Timothée Chalamet is the twink prince of space in the new Dune trailer, just as the prophecy foretold
Dune's new trailer—and an exclusive IMAX preview—show off the scope and sprawl of the upcoming sci-fi epic
Film News Dune
Save for some release date shuffling, transmissions from planet Dune had been pretty scant of late. That all changed earlier this week when Warner Bros. unleashed a barrage of character posters, introducing audiences to the key players in Denis Villeneuve’s first film in a planned two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi epic. But those somber one-sheets were just a tease of what’s to come, as the studio has just unveiled a striking new trailer for Dune—the first footage we’ve seen since last fall.
As the opening voiceover from Zendaya’s Chani (who sounds an awful lot like Lola Bunny) succinctly lays out, tensions are high on her home planet of Arrakis; the native Fremen have been under harsh rule of the Harkonnens, who harvest the land for a spice with metaphysical properties known as melange, the most valuable resource in the universe. We’re also introduced to aristocratic heir Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) who feels an innate and mysterious draw to Arrakis and its people. While the trailer doesn’t do much to clarify Dune’s sprawling plot to those unfamiliar with Herbert’s novel, it more than delivers in action and scope, showcasing Villeneuve’s beautifully-rendered vision of this stark, sandy world.
Perhaps the trailer’s most notable scene is a lighter one between Paul and Atreides family friend/dashing Swordmaster Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa). When the two are gleefully reunited, Duncan makes a crack at Paul’s slender frame—it’s a moment of levity that seems to cement Chalamet’s status as Hollywood’s leading twink, and one that signifies to audiences that Dune won’t offer up strictly doom-and-gloom. Check the trailer out for yourself here:
In addition to a peek at the new trailer, IMAX gave The A.V. Club an exclusive preview of Dune earlier this week, presenting the first 10 minutes of the film, an extended action sequence, and featurette interviews with the cast, Villeneuve, and composer Hans Zimmer. The footage displayed the jaw-dropping scale of the film (those sandworms are really a doozy to behold), and assuaged any fears that Herbert’s mythical world was too dense, too “unadaptable” to translate to film. Chani’s trailer voiceover is expanded upon, narrating the opening minutes of the movie, and then a brief history lesson on Arrakis for a curious Paul seamlessly establishes the basics of Dune, setting viewers up for a grand adventure in a galaxy far, far away.
But the biggest takeaway from the preview presentation is that the cast and crew really, really want you to be able to experience Dune on the big screen—preferably the biggest screen possible, if IMAX has their way. Villeneuve’s been pretty vocal about his disappointment in the studio’s decision to debut the film in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously, so it’s no surprise that the director and his ensemble (also including Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin) were eager to point out how truly massive the story feels. It’s so massive, in fact, that the second half of Herbert’s Dune is being saved for a planned Part Two, which has yet to receive the official greenlight—as the title card in the opening minutes dutifully reminds viewers, this is, in fact, merely Dune: Part One. If the future of Dune is determined by box office numbers—as Villeneuve alludes to—then perhaps it’s ticket stubs that will prove to be the most valuable resource in the universe.
Dune is slated to hit theaters on October 22.
200 Comments
As I find myself thinking more on the upcoming movie, the more torn I find myself on it. I’ve read the books, well the original ones, and thought they were fine even though was never the biggest superfan of them. However, I don’t think it is a controversial take that they are in many ways a product of their time and that’s where I somewhat cringe when watching the trailer.I mean, it is literally the good kind of colonizer coming to the lands and to be revealed as the blue eyed white kid to lead them all to salvation. Also what makes him special is that there is a female secret order that has been breeding towards that chosen ones who, for reasons, needs to be a man as well. None of that makes the books inherently bad, but I do find watching the trailer feels a bit more squemish now. And before the inevitable comment arrives, I know the other books twisted on the premise a bit, but this is the epic they are presenting now.
It’s the Fremen who all have blue eyes due to the spice.
But Paul has blue on blue eyes. Spice turns the whites blue.
Which results in Paul getting deep blue eyes. So how was my comment on it having a blue-eyed white savior incorrect? I didn’t say anything about the Fremen, and trust me, there’s so much to say about them.
Paul having blue eyes doesn’t distinguish him from the Fremen, the hipsters of Arrakis, who already had them.
I mean, it is literally the good kind of colonizer coming to the lands and to be revealed as the blue eyed white kid to lead them all to salvation.Dune and its sequels are a deconstruction of this concept (while it’s much more apparent in the sequels, it’s there in the original too, down to the fact that the “prophesy” of the locals is just propaganda used by outsiders to make them exploitable in the future).
The later Dune books actually kind of deconstruct the white savior aspects IIRC with Paul becoming a tyrant. Also Paul’s son becomes a human-sand worm hybrid.
