Frank Herbert’s Dune is a giant, pioneering space epic – over 50 years since its release, the book remains a fascinating exploration of politics, technology, empire, and complex human relationships and struggles. It has been adapted most famously by David Lynch, and now Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve is having a crack.
According to Deadline, the Call Me By Your Name star Timothee Chalamet is in talks to play the lead character. