHO.

Was Herbert munching on breakfast one morning, glancing sleepily at some boxes on the kitchen counter: mashed potato mix here, cake mix there...? "AHAAA!!"

Momoa angling for a multi picture deal

God preserve us from the sequels

Bro of Dune

I remember a party in college where my wasted sci-fi nerd cousin learned our friend Duncan was moving to Idaho and lost his shit and nobody else knew what he was talking about or why he was yelling DUNCAN...IDAHO! at everyone.

Release date

Spice is life. Denis Villeneuve's DUNE, starring everyone who's anyone in Hollywood, drops Nov. 20, 2020 and will be available in IMAX & 3D.

— Exhibitor Relations Co. (@ERCboxoffice) February 16, 2019

ok now that they got the cast out of the way, who's doing the production design?

Cast not quite out of the way yet! This is a very inspired call: Dastmalchian playing Piter de Vries.

https://deadline.com/2019/02/legendary-dune-david-dastmalchian-1202560175/

Can he out-Dourif Dourif though?

Impossible on the one hand, but on the other, Dastmalchian is a perfect actor to cast in something that requires a Brad Dourif-level of performance, so I'm completely good with this.

He can only aspire to a line reading as good as "Their BODies must NEVer be FOUND" with accompanying hand gestures.

no Feyd Rautha, huh

Oh he'll be cast at some point.

well sure it's hard to come up w/ someone Chalamet can defeat in a duel

BTW answering an earlier question:

ok now that they got the cast out of the way, who's doing the production design?

If IMDB is accurate, that'll be Patrice Vermette, who worked with Villeneuve on Sicario and Arrival but not Blade Runner 2049.

All you nerds should stop discussing this movie that isn’t even made yet and go watch Alita

An almost perfect sentence and then.

Alita owns and if you don’t like it you’re a cop

I transcend such definitions, and merely am here to help you achieve your inner Kwisatz Haderach.

I'm here for the Golden Path myself

it's a doozy

...huh.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/dune-sisterhood-tv-series-a-go-at-warnermedia-1217286

they're really convinced pt 1 is not gonna bomb huh

Kinda reminds me of that Dark Tower plan that went nowhere.

I caught that Dark Tower movie the other night. having never read the books, I thought it was nonsensical garbage, obviously elided and poorly edited. I can only imagine the disappointment of fans of the series.

Anyway I do like the idea of a Sisterhood show, but Brian Herbert is not exactly in the same league as dad.

They're still making the Dark Tower TV series, in spite of how badly the movie did

seems like a better idea. a movie seemed ill-advised.

"from a script by John Spaihts (Prometheus, Passengers)." Fuuuuuuuck.

behold

DUNC

Peep the gorgeous title art for Denis Villeneuve's #Dune 👀 pic.twitter.com/c3M9Fpe47D

— Consequence of Sound (@consequence) January 29, 2020

Disappointed that’s just fanart

other half of the image says
A N I D A H O

Relieved that's just fanart

pic.twitter.com/MjWaugukLg

— rob trench (@robtrench) January 29, 2020

This is a crew t-shirt with the Dune logo. It could be legit. pic.twitter.com/lpcqim6JHu

— Secrets of Dune (@SecretsOfDune) January 29, 2020

I think that is more/less what the logo looks like. Was just a cleaned up fan representation.

https://m.imgur.com/a/1x13zFE

pls mr villeneuve, dunc on me

I'd rather have the font like that DAAMN in the linked pic, all cockeyed & slapped over the image

*doodlydoodlydoodly*. Behold!

https://media.vanityfair.com/photos/5e90d6ed52ad2c00089f508f/master/w_2560%2Cc_limit/0520-Dune-Timothee-Solo-Lede.jpg

I mean it's a great preview image from the next Wes Anderson or Noah Baumbach or Kenneth Lonergan film uh wait hold on:

“The immediately appealing thing about Paul was the fact that in a story of such detail and scale and world-building, the protagonist is on an anti-hero’s-journey of sorts,” Chalamet said.

In other words, he’s not dreaming of adventure. He’s resisting it. Afraid of it.

"But I don't WANNA be the Kwisatz Haderach!" (Which admittedly IS the plot but not expressed that way...I hope.)

some more boring images here

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/04/behold-dune-an-exclusive-look-at-timothee-chalamet-zendaya-oscar-isaac

Think Greta Thunberg, only she’s a Jedi with a diploma from Hogwarts.

goddamnit

please don’t make me think about that

I realize there’s no way this can work whenever they film it but always having the stillsuits be “cover the entire body for protection but leave the head totally exposed so you desiccate in a couple of hours in what would be the real conditions” is never not funny.

How long until all these films with ultra filtered color palettes start reading as old fashioned and out of date?

At least the Lynch version looked cool as hell

Hope they didn't film the entire thing in a gravel pit

https://i.imgur.com/yvNqD7N.jpg

Eh... I think I'll be a Harkonnen

https://media.vanityfair.com/photos/5e94b114b263650008165bdb/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/0520-Dune-Ebmed-02.jpg

appears to be worthy of the most boring novel I have ever finished

Despite liking a good part of Bladerunner 2049 myself I think over all this guy Villeneuve is the bland, beige and dull filmmaker par excellence.

So many films done in the that same corner of Wadi Rum. Every time I expect to see Prince Faisal's encampment.

Yeah did Oscar Isaac wake up each day going "Okay...which big budget SF spectacle am I in today?"

These sets and costumes are reminding me a lot more of the Sci-Fi channel version but more expensive looking.

Looks like there was extra wood veneer left over from the Wallace Corp. HQ sets from Blade Runner 2049. In that context, it read as "this many has enough money for real wood", in this it reads as "Production designer Dennis Gassner really likes Danish modern".

Oops, guess its Patrice Vermette on this (and Arrival)

john boyega: still oscar isaac’s biggest fan

https://66.media.tumblr.com/0785f9f182c14a8f57d8a2166350f2fc/a09ef976bc055f03-0e/s1280x1920/b55b37d182d86b4727ed654547a1718a8d341fb7.jpg

Great that they cast one of the dullest actors alive for the lead role, very promising.

Boyega or Isaac?

(both are boring)

villeneuve isn't great but I'll still watch this. there's not going to be a "very good" sci-fi movie made by the Hollywood studios ever again so we can make-do with this

I believe James is referring to my boyfriend TChalz

he's about the only star who can play a teenage boy right now? very unsurprising casting

I grew to not hate chalamet in that Henry V thing

every time I see him I'm envious of his springlike mobility, it makes me feel so much more tired by comparison, and I'm not that much older than him

I watched Tenet tonight and there was a trailer for the trailer before the movie lmao

I’m super frustrated that COVID is going to most likely keep this from being a date night movie for us. It’s totally up our alley and we’re obviously long overdue to just go out and see a film without dragging the kid along, but instead, you know, the usual mom and dad trapped in the house shit that we’ve been doing for six months.

Sorry, this probably belongs in one of the COVID threads or some “first world white people problems” topic.