Also Paul’s son becomes a human-sand worm hybrid. Which is why, much like with the Matrix movies, it is best to treat Dune as a standalone novel with no followups.
Nah, you just gotta stop after number four. Five and six jump the shark, and are definitely products-of-their-era far more than the first few books. I do think it is kind of fun how five and six explore how Leto’s acts play out thousands of years in the future; there’s not many series out there that try to tackle that kind of scale. That’s also not to say that number four isn’t a bit fucking ridiculous, but Leto’s musings on tyranny, the cyclical nature of humanity and the rise and fall of civilizations are interesting, imo, and give weight to the events of the preceding books.
I just read the entire (original) series after having re-read the first book multiple times over 30 years or so. I was never a fan but I have to admit that Herbert had lots of ideas. And I’ve read online more than once that Herbert is deconstructing the white savior myth. Having just read the books as an adult, though, I find that maybe that’s what Herbert *thinks* he’s doing, but he’s still mired in a “men are from Mars, women are from Venus” mindset. Like a lot of the best science fiction writers — Heinlein, Asimov — he writes with such conviction that it’s easy to buy into his worldview, but ultimately it’s a pretty shallow take on humanity. Note, for example, that the world of Dune absolutely lacks LGBTQ+ people, except for the moments where homosexual activity is equated with depravity and dissolution.
Herbert’s wife reportedly had a lot of input on the books but what comes across is mainly Frank Herbert’s personal wish fulfillment: What if these women were not only intelligent and hot, but also kick-ass martial artists *and* sex machines?
I just read the entire (original) series after having re-read the first book multiple times over 30 years or so. I was never a fan but I have to admit that Herbert had lots of ideas. And I’ve read online more than once that Herbert is deconstructing the white savior myth. Having just read the books as an adult, though, I find that maybe that’s what Herbert *thinks* he’s doing, but he’s still mired in a “men are from Mars, women are from Venus” mindset. Like a lot of the best science fiction writers — Heinlein, Asimov — he writes with such conviction that it’s easy to buy into his worldview, but ultimately it’s a pretty shallow take on humanity. Note, for example, that the world of Dune absolutely lacks LGBTQ+ people, except for the moments where homosexual activity is equated with depravity and dissolution.Herbert’s wife reportedly had a lot of input on the books but what comes across is mainly Frank Herbert’s personal wish fulfillment: What if these women were not only intelligent and hot, but also kick-ass martial artists *and* sex machines?
Not every day you get word for word the same exact reply from two different burner accounts…
James McAvoy’s first great role!
As has been pointed out, the blue eyes are a product of the spice, not heredity. The point, and greater focus in later books is the deconstruction of the colonization myth. The fact that the savior must be a man is a function of a male’s propensity for violence and looking at those places a woman rightfully can and should not – not anything having to do with a patriarchy.A good point made above, is that the ‘prophesy’ or the Missionara Protectiva is the plant the seeds of prophesy and lay the groundwork for future generations to exploit – a tactic that rightfully bites them in the ass.
I was 9/10 yo when I read the first two books. I stole…I mean borrowed them from my babysitter. And the biggest thing I took away from them was why did the Bene Gesserit need to make a boy, why didn’t they just take over everything themselves.Fast forward 10 yrs, I’m in college, the third book is out, I read them again. Picked up on the blue eyed messiah this time, but the 10 year old was still saying, why didn’t the girls just rule everything. All these years later, I’ve read ALL the dune books. I can’t even get into everything. And I still hear that 10 yo😎
Because the women of the Bene Gesseritt can only see back into their female predecessors past lives while the Kwizartz Haderach can see back into all of the previous lives that have come before.
there is a female secret order that has been breeding towards that chosen onesI think you misinterpret the Kwisatz Haterach. It was supposed to be a woman so the Bene Gesserit could control it, as they are basically female only Jedi. (Yes, the jedi are literally an exact rip off of the Bene Gesserit, google it trolls!) The whole XX chromosome was supposed to make the “genetic memory” much stronger. The Y chromosome was the reason they had no control, at least in 1950s thinking when it was written.Herbert was extremely preachy in his last two books, but honestly the first three are pretty great, but there is a noticeable downhill march as the books pregress. Chapterhouse is a slog. Dune is pretty impressive considering everything in the space sci-fi genre is literally built upon Dune.That being said, go watch “King” on netflix. I was only so-so on Chalamet until I saw this movie. Now I think he is the perfect choice for Paul.https://www.netflix.com/title/80182016I just hope we get another couple movies, just get me to the first Idaho ghola and I’ll be happy.
You are fairly correct about the first book but even in it has hints that it’s not all “chosen one saves primitive”. The next several books go hard into why Paul isn’t a savior, just really a different kind of tyrant. Even worse then the Emperor or Harkonens. And his son is even worse then he is.
