“The Dune” directed by Denis Villeneuve and created by Frank Herbert has lots of things in common with Lucas’ “Star Wars” but the director is aiming for a different class altogether. Villeneuve describes his sci-fi epic as “Star Wars for Adults” and “The Star Wars I never saw”. Despite being a sci-fi movie “The Dune” focuses on modern-day major concerns such as the fight for territorial land and Geopolitics. Jason Momoa compared his character “Duncan Idaho” with “Han Solo”.
Villeneuve has worked with several acclaimed maestros of cinematography, most famous collaborator being two-time Oscar winner Roger Deakins. For this movie, he is collaborating with Grieg Fraser (Rogue One, The Mandalorian). Fraser’s use of subdued colour palettes and thematic colour schemes which were once a criticised by fans are now being said to be a perfect match and representation of Herbert’s source material, which although being inspired by Fantasy, creates an overwhelming metaphor for the real world.
“It was quite fun because I had to forget a lot of Star Wars when I was making Dune. It wasn’t hard, though. Denis and I spoke clearly about how the film should look and should feel, and the formats and this and that, so it was not hard to swerve and change lanes. There were some similarities like the deserts. I mean listen, ultimately I’m positive George Lucas was inspired by Dune when he made Star Wars. I don’t know if that’s sacrilegious to talk about, but there are a lot of similarities in some areas, so you could tell he was definitely influenced by that. So I had to be careful doing both [Dune and The Mandalorian] and not to repeat myself. Also not just for the sake of the movie, but for fun. I hate to do the same thing twice,” said Fraser in a recent interview with Collider. He explained that since Lucas took a lot of source material from Herbert’s 1965 novel “Dune”, it was really difficult for him to stay away from a stereotyped “Star Wars” theme.
All the other visual elements like the costume, production design and make-up all add up to make a visual piece which is far from similar to “Star Wars”. Costumes worn by the cast members have a touch of fantasy and a load of reality which when compared with “Star Wars” creates an obvious contrast. Arrakis, the giant sandworms, are created with utmost details so as to look real to the eyes of a person who has some knowledge folk-lore dragons from Europe.
Fraser also said that while Villeneuve has adapted Herbert’s novel in a two-part film, the first instalment which comes out sometime in December, will be a full standalone film. Complete in itself.
“It’s a fully formed story in itself with places to go, It was quite an adventure visually. It was a beautiful experience making it. The people involved with it, I was overwhelmed. Some of the actors, as well as being insanely talented actors, are just lovely, lovely people who I’ve become very close to since then.” said Fraser.
“The Dune” stars Timothee Chalamet in the leading role opposite an ensemble cast that includes Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin. The release, for now, is on December 18, 2020.