Some promo shots

Stilgar, the voice of the Fremen. #DuneMovie pic.twitter.com/QbkcONvBV4

— ⊃∪∩⪽ (@DuneNews) September 1, 2020

Lady Jessica and Duke Leto. #DuneMovie pic.twitter.com/2Zik6thtb2

— ⊃∪∩⪽ (@DuneNews) September 1, 2020

Wow pic.twitter.com/cJExzO8Alu

— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) September 1, 2020

As well as the covers from a couple of days back

First official look at EMPIRE magazine covers of DUNE. pic.twitter.com/ent07XKyhp

— ⊃∪∩⪽ (@DuneNews) August 28, 2020

Is this going to be really really long?

Two part movie and a tv show, so yeah

Ah, didn't realise it was a two parter.

My older daughter has a thing for Timothy Chalamet, but I wonder if his presence will be enough to pull her into this nerd morass.

We (almost) got a thing:

Trailer tomorrow. #DuneMovie pic.twitter.com/6xulWsrpUr

— DUNE (@dunemovie) September 8, 2020

lol at the trailer for the trailer

They showed all the best bits of the trailer!

I’m just glad the music isn’t full on BRAAAAAM.
We better have wormsign tomorrow

not really a big fan of how they took an already white-folks-heavy cast and then washed everyone’s faces out for this pre-trailer so it looks like they’re all literally the same shade as chalamet

I haaaaate Chalamet. His voice alone has un-sold me on this.

Surprised to see Zach Galifinakis working again.

not really a big fan of how they took an already white-folks-heavy cast and then washed everyone’s faces out for this pre-trailer so it looks like they’re all literally the same shade as chalamet

can I blame Annie Leibovitz for this

Annnnd we got trailer.

Someone once said, “he who controls the spice controls when the Dune trailer drops.” We control the spice.

This is the EXCLUSIVE look at the #DuneMovie trailer. pic.twitter.com/38TcAtWnAp

— Twitter Movies (@TwitterMovies) September 9, 2020

...I was not expecting the Pink Floyd cover, and I am not joking.

tweet that still applies from yesterday:

mfw Dune trailer releases tomorrow pic.twitter.com/CaiM39tJWy

— dune opinions account (@fellawhomstdve) September 8, 2020

i am looking forward to this but i wish it wasn't so damn dark and dreary looking. like a big grey slab.

not sure i can handle two hours of meaningful chalamet stares

probably marks me as naive, but I was honestly not expecting so much fanservice, even in a trailer!

yeah i imagine that Floyd cover was a nod to Jodorowsky's Dune, huh.

I kinda appreciate how we finally get ornithopters that actually LOOK like ornithopters, in my mind.

dragonflies and worm do look good.

looks very....brown

Ween would have been more appropriate than Floyd

They at least evaded the problem the DeLaurentis production had with footage of sandworms deemed pornographic.

Honestly, it still seems too indebted to the 1984 release. Like Deneuve's 2049, a depopulated version of the original. I honestly don't know how one could honor the innovations of Herbert to written sci-fi (a focus on ecology, an interest in non-Western human culture/history) without taking pretty strong detours from the source material, and this isn't that.

it's only part one lads

he's going to hobbit this mfer

unless it flops / doesn't hit hard enough

Aren't they filming this like LoR? All the live action for two films at once?

from a scan of the wiki page, doesn't seem that way.

it's gnna be five films, the middle three nothing but worm stuff back and forth, back and forth, the worms getting bigger and bigger

This looks pretty cool despite the muted color palette, but it will take a lot to outdo the Lynch version, warts and all.

whispering and pugs and eyebrows is all i ask

the middle three nothing but worm stuff back and forth, back and forth, the worms getting bigger and bigger

I was thinking more like

https://www.sagindie.org/media/MeAndYou-kids.jpg

[opening of Dune trailer]

[Arnold Schwarzenegger as Baron Harkonnen]: SPICE to meet you!

— 🐢 (@smashedmcdouble) September 9, 2020

Also I'm seriously envious Geoff Barrow didn't recognize the music:

That’s literally the worst trailer music I’ve ever heard...

What song is it?

It sounds like a gospel version of
The back street boys https://t.co/MXhY0QR9Ot

— Geoff Barrow (@jetfury) September 9, 2020

music for trailer, DUNE 2: SARAUKAR DRIFT:

i've got a worm you can ride it if you learn / it's a nice worm
i'd give it to you if i could / kwisatz haderach

SARDAUKAR ffs

xxp lol he's not wrong

this looks pretty good to me, someone who has read the first dune book but isn't particularly invested in it and also really liked blade runner 2049

don't really like Villeneuve and blade runner 2049 was bad Imo but will watch the hell out of this

the shai-hulud looks good

i read dune #1 for the first time earlier this year and really enjoyed it while simultaneously thinking its just one of those books that if/when attempting to render it visually will just fundamentally always look & seem silly. That being said this looks pretty watchable and non-silly so I'm cautiously optimistic. Cant blame them for going super grim and monochromatic and somber bc theyve gotta fight against all that inherent silliness.

actually they don't have to and probably shouldn't but

Silliness?! In a giant worm flick?!

http://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop%2Ch_1133%2Cw_1685%2Cx_293%2Cy_0/v1592785618/shape/mentalfloss/61181-universal_pictures_home_entertainment.jpg

i have never read Dune, i think it’s finally time to attempt now that i’m trapped indoors

trailer looks cool
also OSCAR ISAAC

i'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest that Dune, cracked in your 40's, is likely not gonna be a lot of fun

I read it early this year, at 35, and enjoyed it

I read it less than 10 years ago (I am 48) and enjoyed it a lot more than when I tried and gave up in high school.

yeah i read it for the first time around 40 and i liked it. i've never been a big sci-fi reader either.

I'm mad that they skipped past "All that you eat" on the shot of the worm eating the spice harvester.

Ween would have been more appropriate than Floyd

― unpaid intern at the darvo institute (Simon H.), Wednesday, September 9, 2020 12:50 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Or TMBG.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTxXVhdmdZc

my spouse just finished dune for the first time in her mid-30s and liked it a lot

hi, new to ILX, but after watching trailer all the "unneccessary" talk wayyyy upthread is OTM imho tbqh.

also: did they show the guild navigator(s) in the trailer? must've missed them.

holy shit, I had it playing in the background a while ago and in the back of my mind I thought, is that a slowed down spooky Pink Floyd cover, can't be, seems too on the nose even for one of these epic event films. And then just now I got to watch it properly all the through and, yep, slowed down spooky Pink Floyd.

xxps Maybe I'm Wrong About Dune!
I should probably try rereading it; my only memories are junior high school ones.

i (29) read dune for the first time this summer and liked it a lot!

guild navigators aren't even in the book - not that I wouldn't love to see them.

im not much of a reader of sci fi, had always been dune-curious but had been scared off by ppl saying its super dense, super boring, etc, but i dunno i got caught up in it and found it pretty fun

it is super dense, but that's part of the charm. i love how herbert refuses to hold your hand even as he throws all these weird terms and characters at you for the first couple hundred pages. and i don't think it's boring, it's just that the plot is a bit oblique and is secondary to the world-building.