Oh, I completely agree that the later books play around with it a lot more, which is why I pointed out that I’m speaking about the movie presenting here based ont that first book.Although as I think on the later books, the shift is first gradual and it is still very still very much centered around the white maleness of it all. There are people who are probably written about this with much more insight than I am capable of, but even in the later books, the gender dynamic stuff is kind of wow and, as with the series itself, a product of its time.Which, to continue on my blathering here, is what I think is my issue with what they are showing. There are a lot of interesting concepts in Dune, but there’s also stuff that doesn’t age that well. And I think that you can keep that interesting aspects while working on the questionable ones, while I don’t think they are doing here.
When I read the book, I felt like Herbert was trying to pull a bait-and-switch. He lures in the people who usually like a white savior sci-fi/fantasy story with his premise and then sweeps the rug out from under them in the third act. The problem has always been though that a solid chunk of the audience doesn’t realize that the rug is now gone and they finish the book thinking Paul is actually a savior. Watchmen and many other deconstructions/satires have the same problem. The people who most need to understand the satire are the ones who miss it.
While I think there is a certain point to that, I think a part of it is that the books committed to the bait-and-switch the further they went with the first book only really hinting at it. Now the reason that becomes a bit of a challenge is that the first book was published in 1965, the second 1969, the third in 1976 and the fourth in 1981. So not only is there that long window, the first book is ultimately what defined the series, especially with the film. It is what crafted the vision of the world and the many elements with it. So if that vision dominates the initial impact and the third book, which I would argue is the first one to really go for the bait-and-switch, it’s not that surprising it would be how the general series is viewed.
I fully admit that I read “Dune” as a teenager and eagerly dove into what I thought was a “Chosen One” story, only to be thoroughly disgusted with Paul by the end. So the themes are all there in the very first book, and everything that comes later simply expounds on them. But if someone adapting the source material misses or doesn’t fully understand what’s supposed to happen in that third act—the Messiah is a lie and the cost is a great deal of human suffering—then the meaning of the text is totally distorted. And adaptations stick. I have never watched a filmed version of Dune, so I can’t really comment on how previous directors have done. But the danger of cinema is that it makes everything seem epic and cool (or romantic), and a two-part spectacle destined for IMAX seems especially vulnerable to this trap.
To your other point in this thread, yes, not everything in Dune has aged well. It will be interesting to see if the film is brave enough to use the word “jihad” for instance. But that’s an unavoidable artifact of speculative fiction. The stuff you fear is not what your future readers will fear, so some of your work will still ring true and some of it won’t.
Leto isn’t worse, he’s giving humanity the means to break the cycle. He’s giving them the drive for a true year zero.
I mean, the book explicitly addresses that Paul and his family plan to exploit the Fremen. He cares for them too (because humans care for those they live with), but the exploitative goals are right there in the text. It’s a deconstruction of the myth of benevolent colonialism.
I mean, it is literally the good kind of colonizer coming to the lands
and to be revealed as the blue eyed white kid to lead them all to
salvation.
That is absolutely the wrong interpretation of the story. Paul Atreides is not TE Lawrence. He’s not a white savior. If anything, just the opposite. He uses false “prophecies” planted by his mother’s order to exploit the Fremen and use them as a weapon against his enemies. Ultimately he’s responsible for billions of deaths across the galaxy as the Fremen wage Jihad across the stars.Paul Atreides is the villain of the series, not the hero.
I’m a little bit confused by this as Lawrence of Arabia doesn’t treat TE Lawrence as a white savior. Instead it takes a very complicated approach considering the time. So in your argument wouldn’t it actually be comparable to Dune?
Lawrence was a cog in the British empire who couldn’t accomplish his actual political goals. Paul is more like a weird take on Muhammad.
In the books the Fremen are white also. And while the “chosen one” needs to be male, having an all-female organization of super-intelligent, super-competent women who pretty much secretly run a galactic civilization from behind the scenes seems fairly enlightened for the era this book was written in.
To be honest, no, that’s not enlightened. It basically casts super-competent women as manipulative schemers who seek to control everything through being puppet masters behind men. While actually the true leader still needs to be a man.It actually leans in to a lot of the worst female stereotypes of that era.
So, what, better that the shadow government/powerful organization of behind-the-scene schemers be dominated by men, as has generally been the case throughout history? Apart from their covert activities, the Bene Gesserit are powerful and respected for their knowledge and skills. Being decried as “witches” was meant to show the ignorance of the men who don’t understand them (and who are afraid of/threatened by powerful women), not a put-down of women in general. I’m not saying a lot of Dune passes muster by modern standards, but for something that originated in the early 60s, it could be a lot worse.
