General / Off-Topic Denis Villeneuve's Dune

[Jenner]

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9xhJrPXop4


Who else is excited for Dune's return to the big screen this year?

I've been a huge Dune fan since I first read the book in high school. Didn't like David Lynch's bizarre vision for it in the 80s movie, but appreciated the Sci-Fi channel's take around 2000. I loved Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival, so I think Denis has the sci-fi chops to take this on.

It's supposed to be split into two movies, though, and I can't imagine the first one will do all that well at the box office. This isn't Star Wars or a Marvel film. It's a niche and weighty sci-fi epic, and one that is releasing on the heels of a global pandemic. People just aren't going to show up at the theater I believe. Here's hoping the second movie gets greenlit anyway.

 

[Northpin]

They should be doing full series from all the books, try to keep as close as possible
Something like The Expanse

 

[Caramel Clown]

This is a source that should be approached very carefully. There's just so much to it, and all so important for the world that I don't believe it can be made into a movie. I agree, it would work much better as a series.

 

[Northpin]

This is a source that should be approached very carefully. There's just so much to it, and all so important for the world that I don't believe it can be made into a movie. I agree, it would work much better as a series.

Clearly
I'm not even sure a 10h series would be enough for the first book. There is so much information there...

 

[whothe]

I'm excited for it. The original film is still one of my all time favorites, bad blue-screens and all =D
The books ofc are amazing and so much more depth, but the movie for how short it is really captured a lot of the essence of the characters imo. The costumes and sets are just so good.

Now that mini-series remake that came out... in the 90s?, was so awful. It was amazing that someone could stretch screen time from the original 90ish minutes to 6 hours and fail to tell the story as well... you'd think having all that extra time to delve deeper would pay off in spades, and it sooo didn't. But what really got me was the Bene Gesserit looking like bridesmaids, hahahaha what! That soured me on the series instantly.

 

[Arioch]

I first read Dune just prior to the ‘84 film coming out, and I thought the first hour or so of Lynch’s movie was pretty decent but it sort of collapsed after that. After watching Jodorowsky’s Dune, it’s been interesting to see a few of the Giger set designs in the Lynch film.

Looking at the recently released stills, I’d guess the first film will be finishing - warning, 55 year old spoiler alert inbound - around the time Paul & Jessica meet the Fremen, so maybe Paul has the fight with Jamis for the last action-y bit. The big battle and their escape could be the last third of the film?

The shot in the OP looks like it’s towards the end of the film. The Jessica actor has done some pretty good fight scenes in the Mission Impossible films, so hopefully she’ll have the Bene Gesserit moves weighed off.

I think the second film is already a given from interviews I’ve read, so I’ve got my hopes up for this!

 

[Manticore]

I'm all for the new movie(s) and excited to see Dune (hopefully done properly this time).,

Perhaps we mat even be able to leave the house and go to a cinema again one day...... take care Jenner. Stay safe.

 

[Arioch]

Just seen this picture of Chani, she’s also got the stillsuit facemask like Jessica in the OP and the crysknife looks fairly substantial! Interesting to see that she appears to be wearing blue contacts - I wonder if blue-within-blue eyes will be added in post-production or are they sticking with eye whites?

 

[askavir]

Can't wait for this. Love Dune, and Villeneuve is the right person to finally do it justice.

 

[jasonbarron]

I know that Villeneuve has the creative chops to pull this off, but my enthusiasm remains tempered until we see whether Herbert's highly polarizing themes are adapted for 2020 wokeness sensibilities.

Curious: who among you will go watch this in a theater? Show of hands!

 

[Apsley]

Cautiously excited. So much of the books are what is happening in character's heads, I'm not sure how that will be captured in film. But I've liked his other films so hopefully, just hopefully it will work.

I did recently watch the Lynch version again, and although it's pretty bad I did enjoy some of it. It had been years since I'd watched it and I had very low expectations so maybe thats why it was kind of morbidly fun.

I'm also re-reading the books to refresh my memory. Finished God Emporer recently which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Curious: who among you will go watch this in a cinema? Show of hands!

Most probably. I don't need to be first to see a film, so I'll see what the reception is like before I give them my cash.