how any of this will translate onto the silver screen is anyone's guess

guild navigators are in the second book

sorry

i recently managed to score a dune encyclopedia (pb, berkley 1984) ... i've been meaning to reread the first four (five and six are objectively bad) again with the encyclopedia at the ready but never got around to it. this might be the time.

also i'm excited for this because why the hell not

wow rare find! I've been looking for that for a while but copies on ebay are too costly.

holy shit! is it because of the movie? mine was like $40 at a brick and mortar

no it has been costly for a while - it's the only Dune adjacent book out of print (and will remain so) since Brian H de-canonized it.

dang didn’t realize it was such a score ... last I checked on internet most copies were in the $50 range

i like the cool british edition with the cotton candy pink and blue cover but the one i got matches my paperbacks which is cool too

actually i only paid $35, the receipt is still in it!

and look at the bookmark that fell out when i flipped through it

https://i.postimg.cc/fTk4xm88/72-F91981-9-B2-A-4-E7-E-B6-A4-DA75507-EF2-E7.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/4xhr0Zkt/1-F3-ED44-C-E539-43-BC-A6-D0-A526777-BB628.jpg

i mean ... that explains it right? my copy is cursed :(

lmao

I should have held on to my copy of that -- fun slumgullion of random stuff. I especially liked the entry on Gamont, an actually truly funny bit.

Anyway, scene by scene breakdown:

https://io9.gizmodo.com/breaking-down-the-spice-worms-and-pain-boxes-in-dunes-1844676132

There is, admittedly, a truth here:

I tried explaining the plot of DUNE and DUNE MESSIAH to my wife recently while she was driving and she said if I didn't stop she would pull over

— Jordan Hoffman (@jhoffman) September 9, 2020

jeeze, Brian Herbert having dominion over Dune canon is like putting Jared Kushner in charge. I tried to read one of his prequels and it was the worst cringe fanfic I’ve ever slogged through.

I loved the Dune Encyclopedia as a kid, but don't have it anymore.

My sci-fi nerd cousin dragged me to the Lynch movie when were 10 and I did not dig it; I finally read it in my very late 30s and liked it more than I expected. Not enough to read any of the others but enough to read this thread

xps

If Herbert wrote it today, the 1965 novel would be at least three fat volumes. It's dense with characters and incidents he could have developed at far greater length (I suppose his recognition of what he'd left on the table prompted the sequels). It's fast-paced in a typical 1960s SF style, a bit disjointed like most fixups from magazine stories, but it kept surprising me and making me want to know and see more. Unfortunately the sequels didn't scratch that itch -- I read Dune Messiah and wasn't inclined to go farther.

I wasn't expecting that trailer to look so much like the Lynch film!

Repeating my reservations from elsewhere:

- Zimmer makes terrible movie music, I don’t trust him not to fuck this up even if what we’ve heard so far is pretty OK (for Zimmer).

- Everything on the screen could be recreated using three of the pages from my Benjamin Moore fan deck, namely the cold browns

- Chalamet’s not a total wimp, but is he up to this? His voice definitely isn’t in the same league as MacLachlan’s. I got expectations, man.

- the ornithopters and the shields don’t look weird enough. Dune is weird. Arrakis is weird.

The last two points are key for me. Still I appreciate the ornithopters looking strange enough.

Strangely, nothing about milking cats

https://www.scribd.com/doc/38049415/Dune-Encyclopedia

the ornithopters and the shields don’t look weird enough. Dune is weird. Arrakis is weird.

Yes, the designs are achingly tasteful and subdued. Not seeing much of a visual personality in that trailer.

I've read Dune two or three times (but not in the last 10 years) but never any of the other books - are any of them worth checking out?

perhaps perversely -- hi there! -- my favourite as a teen was dune messiah: possibly somewhat swayed by bruce pennington's cover art (also it had way less windy lectures on ecology and grown-up alia was hott and badd) (spoilers)

https://i.imgur.com/Mzwtjuh.jpg

Bruce Pennington is the best!

Count me as another ILXOR who first read and enjoyed Dune when they were in their 40s Just read this snippet on Facebook - Frank Herbert OTM!

When Frank Herbert was in Australia for a science fiction convention in Adelaide in 1981, he was asked who he thought should handle the movie soundtrack for any adaptation of DUNE. His reply, Tangerine Dream.

That cover makes me want this film to have Guardians Of The Galaxy style colour.

Also sack Zimmer obv, shoulda gone with Laurel Halo or OPN

see upthread for best pink floyd options

Messiah is one of the worst for me, but it has the heaviest lifting to do and sets up a lot of the rest in a pretty thankless task. God Emperor definitely my favourite after the first.

i will strongly rep for the first four, but the last two are, as i said, objectively bad

we should do a book club! i haven’t started and flaked out on one of those for awhile!

does anyone know who did the Berkley medallion covers? those are the ones that influence how I picture dune in my head the most ... oddly I can find no credit in the books themselves, just an illegible signature on the cover of “children” (leto and ghanima’s shadow is pointing at it)

http://i.redd.it/0g3w46o54ylz.jpg

Wikipedia says Pennington but I don’t think that’s right

Pennington is the mod, more colorful covers; those (at lease the top level ones, not certain about the bottom three) are Vincent Di Fate.
http://vincentdifate.com/

(i am trying to snag y'all a pdf of dune encyclopedia btw)

ah yes i can read the signature now. i thought it was "ed tate" at first but it's clearly "di fate"

the berkley trade covers are awesome too, they can be fit together to form a big image

https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/af125/kwisatz-haderach/Cieszyn/Picture606_resize.jpg

apparently they are rare as fuck. i don't know if i've ever seen one IRL.

actually i should specify: the first three are quite rare, the last three are not so rare

just thinking about 0PN doing the score instead makes me a bit sad, that would have been a great way to fold in some unobtrusive weirdness

though his safdie brother scores are not exactly unobstrusive

uncut melange

colin stetson ftw imo

i will strongly rep for the first four, but the last two are, as i said, objectively bad

In ways that makes the Encyclopedia the perfect capper if you stop there.

Oh for the innocence of my youth when I really had no idea AT ALL in God Emperor what Herbert was getting at with the 'Fish Speakers.'

... do tell? what do you think he was getting at?

Watched the trailer, was completely unmoved. I think Marvel Phases 1-3 completely burned me out on big budget SF spectacle. Give me Agnès Varda collecting heart-shaped potatoes.

got some sad news for you

Lynch's images and visual design are far sexier than what I've seen aboit this thing to date.

Yeah, Lynch's isn't like the greatest thing ever but it's astoundingly faithful to the general thrust of the book while adding a sheen of that beautiful weirdness David is famous for.

This doesn't feel necessary.

it is weird seeing all the david lynch regulars like jack nance and everett mcgill in a sci fi setting.

also weird how lynch lifts all of herbert's inner monologue asides and presents them as voice-over.

i saw the lynch movie a couple of times before i read the book, and i was surprised by how much was in the book that wasn't in his movie - mostly the roles and perspectives of the women characters, which is one of the most interesting aspects of the book, were completely excised from the movie

Well I mean that's one thing Villeneuve got right (and that Lynch probably didn't have the opportunity to change): two hours is an insufficient timespan in which to adapt the book.