But scheming and manipulative was how the Bene Gesserit were in the books…all the way to the end. That’s the story. If you want a different story, watch a different movie.This is a fictional story, not a treatise on how humans should be, or how society should be. It’s not supposed to be an “enlightened” or progressive story. It’s a science fiction tale about giant worms and a mythical drug on a desert planet that makes people see crazy stuff. That sort of thing.I think we’d all be better off if a bunch of people unclenched. Just because a particular artistic work doesn’t fit squarely into the “should be” mold doesn’t make the work bad or unworthy. And if the material is “problematic” or bothers someone, perhaps ignore the work altogether and spend more time at the artistic outlets that reaffirm their personal belief bubble.
The comment you are responding to proclaimed that the Bene Gesserit were actually a pretty enlightened representation of women for the time they were books were written in. It’s kind of weird how you are ignoring that while going in to that long text about things being problemtic when my whole point against someone claiming that they shouldn’t be considered problematic.By the way, for the rest of it, in my original comment I literally point out that none of that makes the story inherently bad, but certain elements feel squicky when looked from a modern. Because here’s a fun fact. The books were written in the 1960s/70s. We are not currently in that period of time. So with that in mind, can you explain to me how your argument isn’t that we should never be critical of anything written regardless time period and how instead we should just avoid challenging any negative aspects of the work? As you really seem to pushing the idea that we should all just comfortably snuggle in our personal belief bubbles and never have them discussed at all.
Zero mention that they drink their own piss. I’m out.
If Twitter were a living being capable of reading, this would be its analysis of Dune. Bravo.
However, I don’t think it is a controversial take that they are in many ways a product of their timeI agree with you that there’s aspects of this in the first few books, and 100% agree with you on books five and six in this regard, but I don’t get that from the trailer at all, and there’s a ton of topics discussed in the first four books that are very, very relevant to today, especially in this current climate hell we’re going through. Leto’s musings on the cyclical nature of humanity in the fourth book are as relevant as ever, although I don’t ever expect that thing to be made into a film.
Well, at least at looks like they made the Fremen Black so it will be easy to spot their honkey savior in a group setting.
i read the book for the first time like a month ago, and it felt very clear to me that the white savior angle was twisted pretty thoroughly within the first book. the only reason he was believed to be a messiah was because of superstitions seeded on arrakis by the Space Nun Illuminati, and by tapping into those superstitions paul knows he will end up triggering a universe-wide holy war that kills billions. it felt very much like it was condemning those types of stories
Meh still keeping my expectations low. Would be more excited if it wasn’t almost 3 hours of just half a book. Hopefully the movie will surprise me.
I’d rather they took their time. Cramming the whole thing into a single movie really wouldn’t work.
Unless ToTo is composing the score.
Reading the book will help you understand why it’s only the first half. If you’ve read the book and still are asking the question, I’d suggest re-reading the book.
I have read the book. It really doesn’t need to be dragged out so much.
I have read the book. I’m not sure why you think that would magically make me have the same opinion as you. At it’s heart it’s a simple story about a kid joining a native population and defeating an evil empire. All the mythology and houses and everything are just Wikipedia.
Alena1701
and remember to spay and neuter your sandworms.
as an aging twink I hope his quest is what our future looks like when we age out of twink hood. we need answers for our existence fair prince.
My only regret is that I have one, lonely star to award you.
Look to the proto-twink ascendant, Mark Hamill
isn’t the term “twink” a bit racist, though
If Josh Brolin doesn’t scream “ATOMICS!” during the final battle I’ll be forced to give this movie zero out of 10 Gom Jabbars.
Also somebody must be wearing a speedo…
This is the official attire of the U.S. Olympic Men’s Swim Team.
It really is a pretty great satire of the U.S. Olympic Men’s Sw~ oh whoops, misread that post. Sorry.
Will it be okay if I wear one while I watch?
One does not wear a pug! Oh you mean the speedo.Yes, of course.
A winged* speedo, no less.*Must pronounce this with two syllables for proper effect.
I will be, assuming I can get past the ushers.
Patrick Stewart met Sting on the set of Dune and was confused, thought he was a policeman. Because, you know, he said he was in the The Police. Patrick Stewart is awesome.
A metallic winged speedo at that.
Why the hell are you in the greys? Ungreyed you.
I’ll see your “ATOMICS!” and raise a ‘KULL WAHAD!”
And holding a pug.
I’m gonna be pissed if there is know scene involving cat milking
with a rat taped to it…
Long live Duke Leto!
and 100+ pimp points for the ‘Duck of Death’ moniker…
I predict there will be at least one callback to Lynch’s crap-terpiece.
