Dune takes place on a battleground planet called Arrakis, a location fans of Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel will be all too aware is the only known location of "spice," a mind-altering, time-and-space-warping substance. Humans are aliens there, and Timothée Chalamet's young royal, Paul Atreides, will be forced to protect his new home from a number of threats, including massive sandworms.
That's only a glimpse of what's to come in Denis Villeneuve's big screen adaptation of the beloved book, and the filmmaker confirms that when Dune arrives in theaters on December 18th, it will only be the first half of the story as Warner Bros. has agreed to split it in two.
"I would not agree to make this adaptation of the book with one single movie," Villeneuve tells Vanity Fair. "The world is too complex. It’s a world that takes its power in details."
"No matter what you believe, Earth is changing, and we will have to adapt," he adds. "That’s why I think that Dune, this book, was written in the 20th century. It was a distant portrait of the reality of the oil and the capitalism and the exploitation—the overexploitation—of Earth. Today, things are just worse. It’s a coming-of-age story, but also a call for action for the youth."
Below are three of the new stills released from Dune today, but click on the NEXT button for more first look images along with further comments from the cast and crew of the film!
There's more to Chalamet's Paul than meets the eye. Dune soon reveals that he has a supernatural gift to harness and unleash energy, while it just so happens that he hails from a powerful galactic family known as the House Atreides. His father is Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac), while his mother is Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson).
They are the ones who take their son from his lush home to watch over the spice extraction on Arrakis, and that leads to a clash with the criminal House Harkonnen, led by Stellan Skarsgård's monstrous Baron Vladimir. He's described as a mammoth with merciless appetites, and is brought to life here with rhino-like prosthetics.
"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."
For the final few images and details, click on the NEXT button for much more from the Dune movie!
Lady Jessica's role has been expanded on. She's a member of the Bene Gesserit, a group of women with the ability to read minds and control people with their voices. The book's Dr. Liet Kynes, meanwhile, is no longer a white man and is instead a black woman due to the lack of female characters in Dune. She will be played by Rogue One's Sharon Duncan-Brewster.
Paul's highly skilled mentors are Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck, played by Jason Momoa and Josh Brolin. Dave Bautista stars as Harkonnen enforcer Glossu Rabban, Charlotte Rampling plays Bene Gesserit reverend mother. Javier Bardem leads the Fremen tribe as Stilgar, and Zendaya is the enigmatic, mysterious Chani.
"It’s a book that tackles politics, religion, ecology, spirituality—and with a lot of characters," Villeneuve concludes. "I think that’s why it’s so difficult. Honestly, it’s by far the most difficult thing I’ve done in my life.” After finishing this first movie, he’ll just have to do it all over again."