I forget who said it somewhere the other day but if you come to the table assuming that NO adaptation will ever truly be successful -- which I agree with for a variety of reasons, the book itself really resists an easy boiling down thanks to its various digressions, the internal monologues as noted, even the framing of each chapter with a Maud'Dib quote or anecdote essentially -- then you can enjoy each attempt for where it succeeds and rightfully criticize it for where it doesn't. Lynch's pluses and minuses as noted, the miniseries version has its virtues, etc.

it's not a truly successful adaptation of dune unless the princess irulan teleports in every five minutes and reads a paragraph from one of her many identical books

i've never seen any of the long versions of the lynch film. i saw the movie first as a kid and was completely entranced by it and mystified by what was happening. when i read the novel later on i was surprised that the 'weirding module' wasn't there. it's hard to represent herbert's ideas of intense human refinement and conditioning (the BG's voice, yueh's ethical blocks, the mentats) so i wonder what this film will do differently.

i watched the lynch movie recently on HBO and all the weirdness and oddball glamour was still there but yeah it is a very brief accounting of the plot and not much more. the turn of paul being lost in the desert to being the savior-leader of the fremen is really rushed -- but my memory of the book is not great, maybe it's all too convenient there too. it's too bad lynch doesn't like the movie so much. he has such a great eye for beautiful and ugly faces; it'd be nice to get a lavish official re-ish of it. oh well.

i'm not really sold on chalamet, who seems a bit too young and too west coast in his voice -- maclachlan sounded very preppy waspy. i thought villeneuve's blade runner sequel was in the end kind of pointless. but it was pretty! and he can do thriller action well, which isn't really lynch's thing

the turn of paul being lost in the desert to being the savior-leader of the fremen is really rushed -- but my memory of the book is not great, maybe it's all too convenient there too

it spends a good amount of time on his early days with the fremen, but his ascent from respected member of the sietch to god-warrior-king literally happens between books 2 and 3, with a multi-year time gap

between books 2 and 3

sorry, to be clear i mean "Book Two: Muad'dib" and "Book Three: The Prophet," both of which are divisions of the original book entitled Dune

hoping for a set-piece of gurney halleck playing the baliset in this one and the sequel tbrr

wonder how josh brolin's voice is

Hey man Patrick Stewart just let the music speak for himself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuBSvNtlAq8

Also I want an oral history of just that scene.

I think it's important to remember that Paul Atreides is 15 in the first book.

yeah that's one of the reasons why i don't mind the chalamet casting. he's seems to have the dicaprio-esque boyishness that he'll retain until he inevitably attempts to grow facial hair.

It's also interesting to note the Chalamet and MacLachlan were approximately the same age at the time of filming.

oh damn that scene has an important moment from the book, kynes spitting on the floor!

xpost Wow, that sure doesn't make any goddamn sense in my brain.

LOLed at Patrick Stewart's performance of that little closing flourish at 0:37 in that clip

is jean luc playing jizz there?

Love the fact that it's a modded Chapman Stick.

I hope the banquet scene is finally included (Lynch filmed it but it was one of the removed scenes).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPWsicTgAis

https://i.imgur.com/p7WGbYg.jpg

BTW, a pdf of the Dune Encyclopedia is available on L1br@ry G3n3s1s

Chalamet looks like a young fey Michael Imperioli in this

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ehlws5nWAAIlr-t?format=jpg&name=large

New Dune trailer looks amazing pic.twitter.com/I8OlkUpxOm

— Beyond The Ninety (@IntoExtraTime) September 9, 2020

FASTER FACE-DANCER! KILL!! KILL!!

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/dune-trailer-pink-floyd-eclipse-streams-1058400/
"On Spotify — where “Eclipse” streams were up 54 percent on a whole — Eclipse witnessed an 86 percent influx of users listening to the track for the first time on September 9th."

such a weird non-story unless you include numbers of spins and not percentages. If it got 10k spins for the month and now gets 20k spins... big deal?

"digital sales of the song soared 1,750 percent" sounds good but what was the starting number? Did it sell even 100 copies this year prior to the trailer?

GLENNNNNNNN

Villeneuve is...not happy

https://variety.com/2020/film/news/dune-denis-villeneuve-blasts-warner-bros-1234851270/

I wonder how these deals work if certain parties were to take home a percentage of the box office

It was crime at the time
But the laws, we changed 'em
Though the hero for hire's
Forever the same one

What do these guys think the alternative is? Saying “everything’s gonna be back to normal next October” is... not true?

Yeah, I get why they're annoyed but, like, get in line. I'm annoyed or upset or angry every day for reasons other than "my $200 million movie has been delayed and dumped on a premium streaming service and maybe because of that I won't get to make more $200 sequels." One thing that doesn't make me annoyed? If I want to see his "Dune," I don't have to wait (at least) another year. Hopefully things will be better in a year, and by "better" I mean a hundred things before I mean movie theaters are back open again.

I don’t really know what kind of honest response from the guy you’d like to hear about this? Not unreasonable.

Alan Smithee redux?

I mean yeah, tiny violins for big time movie directors, but it’s not like he’s downplaying the pandemic, just the erratic and confusing handling of a big time passion project that’s 1/2 of a whole and the performance of that first half determines if a second half is made. Anyone would be lying through their teeth if they were all “Yeah, totally cool” about it. Doubt he’d be upset about delaying it further if October theater going was still unworkable.

i wouldn't say that getting to see the first dune movie early is a win if the endgame is that no one funds the second one

he's one of a lot of people arguing that this could be the beginning of the end of the financial model by which large-scale movies are made, which is kind of a big deal

He’s arguing that Warner bros should give it a theatrical release in October which... there’s just no universe where this movie comes out in October and makes $350m.

a lot of people arguing that this could be the beginning of the end of the financial model by which large-scale movies are made

I think it would depend entirely on whether that model has only been disrupted temporarily, causing massive capital losses that are tied to a social conditions that will eventually change back to something resembling 2019, or if the changes are permanent and irreversible. If only temporary, then there are still billions of dollars a year to be made by a resumption of large-scale movies. No studio will walk away from those kinds of profits. At present nothing that might replace that pre-virus model looks as lucrative as it was.

He’s arguing that Warner bros should give it a theatrical release in October which... there’s just no universe where this movie comes out in October and makes $350m.

I honestly don't understand why there is any expectation this would necessarily do any better than Blade Runner 2049, even in the best of circumstances. I think that movie ended up doing OK, but it wasn't exactly a galvanizing event film.

Then again, looks Denis Villeneuve is eying a "Cleopatra" film next, so clearly making things anyone wants to see is not a real priority of his.

He’s arguing that Warner bros should give it a theatrical release in October

I'm confused, isn't that still happening? The current plan is a simultaneous release in theatres and HBO Max. I think Villeneuve's saying it should be theatres only, but he's arguing as though it won't be shown in theatres at all.