Hot take- It looks dark, gritty and moody in a way that may be beautiful, but also boring? I’ve read the book and enjoyed it and this really should be something I would be excited for genre wise. Yet after watching both trailers I still have very little excitement. I keep thinking it’s going to be lovely and obviously impressive in ways, but also an overly long slog. The trailers just come across as dull to me.
I’m with you. This movie is still number one on my list of upcoming movies, but I’m not really seeing anything too terribly distinctive in this trailer. Even if the images are cool to see, they’re really straight down the middle. The score, at least what they used for the trailer, is likewise generic. So, as spectacle, I’m much less optimistic, but I really hope Villeneuve comes through on the storytelling side.
I’ll still see it, just I wish I was more excited to see it. These trailers aren’t selling it well at least.
The trailers just come across as dull to me.Dull?! But he’s using like 500 different shades of brown.
Maybe he spilled tea on the film.
Isn’t that every Villeneuve film though, beautiful look in a dull, not in a rush way.Arrival looks like the dullest film of all time but is brilliant.
Maybe that’s it. Arrival was a new story and I wanted to watch it. Blade Runner 2 was a continuation I wanted to see. Dune I know so now it’s making me second guess his visual decisions. Making it look like a washed out combo of Halo and Stargate based off of Dune just doesn’t intrigue me. It might be rad and I’m wrong.
You mean, just like Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival?“Beautiful but a bit dull” is just how Villeneuve likes his sci-fi movies,
I feel like I covered this in a different reply.
To me everything so far looks very . . . gray. And I would really like for my big, weird, brash, sci-fi epic to have a color palette that’s not muted blues and grays. To me that screams “bad sign” if it’s going to be an entertaining movie, but I guess we’ll have to see?
Twinklemania: Atredis Vs Feyd-Rautha
Pretty sure he’s a twank-versatile.
THE TWINK MUST FLOW!
That looks amazing. Better than I could have guessed. Can’t wait to watch in a theater.
Yeah, I don’t know anything about Dune at all, but I was impressed by this trailer. I appreciate that despite the dour aesthetic style, they have some banter in there to liven up the characterizations. Also, the fact that Villeneuve is directing and has done amazing work already (e.g., Prisoners, The Arrival) makes me pretty excited for this.
So this is the third Dune adaptation that has Baron Harkonan flying around rather than hovering?
I’ve long since accepted that they’ll never get that right. It’s too attractive a visual for them not to have him flying around instead of just hovering.
Well if you’ve got anti-gravity tech, going from “hovering” to “flying around” ain’t that much of a stretch.
In the book he didn’t even hover, he just had half of his body wait supported so he only carried half on his feet. Wouldn’t make the most impressive visual that way…
I feel like it’s one of those things that you can explain in a book, but in a movie would either just look weird, or require clunky exposition. Kind of like the sapho stains on mentats’ lips. Lynch did it and it just looked silly, so I can’t say I’m disappointed that they only have a thin painted line in this one.
What was the second?
Syfy did a TV Miniseries adaptation of at least the first two Dune novels.
The Syfy mini series
SyFy mini-series from 20+ years ago. Am trying to find it somewhere online as I missed it the first time it was released.
There was a Sci-Fi Channel miniseries adaptation in 2000 with William Hurt and Ian McNeice.
The Sci Fi Channel Dune miniseries from the early 2000s, which is kind of fun. It was largely filmed like a stage production/BBC historical drama and made good use of dynamic theater lighting techniques.
its not even accurate, they’re not stutter stepping on the sand.
They’re walking WITH rhythm, and they WILL attract the worm.
They were not listening to the Fremen prophet FatBoy Slim
They’ve got rhythmThey’ve got musicThey’ve got sandworms
Who could ask for anything more?
There’s also that goof where Duncan Idaho is clearly eating an açai bowl and Paul is ordering something from Drizly.
I know right. Everyone knows that is effective against worms and Harvey Weinstein.
Sounds like Villeneuve may make the same mistake as Lynch, and make Paul an actual messiah as opposed to someone who plays one on TV in order to seek revenge. Hope I’m wrong.
I didn’t see him summoning rains from the heavens at least.
Oof, yeah. That moment really drove home the fact that Lynch was all-in on the messiah bit.
And how can this be?
I’m hoping not, but man do a lot of people think that Paul is the good guy. Or that there are any good guys at all.
Yeah. I mean he does have a hero’s journey of sorts, but ultimately he pretends to be something he’s not in order to achieve his goals, and ends up unleashing forces he absolutely can’t control, becoming trapped by them.Edit: …and causing untold suffering throughout the known universe, unable to stop it despite having despotic powers.
Even 12 or 13 year old me got that from the ending of the first book, I went away thinking “he’s not a good guy at all…”
Paul isn’t really shown to be terrible until Messiah. I hope there are cracks and red flags on the way, like in the book. But I doubt we will get many of this in pt 1. Praying to Shai Hulud we get a second that incorporates Messiah into it.