 

[Rubbernuke]

There is a mega edit from Spicediver on Youtube that uses most, if not all of the originals cut material, and is very good:

The 2020 film....I'm not sure. I don't like the title card rework in comparison to the production teaser, gender swapping Kynes for no reason annoys me, especially since Dune is stuffed full of strong female characters (and that you have two female only groups, a whole female army too in later books).

 

[EUS]

Love his flicks so far.
As long as the studio/Villeneuve doesn't cave to today's whims, and turn this into an full in action flick, it should be great, because let's face it, the book could be said to have a lot of "downtime" for today's attention span deficit society.

 

[WhiteHaulerMan]

I know that Villeneuve has the creative chops to pull this off, but my enthusiasm remains tempered until we see whether Herbert's highly polarizing themes are adapted for 2020 wokeness sensibilities.

Curious: who among you will go watch this in a theater? Show of hands!

I'll hold reservations, but there's already signs that's being the case:

Look at the description of the Jessica and the Bene Gesserit in this Vanity Fair article.

"The director has also expanded the role of Paul’s mother, Lady Jessica. She’s a member of the Bene Gesserit, a sect of women who can read minds, control people with their voice (again, a precursor to the Jedi mind trick), and manipulate the balance of power in the universe. In the script, which Villeneuve wrote with Eric Roth and Jon Spaihts, she is even more fearsome than before. The studio’s plot synopsis describes her as a “warrior priestess.” As Villeneuve jokes, “It’s better than ‘space nun.’"

I suspect we're going to get a weird 'superhero feel' to the Bene Gesserit which will gloss over the eugenics issues (because as we know, strong female leads have to be infallible in modern Hollywood, and we saw how much nonsense got thrown at Vileneuve for Bladerunner 2049 in that regard).

And then there's this about the Baron from the same article:

"House Harkonnen, led by the monstrous Baron Vladimir (Stellan Skarsgård), a mammoth with merciless appetites. The baron, created with full-body prosthetics, is like a rhino in human form. This version of the character is less of a madman and more of a predator. “As much as I deeply love the book, I felt that the baron was flirting very often with caricature,” says Villeneuve. “And I tried to bring him a bit more dimension. That’s why I brought in Stellan. Stellan has something in the eyes. You feel that there’s someone thinking, thinking, thinking—that has tension and is calculating inside, deep in the eyes. I can testify, it can be quite frightening.”

I suspect we'll see the Baron having a lot of his backstory culled out, because much like with the female leads in Hollywood, you can't have a gay character showing negative traits in a modern Hollywood film.

 

[Vasco Sapien]

She’s a member of the Bene Gesserit, a sect of women who can read minds

That Article i think is written by someone who has not read the books but only seen Lynch's movie adaption.

The Bene Gesserit cant read minds, i think that was a Lynch addition, much like the Baron flying.

The Bene Gesserit have the power of Acute observation and Truthsay.

Bene Gesserit are trained in "the minutiae of observation", noticing details that the common person would miss in the people and environment around them. When combined with their analytical abilities, this "hyperawareness" makes the Bene Gesserit capable of divining secrets and arriving at conclusions that are invisible to everyone else. Slight differences in air currents or the design of a room might allow a Bene Gesserit to detect hidden portals and spyholes; minute variations in a person's vocal inflection and body language allow a Bene Gesserit to deeply understand a person's emotional state, and manipulate it. Knowing that any schooling impresses a particular pattern in its students, they are able to use these clues to predict and anticipate actions. Despite efforts of concealment, the Bene Gesserit can easily determine a subject's origins and root language by analyzing their speech patterns, cadence, and pacing, as Jessica does when she realizes that a visiting Spacing Guild banker is a Harkonnen agent.[3]

Bene Gesserit specifically trained as Truthsayers are able to determine whether someone is lying by analyzing their speech, body language, and physical signs like pulse and heart rate. In principle all humans have such perception, but extensive training is required to develop this latent talent to the point of great usefulness. Truthsayers are used widely in politics and trade; the Padishah Emperors are never without one. Combined with the Voice, Truthsay is also useful for interrogation and torture.

But yes i agree, i have no doubt that aspects of the original source material will be changed in order to accommodate identity politic tick boxes.

 

[askavir]

Curious: who among you will go watch this in a theater? Show of hands!

