Like Anakin Skywalker, Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve is really tired of sand.
Speaking to Empire, Villeneuve dove into how much time and effort he, Part Two production designer Patrice Vermette, and cinematographer Greig Fraser spent trying to find acceptable sand iconography for the movie’s camera shots. “For my mise-en-scène, I’ll want a particular shaped dune. But Greig Fraser, on the other hand, will need that same shape to be in a specific light,” he revealed, admitting, “So Patrice spent weeks and weeks casting sand dunes in the desert! We looked like madmen.”
Though Dune: Part Two‘s trailers highlighted plenty of the desert planet Arrakis’ environments and sandworms, Villeneuve semi-joked that the pre-production work had taken its toll on him. “I still find it every morning in my shoes,” he said, describing himself, Fraser, and Vermette as “sand-traumatised, for sure.” However, in previous interviews, Villeneuve also stressed that protagonist Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) will need to master the desert in order to win over Arrakis’ Fremen nomads and defeat House Harkonnen. Describing Part Two as a “war movie,” the director teased Paul’s relationship with Fremen Chani (Zendaya) as being crucial to this victory, stating, “At the very core is a love story between Paul and Chani. How Paul will gain her trust, how she will open her heart to him, and how they will find a way to free Chani’s world from the Harkonnen grip. It’s a much more emotional movie.”
Originally scheduled for a November release, Dune: Part Two has since been delayed to next March. The sequel is just one of many films whose release dates were pushed back by the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strikes, including Zendaya’s tennis thriller Challengers, Ethan Coen’s Drive-Away Dolls, and Warner Bros.’ Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, amongst others. According to new reports, Part Two‘s November IMAX screens will now be used for the upcoming superhero film The Marvels and Hunger Games prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds, along with Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.
Following its 2021 release, Villeneuve’s first Dune adaptation received universal acclaim and took home multiple awards, including six Oscars. Regarding any future projects, Villeneuve has expressed interest in making a third movie inspired by author Frank Herbert’s 1969 sequel Dune Messiah. Part Two, meanwhile, will introduce more characters from Herbert’s original novel like antagonist Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (Austin Butler), with both Villeneuve and co-star Stephen McKinley Henderson praising Butler’s performance.
Dune: Part Two is set to release in theaters on March 15, 2024.
Source: Empire