He’s unethical yet sympathetic in most of Dune, but by the end he’s reflecting on what he’s done, from turning people like Stilgar into a mindless follower to the whole jihad thing, and shows some regret.That gets explored further in Messiah, yeah.
Shitty headline. Do better.
Yeah, I’m not even an overly PC kind of guy, but is that something we’re still supposed to do, repurpose LGBT terms as insults to mock somebody’s appearance? That’s something I would expect from a grade schooler or a Trump supporter, not a functioning adult.
I think it has come all the way around to the point that hip people can “reclaim” such terms, and say that “twink” originated in the LGBT community rather than being applied from the outside. “Queer” used to be an insult, but is now mostly a self-applied label.
Self-applied and within the community is the key, I thought…
I was under the impression Cameron is part of that.
I have no idea, but that would explain how the headline got through…
Ummmm… where’s the pug?
now that is what the sandworm should look like. holy SHIT.
Sir, if you don’t put your pants back on, we are going to have ask to leave this Arby’s.
Long and brown and wearing a crucifix?
Wait so they didn’t film the two parts together to release a year apart or something, but instead made the first one, and may or may not make the second depending on box office? That seems dumb, though I guess if even the first one cost some tremendous amount it makes some sense.
Dennis Villeneuve’s stuff is critically acclaimed, but it doesn’t exactly hit that ROI
Yeah, given how Blade Runner 2049 did, I’m just kind of baffled that any exec would look at those numbers and those elements and say “You know what’ll be gangbusters? Doing that again!”I would have thought that Villenueve would maybe do a couple more lower budgeted movies that would be more likely to make a profit before taking another big swing at a niche-y science fiction epic. But, I guess he’s decided that he’s going to go big or go home.
At least the films he makes are always interesting enough, and well regarded enough, that even if Dune flops he probably won’t have too difficult a time getting low-mid eight figure budgets to work with.
This is what worries me. Sci-fi is still a niche genre. I love Blade Runner 2049 but it was far from a financial success (and even critical success to some). If Dune (part 1) also doesn’t succeed will part 2 be canned? It could be Ralph Bakshi’s Lord of The Rings all over again.
I think there’s a pretty strong likelihood that we don’t get Dune Part II. Unlike say, the Atlas Shrugged trilogy, I don’t think there’s nearly enough ideological attachment to the story to justify putting a lot of money into making a sequel that is certain to flop.
Wow those bits of humor felt forced. Like some exec watched the film and was like Hey, we need a few of those funny Avengers-style jokes in here, what do you say, Denis?Also this just confirms how derivative the visuals are from the 1984 movie
Well, it is a pretty humorless story.
It’s a Hollywood blockbuster, so they’re going to have to stupid it up to some extent if they expect ’Muricans to pony up their hard earned cash…
I saw Duncan Idaho more as a prop comic.
wow, that sounded heterosexual
Will the IMAX version be available on streaming?
Only if you have a verifiable IMAX set-up in your home.
I hope there’s more absolutely fuck-off massive buildings in the film, there’s disappointingly few of them in the trailer. Dune gives good building
Hope this has cat milk.
Or at the very least some freshly squeezed mouse juice.
I’m holding out for a beetle juice box.
Ooops, this is rather cringe inducing.
Hopefully the movie won’t be a “young adult «Gladiator» in space”, but that’s what this trailer promises.
Yeah, this trailer gives me significantly less optimism than the first. Too much sappy heartfelt faux-inspirational dialogue, too much Paul in an Iron Man suit, too many Hollywood one liners…
“Dances with Sandworms”
yeah, yeah, I know Dune was written way WAY before any of these films and there’s much more to it, but it’s hard not to make the comparison. (It’s like the John Carter film situation)
This trailer is less exciting to me than the last one. I’m still planning to see the film, of course, but we’ll see where we are with variants and what not before I decide to see it in a theater. Sorry, Denis.
So too ends the first great tale of DUNE!They should end it with this. With the same narrator from Bakshi’s Lord of The Rings adaptation. Just in case. . .
Still waiting for a really wild-looking Navigator.
If you’ve read the books, Chalamet is perfect for the role. Jason Momoa, considerably less so. Ironic that all the incels/Trumptards crying about the race and gender change of Kynes are mum about the partial whitewashing of the sole POC in the books. But my biggest reservation is with changing the Harkonnens into creepy mutant space alien people. Be interesting to see how they reconcile that with certain plot points later on in the book…
Yeah, Mamoa’s casting is the only one that makes no sense to me. That’s really not how I imagined Duncan Idaho.