I *think* he's partly arguing that by October 2021 things will be back to normal and the collective theatrical experience will resume, so he wanted to stick with that rescheduled release date. Which ... who knows what even next week will bring at this rate. But then there's this:

Warner Bros.’ decision means “Dune” won’t have the chance to perform financially in order to be viable and piracy will ultimately triumph.

I dunno, I think he's (again, rightly) mostly pissed at having been taken by surprise by this corporate-minded decision. Because I'm with Soderbergh and others in thinking that until there's a streaming service that enables a single movie to bring in a billion dollars, then studios will be more than happy to stick with the theatrical model. Now, smaller movies might have more trouble than ever in the post-Covid era, but that's as much the problem with too-big-to-fail $200 million franchises themselves, in which case Villeneuve (or Nolan, et al.) isn't exactly helping the cause.

I honestly don't understand why there is any expectation this would necessarily do any better than Blade Runner 2049, even in the best of circumstances. I think that movie ended up doing OK, but it wasn't exactly a galvanizing event film.

Then again, looks Denis Villeneuve is eying a "Cleopatra" film next, so clearly making things anyone wants to see is not a real priority of his.

Since we're Roku people and are not going to go see anything in a theater until the vaccine is widespread among the general populace, I'm with Villenueve here. I was hoping this would be a cool date night movie to see with my wife on a nice big screen and instead it's going to be a fart in a hurricane like every other big tentpole released during quarantine. Fuck Warner.

You might be able to get hbo max on a computer and screen mirror?

Or... I could just tell AT&T to eat shit

I'm confused, isn't that still happening? The current plan is a simultaneous release in theatres and HBO Max. I think Villeneuve's saying it should be theatres only, but he's arguing as though it won't be shown in theatres at all.

His argument is about getting the second one made - by dual releasing it in October, the box office numbers are going to be smaller than they would otherwise be, because HBOMax revenue just for Dune isn't really quantifiable (and given studio shenanigans they will almost certainly downplay its value there). His fear that it will be treated as a flop which will then mean there's no Dune II: The Duning.

xp in my way, you at least get to see the movie. it doesn't feel as good, though.

It does, does it?

An Official Poster Banner of DUNE. pic.twitter.com/vVGmZ1xBa6

— ⊃∪∩⪽ (@DuneNews) July 19, 2021

Also IMAX trailer or something in the next couple of days.

:D

New #DuneMovie posters are out! This one is my favorite. pic.twitter.com/edywSvapTZ

— Dune Sietchposting (@Sietchposting) July 19, 2021

I am very much looking forward to #Dune.

But the combination of this character name and that poster makes it look like a Nicholas Sparks adaptation about a salt-of-the-earth tractor repair man who has yet to figure out the mysteries of the human heart. https://t.co/qo5ejsaEms

— Darren Mooney (@Darren_Mooney) July 19, 2021

sorry that's the most tryhard tweet i've seen in a while

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g18jFHCLXk

oh good there's Banter

Please please no spoilers on what is beginning

lotta momoa itt (in that trailer)

"Smile, Gurney." (literally nobody is smiling)

Both what I expected and kinda not, so.

looks great imo

rebecca ferguson was a great casting choice

Looks a little better than I expected, but still terrible.

😢 pic.twitter.com/lq5h5CAlMS

— pixelatedboat aka “mr tweets” (@pixelatedboat) July 22, 2021

tbf to that tweet "duncan idaho" is one of the stupidest character names of all time

this looks good enough to me though. seems like they might have successfully threaded the needle re:depicting the tech & imagery described in the book faithfully without making it look completely ridiculous and camp

new trailer is much more exciting than the previous one

smart business move to make it so brown and dark that you need to see it in IMAX to make out wtf is going on

pic.twitter.com/RNexQYq68a

— the thicc husband & father (@lukeisamazing) July 22, 2021

lmao come on

The best part of casting a not-fat, not-gay actor in a fat gay role is them talking about how arduous the process is. Did they have to wear a fat suit?! How awful! Did they have to flirt with a guy?! The indignity! pic.twitter.com/Fn0Q3N5ylY

— Guy Branum (@guybranum) July 22, 2021

slay, space pedo, work

A trailer breakdown for those inclined

https://gizmodo.com/breaking-down-the-sandworm-riding-and-space-folding-in-1847342233

Has anyone ever seen Stellan Skarsgård make any facial expression besides the one in that photo? Share your testimony, if so.

Pretty sure I remember him doing that face at various points in Hunt for Red October thirty years back, so no.

DUDE. Er, DUNE.

The official #DUNE poster has arrived. 📸🎬

The film is set to arrive on October 22, 2021. pic.twitter.com/dYFvpcJnzk

— Complex Pop Culture (@ComplexPop) August 9, 2021

DUDE. Er, DUNE.

The official #DUNE poster has arrived. 📸🎬

The film is set to arrive on October 22, 2021. pic.twitter.com/dYFvpcJnzk

— Complex Pop Culture (@ComplexPop) August 9, 2021

Bah. (Sorry, computer connection weirdness.)

Denis, Gerronwirit

When a film costs this much, are quips demanded by the studio? Bladerunner 2 didn't have quips.

*notes that it still doesn't say Part I and moves on*

What I am curious is where they will break at the end of the first movie?

Jessica taking the water of life...then Paul riding the Sandworm for the first time?

Yeah that...wait.

https://gizmodo.com/dunes-making-of-book-is-so-massive-hans-zimmer-wrote-i-1847462195

Frank Herbert’s Star Wars

io9 can exclusively reveal that the Oscar-winning composer of Dune (and a few dozen other iconic movies over the past 40 years) was so inspired when he looked at the upcoming behind-the-scenes book from Insight Editions, he decided to write some musical accompaniment.

this is 100% horseshit right? zimmer has an entire stable of ghost composers that write practically everything

How dare you question the genius who Totally Did It All Himself, Man.

"Hmm, I love these photos showing off the product design and art direction, but I miss the sense of being emotionally manipulated."

er, production design

actually, you know what, leave it as is

trailer brought the BRAAAAMMMMS

Hmm, could work. (Certainly there's shifts in POV in the second half of the book but I can't recall how many are Chani-centered?)

In a recent interview with La Repubblica (translated by IGN), Denis Villeneuve revealed Zendaya’s character, Chani, will be the primary protagonist of Dune Part II:

I’m honoured to present on-screen two talents [Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya] that are so explosive, and I can’t wait to shoot the second part of Dune to get them back together. Knowing that in the next chapter Zendaya will be the protagonist of the story.

“What’s in the box?” “Pain.” pic.twitter.com/30VcZXpZXD

— Ben Lesnick (@banditloaf) August 20, 2021

Dune seems to inspire some odd movie stuff, anyone remember that document they handed out in the lobby to help 'explain' things when the Lynch one came out?

Yes, I remember getting one of those when the movie came out

Also there was a range of action figures marketed very much at kids.

anyone remember that document they handed out in the lobby to help 'explain' things when the Lynch one came out?

