Denis Villeneuve Discusses His DUNE Trilogy Plans
While we all anxiously await the release of Dune, director Denis Villeneuve is talking about his plans for the trilogy of films that he wants to make. The upcoming film, which is based on the novel by Frank Herbert, will only follow the events of the first half of the book. Part 2 will likely tell the second half of that story. But, the sci-fi epic does have five sequels as well. So, there’s a lot of source material to play with.
During a recent interview with CBC Radio Canada, Villeneuve discussed his plans saying, "There is Dune’s second book, The Messiah of Dune, which could make an extraordinary film.” I always saw that there could be a trilogy; after that, we’ll see. It’s years of work; I can’t think of going further than that."
Well, I hope that Villeneuve actually gets to make his Dune sequel! The upcoming film looks incredible, but there’s always a chance that it might bomb at the box office. Blade Runner 2049 was an incredible film, but it did not do as well as everyone was expecting. I hope that doesn’t happen with Dune, I hope that fans flock to see it so we can see the full trilogy that the filmmaker has envisioned. When previously talking about adapting Dune, the director shared:
"We have been hearing in the past few decades that it’s not possible to adapt this book, and that it’s an impossible task. I think that in the back of the mind of the studio, it’s still the same! So the first thing was to prove that there was a beautiful, popular movie that can exist, and I think that I proved that – everybody at Warner Bros and Legendary, they are 100 percent behind the project. They feel that it would need a really bad outcome at the box office to not have a Dune: Part Two, because they love the movie. They are proud of the movie, so they want the movie to move forward. And they still did half of it. So, you know, I’m very optimistic."
The film’s cast includes Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Zendaya as Chani, Stellan Skarsgard as Baron Harkonnen, Javier Bardem as tribe leader Stilgar, Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Mohiam, David Dastmcalchian as Piter De Vries, Chang Chen as Dr. Yueh, Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Liet-Kynes, and Dave Bautista as the Baron’s nephew Rabban.
Warner Bros. describes Dune as "A mythic and emotionally charged hero's journey, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet's exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity's greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive."
Dune will finally open in theaters on October 22nd.