Nor how he’s described in the book. But I can overlook that. The Harkonnens and the Iron Man superhero suit not so much…
I imagined Duncan Idaho would more like serial killer Duncan from Idaho.
https://idahonews.com/news/local/report-north-idaho-serial-killer-joseph-duncan-is-dead
I’m guessing that being Chalamet’s build rather than Momoa’s build might require a very different sword technique.
Hype is gone. Just stream it.
Is Timothée’s character Paul gay?
I can’t believe I JUST figured out Dune is a white savior story.
It isn’t. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Paul is not a good person and the books make it clear pretty quick that he is a destructive, confused despot. Also, the Fremen are white.
He does see that the way leads to a jihad that sweeps across the galaxy and seeks to prevent it. But then at the end he goes “fuck it, let’s get some revenge”.
Dune’s original Zensunni settlers were supposed to be Caucasian?
It’s not. It’s a white exploiter/colonizer story. Like, Paul and Jessica (and Leto) explicitly plan to exploit the Fremen for their own benefit. The Fremen benefit somewhat, but are essentially exploited.
But there’s also all of that stuff where he’s the Chosen One who becomes the first person to ride the sandworm and bring rain, right? The trope of the white man adopted into the foreign culture, then becomes better at their culture than they are, then becomes their leader. “The Man Called Horse” and “The Last Samurai” sort of thing. Ultimately their skin color doesn’t matter; it’s a Western narrative of the superior culture (which is always white in adaptations) and the inferior noble savage (which is white a lot of the time just because of casting but isn’t supposed to be).
In the books at least, Paul isn’t the first person to ride a sandworm,
in fact the first time he rides a sandworm is because it’s basically
something Fremen children do, and the fact that he hasn’t ridden a
sandworm is interfering with his authority. Additionally, while he does
start to terraform Arrakis into a nicer place, later books make it clear
that this isn’t as good as it seems.
I’m not sure what you mean? In the book, he’s not the first person to ride a sandworm. The Fremen have done it for ages and they teach him how to do it. In fact, the first time he does it, he messes up quite a bit and gets yelled at. He also never brings rain.Paul was explicitly trained to exploit their culture in order to rise to leadership. He uses his training, technology, and familiarity with the larger imperial system to become their leader.
I’m thinking of the movie then, when it rains at the end.
Thinking about it and what you said, I think the flaw in Dune’s effort to deconstruct the white savior/messiah concept is that the story is still almost entirely from Paul’s POV. And when it’s not his POV, it’s still not from the POV of the Fremen. So the audience’s sympathies still tend to lean towards Paul and Paul’s interests. So even when he’s clearly using the Fremen, it feels “right” because we sort of want Paul to get what he wants. The later books push back on this, but I do think that’s the weakness of Dune as a criticism of all these colonialist tropes.
It would be a MUCH different book if it wasn’t from Paul’s POV. Hell, “The Last Samurai” would have been an amazing movie if it was from the point of view of the actual samurai, watching Tom Cruise strut around like a dope. But it’s not.
Every Fremen is required to ride a worm as a rite of passage; he’s not the first. The Fremen have been working with Liet Kynes to terraform the planet. Kynes is the savior of the Fremen and he is killed. Paul’s part is because he knows the weaknesses of the exploiters and uses those weaknesses to repel them. The book clearly demonstrates again and again that the Fremen are the superior culture; all others are corrupt.
Yes I’m aware of what the “noble savage” construction is. That’s the Fremen, right?I was thinking of whoever the main character was in Avatar, when he road the big bird.
He’s not really the Chosen One. The Bene Gesserit subtly influence Fremen religion so that when the Kwisatz Haderach is born, he’ll be recognized as a messiah due to his (natural, but prodigy-level) abilities. The Fremen are also conditioned to be predisposed to revere Reverend Mothers.This is called the Missionaria Protectiva, and is part of the BG plan to rule the known universe from behind the scenes. They just happen to lose control of Paul.He also has no supernatural ability to bring rain. He just continues the work of Pardot and Liet Kynes (planetologists), who had a multi-generational plan to terraform Arrakis using large caches of painstakingly captured water. Science!
“he’s the Chosen One”No. Paul is the penultimate stage of a eugenics program meant to produce The Chosen One but was supposed to be a girl and that fucked everything up.
“the first person to ride the sandworm”No. Children learn to do it when they’re quite young and they make fun of Paul for being so old and unable to ride himself.
“bring rain”No. Just No.
I’m super-excited, and I’ll be in the theater opening day (if the Delta variant hasn’t “Walking Dead”-ed the country by then).But I have to ask: is there no color in the future? Is everything gray? I mean, the Bedouins and other desert-dwelling peoples make extensive use of bright colors in their cultures… so why couldn’t the stillsuits maybe have a pop of red or something? The Atreides’ outfits couldn’t have some yellow or green?