Sure do. There's a copy of it online: https://www.cinemablend.com/new/See-Original-Dune-Handout-Helped-Fans-Follow-Along-66855.html

happy to report that the Dune Terminology sheet is also reproduced in the booklet that comes with the new blu ray release

i saw the trailer in the cinema and man it looks really po-faced. i almost said “poe faced” get it ahahahahaha

lots of earth tones. very tasteful, very jil sander.

This will get a lot of decent to very good reviews and nobody will remember it in five years.

Not just because Earth may look like Arrakis by then.

https://www.designscene.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Jil-Sander-Pre-Fall-2019-05-620x930.jpg

i saw the trailer in the cinema and man it looks really po-faced.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, August 25, 2021 10:54 PM (yesterday)

But the quipping, which is worse than humorless

the quipping clearly an attempt to counteract the crushing weight of self-seriousness which as you say is even worse

just a trailer though!

So crazy that a movie set on a desert planet would have a lot of earth tones. Imagine!

People want to pre-emptively hate this movie for the dumbest of reasons.

lol jon i’m right here you know

That second sentence wasn't directed at just you though, it just seems like there are so many people just looking for any excuse to hate this pre-emptively.

I liked Bladerunner 2 fine and I don't understand the hate for Villeneuve but I really do hate that kind of jokiness, it definitely put me off a bit.

also Dune is pretty special to a lot of us and we have been hurt SO MANY TIMES

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTIxMjQ2OTU4M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNzY0MTQ2._V1_.jpg

It's been a few years of worry, yes

https://www.vulture.com/2017/03/looking-back-at-all-the-utterly-disastrous-attempts-to-adapt-dune.html

But the Lynch and Jodorowsky versions were the best types of disasters

for a truly faithful adaptation, each screening of dune should have someone dressed up as princess irulan sitting in the front row, and she would pause the movie every five minutes to read a paragraph or two from one of her dozen books

go on

Princess Irulan is the Adrian Mole of Arrakis

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/sep/03/dune-review-denis-villenueve-venice-film-festival

Xan Brooks gives it five stars and says calls it "quite often sublime"

DUNE is a *massive* disappointment.

the cinematic equivalent of getting a novelty-sized check for six dollars.

hype is the mind-killer. here's my review: https://t.co/CcYaboWjFi pic.twitter.com/YeyDojfT85

— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) September 3, 2021

Opinions are divided!

i always love the early “LISTEN UP NERDS: IT SUCKS”

Haha. Yeah, that IndieWire review is swinging for the clicks.

Read a few reviews for this and even the lukewarm ones seem to readily offer up “breathtaking” etc. when talking about it as a visual spectacle and that’s kinda 80% of what I’m here for.

otm me too

And then it turns out it's just wall to wall scenes of Jason Momoa wearing only that Sting-style jockstrap, something which would NEVER appeal to anyone I know amon--what?

Variety’s review of #Dune has me feeling like #Bakka*. The whole thing’s sprinkled with a faux-dumb tone, a cool kid trolling for nerd. “Oh, you like Star Track? Who’s your favorite character, Dr. Spock?”

*The One Who Weeps

— Michael Chabon (@michaelchabon) September 4, 2021

I've reverted back my 12 yr old state of mind that watched the Lynch one 30 odd years ago, not even hearing it!

honestly the only thing i like about Momoa being in it at all is that he ~spoilers~
(though admittedly he seems well-cast as Duncan)

not much of a fan myself

Ok, saw this last night **spoilers**
This is a very sombre movie, sombre colour palette/ costuming, positively, its faithful to the books, the bits I remember, much more than Lynch (who was all over the place, in that regard). I thought I would feel the same about this as I did about blade runner 2049 and that proved to be true. It's not completely style over substance but I did struggle with the dialogue and attitude to storytelling, there's a real lack of weight in so many scenes that it flits by leaving you struggling to connect with the characters. I thought immediately afterwards, was there a single line of dialogue that felt delicious, that cuts through a scene and leaves you smirking with joy or gasping? No, not for me...I know this ensemble is way more capable than this and you do wonder if many scenes were finished and they looked at each other and thought, 'well, I hope that will come good in post". It left me feeling I need to stop watching movies and read more books or go to the theatre.

"Step one: be Jason Momoa."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8y30Uyqc1E

US tickets on sale.

And one last trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0HgHet0sxg

Separately, though, of all the mockbusters that ever mockbusted thanks to Asylum...wow. Just wow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwVZ-2WuJo4

“There’s more than one worm!?”

camp is the mindkiller

should I watch this or

um YES

Watch all the versions at once.

now?

Whenever you’re of a mind.

leaked

Sean Young is in Planet Dune? Wtf?

Is she in the David Lynch version? Is it some sort of tribute?

Very much loved this, but was expecting to given I loved Villeneuve's last two sci-fi movies. Kinda feel Swanswans' point that the dialogue could be sharper, but the visuals, the atmosphere, the characters... it's what I wanted a Dune movie to be

I did too, watched it last night, I couldn't help but run dialogue from the Lynch version in my head though, to see what the contrasts were like. Agree about the dialogue, v sad not to have seen a Guild Navigator also.

Saw it tonight and I vote...pretty good! No, not perfect -- and I won't compare it to Lynch as that's its own thing with his own obsessions -- but I liked it a lot better than his Blade Runner film and it generally hits a really solid run of key beats from the book. I would like to see part two happen for sure.

v sad not to have seen a Guild Navigator also

We do get that one...thing, though. The 'pet' on Giedi Prime.

hey, this was good

Know nothing about the lore, never read the books or seen other adaptations: really enjoyed this. Wanted it to keep going.

i didn't know it was only part one and was increasingly like 'wait how are they gonna fit all this other stuff in' until i realized

I think it was smart of them to have the 'Dune Part One' on the title card, honestly.

I only just figured out that they have not filmed part 2 yet - thought it was filmed but the expensive post-production was not done. It's gonna be an eternity to get that second part, if indeed it happens at all

Yeah part of me is all "They really should have just done this like LOTR and did the whole damn thing," but on the flip the book covers three years' time so...it could work? Though there's still a key moment in the book that hasn't been reached before the big time jump to the final section said three years later.

I assume Tiny Tim will need to eat some protein between shoots.

My guess would figure the cut off would be after Jessica takes the water of life and then Paul rides the sandworm for the first time being the end.

You’ll see!

I don't expect to read the novel, so when I watch this weekend I hope to enjoy it at the level of Tolkienland, whose books I also haven't read.

Yeah part of me has been so steeped in the whole thing all this time more than once I was asking myself "How would I be taking this in if I didn't know anything about it?" It was kinda hard to do! But it seemed like it would land?

does Chalamet appear in a loin cloth or

A few minutes in you'll behold a lot of his pale wonder, if you will.

One thing it absolutely has over the Lynch is that it avoids the static shot/voiceover moments, which were meant to be translations of the constant interior comments in the story. My sense is that they didn't lose anything by avoiding that this time out.

Was it weird that the Emperor wasn't in this at all? or did I nod off at some stage...

is there ANY sci-fi tale in which Palpatine doesn't figure?