If this was 20 years ago I certainly would go to the theater. I loved going to the movies. I quit going to a theater to see movies almost 10 years ago, after a long sequence of terrible experiences with people's general lack of manners. When I really want to see a movie, I want to experience it fully, the sound, the visuals, "immersion", completely focused on the movie. I can't do that with people constantly yapping and worse.

After several movies putting up with people talking loudly, talking on the phone, screaming jokes, whispering, laughing, and other kinds of lack of theater manners, I bought a large screen for my home and a good sound system, and never looked back. I'd rather see it at home, quietly. I value peace and quiet so much when watching really good films, that sometimes I wait until some day when my own family is away for a few hours to finally see that masterpiece I was looking forward for so long.

Maybe the problem is me, times have changed, maybe the "new way" of watching movies is a kind of social experience where you're just "kind of" looking at a screen while you socialize. Or maybe we portuguese just lack manners, or maybe I have extremely bad luck at the theater. It certainly doesn't work for me nowadays, but I'm fine with that, I made my own mini-theater at home and I'm actually much better off now.

 

[askavir]

Love his flicks so far.
As long as the studio/Villeneuve doesn't cave to today's whims, and turn this into an full in action flick, it should be great, because let's face it, the book could be said to have a lot of "downtime" for today's attention span deficit society.

Judging by Blade Runner 2049, I am very optimistic.

 

[Arioch]

...or maybe I have extremely bad luck at the theatre...

It may be this - the cinema goers at my usual venue are chatty as you describe, up until the lights go down and the trailers start, then they are silent apart from the munching of popcorn (which doesn’t last much after the adverts have finished) and are well behaved with regards to phone discipline etc.

My nephew took me to another town’s cinema for the last Marvel movie, he’d been praising the big comfy recliner seats for all and that it was a couple of quid cheaper - unfortunately this seemed to make everyone treat it as if they were in their own home - footwear off, phones on all the time, having a good chat, loads of snacks all through the film etc.

I’ll be watching Dune on the big screen, but at the local methinks

 

[Remus]

If this was 20 years ago I certainly would go to the theater. I loved going to the movies. I quit going to a theater to see movies almost 10 years ago, after a long sequence of terrible experiences with people's general lack of manners. When I really want to see a movie, I want to experience it fully, the sound, the visuals, "immersion", completely focused on the movie. I can't do that with people constantly yapping and worse.

After several movies putting up with people talking loudly, talking on the phone, screaming jokes, whispering, laughing, and other kinds of lack of theater manners, I bought a large screen for my home and a good sound system, and never looked back. I'd rather see it at home, quietly. I value peace and quiet so much when watching really good films, that sometimes I wait until some day when my own family is away for a few hours to finally see that masterpiece I was looking forward for so long.

Maybe the problem is me, times have changed, maybe the "new way" of watching movies is a kind of social experience where you're just "kind of" looking at a screen while you socialize. Or maybe we portuguese just lack manners, or maybe I have extremely bad luck at the theater. It certainly doesn't work for me nowadays, but I'm fine with that, I made my own mini-theater at home and I'm actually much better off now.

Here in France we don't have this issue. Going to the movies is regarded almost as a religion. The moment you enter the theater, the only sound you hear is the sound of whatever is playing in the screen. And when there is nothing on it, you can almost hear the projector. (Less true nowadays with the digitization of theaters).
I once attended a screening of endgame in my usual movie theater, they where playing an English version of the movie, and I wanted to watch the movie on its original language.

At the moment that Capt America lifted Thor's hammer, there was ONE dude that jumped up and cheered. Everyone just turned around with inquisitive looks. The guy happened to be an American tourist.
He stopped cheering almost as suddenly as he started. ^^
In USA its almost mandatory to scream and cheer in a movie, to the point where you can't hear half of the movie. The more you like a movie, the more you scream. If you want to actually watch the movie, you must wait for its retail release to watch it at home.

Edit: And yes, I'm looking forward to Dune, now that Star Wars and Star Trek have been killed of, there is this huge gap to be filled in the sci-fi fantasy category.

 

[Morbad]

Haven't been to a movie theater since 300 and I'm so not keen on the 'theater experience' that I'll probably never go to one again.

That said, I am hopeful about the new Dune.