Dune: Denis Villeneuve’s 1984 remake of David Lynch’s “The Desert Planet,” based on the “Dune” series of novels by Frank Herbert.
Film plot and background
Denis Villeneuve’s 1984 remake of David Lynch’s “The Desert Planet”, based on the “Dune” series of novels by Frank Herbert.
In a distant future, the noble houses of the Atreides and the Harkonnen fight over the valuable “Spice”, a mind-expanding drug that boosts the human spirit to peak form and is needed to travel through space. The “Spice” can only be mined in one place, the desert planet Arrakis, also known as Dune.
Originally, the Harkonnen were tasked with harvesting the resource, but the Emperor issued a new order and handed the mission to Duke Leto Artreides (Oscar Isaac). Together with his mistress Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) and his son and successor Paul (Timothée Chalamet) he travels to Arrakis. There they are greeted not only by deadly heat, but also by dangerous enemies. Can Paul protect his people and the Fremen living there from the great danger?
Things get epic in the latest trailer:
“Dune” – background, cinema release
Since the publication of the “Dune” series of novels by Frank Herbert in the 1960s, many directors and studios tried to adapt the science fiction classic to film. Some failed at an early stage of production, some projects hung in limbo for several years, David Lynch then made it to the first feature film adaptation in 1984. Both critics and audiences had mixed feelings about the film, which was followed in early 2000 by the TV miniseries “Dune” and “Children of Dune”, which were also only moderately successful.
So Denis Villeneuve (“Blade Runner 2049”) is taking on a difficult legacy, and he is allowing himself plenty of time for the project, because the film is a matter of the heart for him. Villeneuve is striving for nothing less than to make a kind of “Star Wars for adults”, after all, many motifs from the popular science fiction saga can be traced back to “Dune” (via Fandom). Its art director Tom Brown even drew a comparison with the “Lord of the Rings” franchise. For the screenplay, the French-Canadian director worked with Oscar-winning writer Eric Roth (“Forrest Gump”) and Jon Spaihts (“Doctor Strange”).
According to Villeneuve, another “Dune” film is being planned, and he is also involved in the development of a new series called “Dune: Sisterhood”. But that is still up in the air. Find out what impression the first ten minutes of the sci-fi epic leave in the “Dune” report. The planned theatrical release in December 2020 had to give way due to the corona virus. The start date for “Dune” in Germany is 16 September 2021.
“Dune” at the Oscars 2022
With ten nominations, “Dune” is considered one of the big favourites at the 2022 Oscars. Surprisingly, director Denis Villeneuve is nominated for Best Picture as a producer and Best Adapted Screenplay as a screenwriter, but he was not considered for Best Director. With six awards, “Dune” is considered the big winner of the evening, even though the prizes were only handed out in the “minor categories” such as Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Production Design, Best Editing, Best Cinematography and Best Film Score. Hans Zimmer can be happy about the second Oscar of his long career as a film composer.