The way in which the plot kinda ossifies the relationship between Paul and his Mother after Leto's death and the struggle to escape, was always, for me, the least appealing and darkest part of the story and it translates pretty much the same to this new version, it's so grim that part.

I like that the Emperor was offscreen and this hidden stringpuller — he doesn’t surface in the book until the end anyway.

no pugs no credibility

i failed to recognize charlotte rampling : /

It took me a good while to realise I was watching Stellan Skarsgård, I was sure The Baron was being played by Peter Stormare

I will say this -- they were wise to drop this from the final cut. VERY wise.

Okay so now _Dune_ is out and I can talk about things from the art book that detail scenes that didn't make the final edit, including this one with the WORLD'S WORST JOKE. Would have made the Baron a 1970s James Bond villain or something. pic.twitter.com/pJ6zDoG3Y4

— Ned Raggett (@NedRaggett) October 22, 2021

loool

Alternately if the whole film had been like that, fuck, bring it on!

It took me a good while to realise I was watching Stellan Skarsgård, I was sure The Baron was being played by Peter Stormare

Dune was pretty good. No big surprises but it met my expectations. Cool Baron, cool sandworms.

I did like the, for lack of a better word, quotidian sandworm moments, like you'll be out there somewhere and whoops, another sandworm goes by.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoAA0sYkLI0

"And here is where I poked him in the eye."

This was so bland and boring. I wasn't even planning to watch it, and I'm sorry I did.

(MALIGNANT remains the best movie of 2021.)

malignant was some scooby doo ass bullshit

i kinda loved this … without the internal monologues of the book you def lose some character development, there is such a richness in jessica in particular & paul too that is lost
but ~not~ having to endure that cinematically as like whispers or narration or whatever was a good call so idk

the scale was incredible though. the architecture! & the design inside the buildings. plus all that excellent movement in the sand, the machinery, all of the world building was pretty fantastic to me.

thopter (ugh) glider into sandstorm sequence was SO good, as exciting as the book.

… and for the po-facedness of the character dialogue the actors all do a good job of it not seeming too dorky or wooden.
javier bardem def a deep favorite.
and beardo oscar <3?

hans zimmer’s score was great too i thought -ole Hans is having a pretty good year between this and No Time to Die

my son and i saw the trailer for this in this cinema and he was like “so it’s basically star wars?” and i was like “……. yes”

i get to make my "gom jabbar the hutt" joek

i spared twitter this joek but you guys deserve it

i need to review bcz after i saw it (last night) i dremt a whole extra act in which gurney halleck organised a soc dem political movement in arrakeen, whose themetune was "we built this city on rock n roll"

which doesn't *not* fit into the story

anyway it introduced elements which have confused me in my critical appraisal

— too few pugs and chapman-stick solos ☹️
— not much whispering 😀
— solution to effective "weirding" not yet found imo
— solution to portrayal of foresight corrent or otherwise confusing and bad SITO

i enjoyed it a lot! the story (including the book) remains enjoyable rubbish even when/because it's all so earnest

corrent = correct

haen't read the book bu tI loved this and now will read the book and see the second movie when it comes out

which film will this guy be in:

https://www.bashfineart.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/11262_detail.jpg

with his strangely italian hand gestures

smh it's making the worm power gesture...

lots of shots of empty CGI spaces with like 20 dudes running at each other shouting "sardaukar!!!"

What, that's not your daily workout?

the fight scenes did seem to have too many cuts/angles, i found it hard to track at times

i really hope we get a part 2, i think bautista and dastmalchian are superbly cast as rabban & piotr and am dying to see the full scope of their stories bear out

You're not going to see Dastmalchian anymore, he got killed off by Leto in the poison scene, as in the book. Would be great to get more of him, no lie.

As for Bautista, great presence in a small role for now, but given I am assuming that there's no Feyd-Rautha period and so Rabban's essentially going to be the standin for Feyd-Rautha at the end duel...let's just say that I don't care if he's the Kwisatz Haderach, imagining Mr. Chalamet up against Dave in a duel is going to take a leap of faith.

oh duh lol oops

also: Stephen McKinley Henderson as Thufir Hawat is such great casting, he is such a wonderful expressive actor & does so much w very little

watching pt II with my large cut-out of sting-as-feyd angrily stood beside me

lol

is it bad that i already want to see the extended version that i assume exists?

it's pugs all the the way down

also: Stephen McKinley Henderson as Thufir Hawat is such great casting, he is such a wonderful expressive actor & does so much w very little

― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 23 October 2021 17:48 (twenty-eight minutes ago) link

Agree 100%. I really liked him in devs

Yeah wish there was more of him. Think it's pretty smart to set up the film for a non-book audience where you just figure both Gurney and Thufir are dead and gone for now, since that's pretty much what Paul and Jessica are figuring, though again with no Feyd-Rautha and all I'm not sure *if* Thufir's story will be told.

in the book thufir just becomes shaddam's adviser, no? i mean he's around for a while still but he doesn't really *do* anything else?

as for halleck:

i dremt a whole extra act in which gurney halleck organised a soc dem political movement in arrakeen, whose themetune was "we built this city on rock n roll"

― mark s, Saturday, 23 October 2021 11:10 (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

queue massive bagpipe solo

They left out Thufir's suspicions of Jessica (which Gunnery comes to share) and Piotr's spice addiction.

the other day someone posted it's a movie about a planet made out of cocaine.

there was actually surprisingly little up-close spice-related action or even conversation

in the book thufir just becomes shaddam's adviser, no?

No he ends up with the Harkonnens and conspires with Feyd-Rautha to work towards undermining the Baron and vice-versa, kinda. Essentially he's trying to work out a long term revenge.

But as jbn notes, a big plot element in the book neither Lynch nor Villeneuve (so far) have run with is the fact that the Atreides know there IS a traitor within the ranks but don't guess it's Yueh, due to his imperial conditioning (mentioned in Lynch, not in the new one), and suspicions re the Bene Gesserit combined with misdirection on the part of the Harkonnens et al means Jessica takes the blame after the fact, with both Gurney and Thufir thinking this for most of the rest of the book. Arguably there's still a way that Villeneuve could bring all this back in a second movie, especially since there's a great scene between Gurney and Jessica about this towards the end of the book.

SUK medical conditioning more like medical conditioning that SUKS

in the Lynch Dune the hunter-seeker was a much more manageable size, it's so small in this one it's just not playing fair.

I watched this at home and enjoyed shouting out lines to the screen with no shame.

I also did not know that imax movies cost 25 bucks, goddamn.

I have no allegiance to the source material, which I may have read once as a kid, but I liked this fine, with some reservations. Obviously George Lucas borrowed a ton from "Dune," but this was like Villeneuve took his "faster, more intense!" maxim and flipped it on its head. "Slower! More solemn!"