Their bibles are in color, we know that much.
Not enough bad guys in the trailer. House Atreides is Dullsville.
Herbert’s mythical world was too dense, too “unadapta” to translate to film.As long as they pass out glossaries to every audience member, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Also, WHY are the Fremen stillsuits dark-colored? They live on a hot desert planet.
I know there’s a glossary in the book, but the inscrutability that it implies just isn’t there. It is no worse than most fantasy/sci-fi. “Did that guy say ‘Jed-eye’? What the fuck is a ‘jed eye’? Forget this, I’m out!”
Counterpoint: They actually had to pass out glossaries to theatre audiences when the first Dune movie came out.
This I remember…
Ah, right, I missed that you were referencing a real-life thing.Still, while I could use a guide for most Lynch movies, I’m not convinced Dune needed one.
FremensSigh. I guess that’s closer than “Freman.”
It’s encouraging to see some progress being made. Less snark this time too!
The IOC is basically the Harkonnens. Anyone who watches the Olympics needs to realize they are the bad guy in the movies. The Olympics must end and if DUNE advertises during them, nope, not gonna see it.
“Rabban! I place you in charge of athletics. It’s yours to squeeze, as I promised. I want you to squeeze and squeeze and squeeze!”
Isn’t “twink” a pejorative? Are we just using slurs in our headlines now? Or did the jargon change again…?
It’s definitely not a pejorative. “Twink” belongs to the same classification system that includes “bears, “otters,” etc., and is a comparable word to describe a certain type of gay male in the community.
Now, if you went ahead and called someone a twinkle-toes, the original term, that might be different.
It’s totally offensive to my creamy white butt
They can keep urging people to see it in theaters, but as long as I can keep streaming movies at release, I’ll keep doing that instead. I’ve never found the theater experience enjoyable enough to put up with the crowds and noise from other patrons. Plus, if I need to use the restroom, the theater won’t pause the movie for me.
A friend of mine got together 20 or so people and rented a small theater at a local MJR for like $300 to watch Black Widow the week it premiered. So that’s like $15 per person to have a group of vaccinated friends hanging out safely, getting slightly tipsy, watching a fun movie that benefitted from a big screen. The smaller handpicked crowd of like-minded film enthusiasts meant that while we were friendly and a little talky, we weren’t the rowdy obnoxious jerks on their phones kicking the seats and spilling popcorn, but we were well spaced in the small auditorium, and we did get to enjoy the communal experience of watching the movie together. Now, that same group would probably not want to join me for Dune, but I’m going to try and scrounge up some people in October. I do feel like there’s virtually no chance we’ll ever see a part 2 to this, however.
Looks terrific! Nice to see that they got the ornithopters right, and I like the depiction of personal shields.IMO Denis Villeneuve doesn’t know how to make a less-than-excellent movie, and I see nothing here to change my opinion.
Sandworms.
You hate ‘em, right?
I hate ‘em myself!
I will be devastated if we are in lock down mode when this thing’s supposed to hit theaters.
Looks pretty good!
not sure what’s going on in that scene where paul’s wearing power armor and stabbing dudes? the only big battles he was involved in were at the end of the book, which i figured we weren’t getting to in this one. it might be a vision of the jihad, but the whole point of the jihad was that he wasn’t actively participating, it was something that was done in his name regardless of his wishes.anyway, the cgi in that scene looks pretty bad
I’m just glas it’s not another Star Wars movie. I hurt my self rolling my eyes after the Rise of Skywalker
Pugs or gtfo:
Also, colors – dear God, why is everyone so afraid of colors these days?
What the fuck is this headline for?
I have yet to see a coffee service.
Prince of Space?
They should have started with The Butlerian Jihad. It’s a better introduction, has all the set pieces that Dune has, while avoiding comparisons the previous efforts, and Erasmus and the Titans would make for epic CG.
‘Twink’ seems problematic here.
It’s like a slower, plainer and more self-serious version of that David Lynch movie!
I’m keeping my fingers crossed. I just re-watched Lynch’s Dune for the first time in easily forever, and ten year old Rogue loved it. My takeaway now is that the visuals are still great, but it’s all scenes that you’re just supposed to figure out how they are all connected. That and, as usual, Sir Patrick Stewart elevates any film he is in. I also forgot how stacked that cast was. They really did do it right with the casting for this new version. I think Chalamet may be out of his league, but we’ll see.
I have not read the books nor have I seen any of the prior adaptations, and after watching the trailer, I am not at all interested in this one either.
For the people who aren’t interested in this film because of 1) the books/prior film or 2) Denis Villeneuve, I wonder what they thought of the trailer and if it will put them in theater seats in October.