Vanity Fair has unveiled the first official promo still for Denis Villeneuve's Dune, and it features Call Me By Your Name actor Timothée Chalamet as the main protagonist of the story, Paul Atreides.
In this shot, the young hero stands on the shores of his native planet of Caladan as transport ships descend to take him, his father Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) and mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) to the desolate desert planet of Arrakis.
“The immediately appealing thing about Paul was the fact that in a story of such detail and scale and world-building, the protagonist is on an anti-hero’s-journey of sorts,” Chalamet said. “He thinks he’s going to be sort of a young general studying his father and his leadership of a fighting force before he comes of age, hopefully a decade later, or something like that.”
Unfortunately, Paul is required to grow up much sooner than that. Upon arriving on Arrakis, a series of tragic events lead him into the vast desert where he ultimately becomes a Messiah-like figure to the planet's indigenous people, The Fremen. There, he meets and falls in love with a Fremen warrior named Chani, and is forced to choose between settling down with her and embracing the terrifying destiny glimpsed in his spice-induced visions.
Numerous other 2020 movies have been delayed because of the coronavirus, but Dune is still on track for its December 18 release. Check out the image below along with the official title treatment, and let us know what you think in the comments.
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.