Speaking of Villeneuve (who seems to be the king of hard sci-fi updates of existing properties that demand a pretty deep understanding of the material), did he really orchestrate this epic spectacle with only the *potential* of a sequel? I thought making more than one movie at a time was the way people do franchises these days.

using the movie as an excuse to post this glorious old classic meme

It’s opening week. Shout out to my favorite Dune meme. pic.twitter.com/DHLhOI0L1G

— Kaitlin Pike (@kcpike) October 23, 2021

nevertheless

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FCblWK8WYAA5lOQ?format=jpg&name=small

Can't wait for DUNE 2: THE CLONES OF DUNCAN FUNKENSTEIN

dune movies rankings go lynch, dune 2 pc game intro movie, late 90s sy fy channel, this two hour whooooompfest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tC32ZIYXlE

really enjoyed this, wish i wouldn’t have to wait three years for part two

i’ve never read the book and have only seen lynch’s dune

zimmer score was crazy good

casting was also excellent, momoa as duncan idaho!!!

i did not think i would like this or even finish it tbh but alas i did, its pretty sick

This might be the first movie shot at 24fps but written at 60fps.

FWIW, I took my teen, who literally knew nothing about it except that Timothee Chalamet was in it, and Zendaya was barely in it. But she said she liked it, understood (most of) it, and is looking forward to part two. Which, yeah, again, that just seems a weird strategy, to release this spectacular but spectacularly inert epic and make people wait so long for a sequel that may or may not but probably will but still maybe won't happen. Lord of the Rings movies were bam bam bam, one year after the next, and for all their aracane nerdery those movies were (by design) a lot more exciting and accessible than this one. Even this one's cliffhanger ending barely generates enough momentum to get it over the hump.

timothee chalamet called out zendaya for her relationship with tom tolland, and it’s peak bestie

BTW, is there a reason everyone uses swords and knives in this but not guns? Is that because of the body shields?

I think the lasers plus shield cause a nuclear reaction or something like that

"the slow blade penetrates the shield"

if you shoot a gun or whatever it just bounces off that shit, one thing i have learned about dune since watching it yesterday is if you have any questions you can just google them and theres a lot of info online because of the books, i read up about the politics which lead oscar isaacs people to the spice planet, was pretty good

the action set pieces in this movie were really well served by how much breathing room there was around them

xpost Yeah, I did google it, actually, but it didn't really explain why bullets wouldn't pierce the shields but blades would. Doesn't matter, of course, the body shields looked cool and it was nice to see a movie with no shooting in it for once.

Was I the only one that got such thick Marlon Brando in "Apocalypse Now" vibes from Stellan Skarsgård that I figured it was intentional? No idea why he'd refer to that, though, other than the character being bald and fat. It was the only thing that took me out of the movie, tbh.

the bullets dont penetrate the shield because theyre going too fast

The problem with the whole shield thing is, of course, that all the fight scenes looked like they were happening in slow motion, or like the actors were rehearsing them ("I'll go like this, then you duck down and go like this") before shooting the actual take. It was like a Robert Ashley version of a fight scene.

In "Dune," even the fighting is slow. I really liked the shots of those white-armored mercenaries just sort of floating to the ground.

made me wonder how Paul could possibly survive a fight without shields where fast swipes were suddenly very deadly. It goes against his whole style of combat

Good thing that one dude spent more time yelling at him than attacking!

Well, he was mad.

But yeah, not being versed in this stuff, how do the Freman fare so well against enemies with body shields that do best against fast attacks? Is it the special worm-tooth knives?

Was I the only one that got such thick Marlon Brando in "Apocalypse Now" vibes from Stellan Skarsgård that I figured it was intentional?

Nope, and indeed I know at least one person who immediately reacted to that first scene in particular where he draws his hand over his head as being a clear nod.

haha same thought

princess irulan turns up in a hawaiian shirt and festooned with cameras

or bandana and green jean-jacket, same thing

xxpost yep, Mr Veg said the same thing

So the question is: why? The characters have nothing in common, and a blatant pop-culture nod in the midst of an otherwise immersive, serious sci-fi film seems like something Villeneuve would have poo-pooed. "Great! Now that you've done that, let's try a take where you are not imitating Marlon Brando and are instead playing a different corpulent bad guy in a world where there is no Brando or 'Apocalypse Now.'"

is it really that upsetting

The year's most OK movie. I'm not enamored with Villeneuve; there's a lack of spontaneity to his compositions I can't get over, like he's photographing a space calendar.

otoh I wasn't bored, which given this project's history is big shit.

i love how good he is at HUGE BUILDINGS in space

his movies always have good scale & things feel like real places you could go to but also otherworldly

OK so the big question: Is the experience of seeing this on the big screen sufficiently bedazzling to justify the $80-plus it will cost for our whole family to go (probably more like $100 once you factor in popcorn etc), or should we content ourselves with watching on our 55-inch TV at home for free? ("Free" meaning we already pay for HBO Max.)

I'm leaning toward couch viewing but am open to persuasion.

The biggest plus for me was the scale and sound. Otherwise .... $80 is pretty steep. And the movie is pretty slow, so couch could be appealing.

is it really that upsetting

Yes.

i love how good he is at HUGE BUILDINGS in space

his movies always have good scale & things feel like real places you could go to but also otherworldly

― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, October 24, 2021 9:36 AM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm

this is the movie that confirmed for me: villanueve good (i adore blade runner 2049)

i am genuinely glad i saw this in a theater

"playing a different corpulent bad guy in a world where there is no Brando or Apocalypse Now"

no evidence of this, dune in set in the year 10,191 i.e. 8212 years after brando's performance in apocalypse now, so baron harkonnen could easily have watched it. he seems like a guy who'd watch old movies abt monstrous ppl like himself (bald)

his movies always have good scale & things feel like real places you could go to but also otherworldly

this is otm and what I took away from his Jake double movie.

I watched on TV and now very much want to see in a theater

Some of the huge city sets in this reminded me of the first blade runner. Do any of you know how much he uses models and miniatures versus CGI?

Did a first viewing in theater and it was well worth it

As is frequently the case, my daughter and I sometimes struggled to hear the dialogue over the noise, but we don't know if that's the theater, the mix, the fact that we were struggled to understand terms we didn't know ...

yeah this is definitely a movie to see on the biggest screen possible, if just to be overwhelmed by the experience etc

otoh I wasn't bored, which given this project's history is big shit.

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, October 24, 2021 12:33 PM (fifty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

feel like this was notably less boring and dumb than the rest of his movies

i watched on computer and i wish i had seen it on the big screen baby going to the movies is nice

“Stop initiating a holy war” ummmm I’m literally neurodivergent and a minor…lol pic.twitter.com/wtvo8fYw8H

— 🐈‍⬛Autumn Leaves & Bloody Trees🐈‍⬛ (@mayzierita) October 23, 2021

Glad I saw this at home for the subtitles

how did it render "gom jabbar"?

If I haven’t read the book – but keep meaning to! - would you consider it okay to see the film, given that it’s only half the story? Like, if I enjoyed the movie, I could pick up the book and (reading from the start) still have a lot of new stuff to discover. I’ve gotten about 100 pages in, on a previous read – enjoyed it but didn’t have the resources for such a long book at the time.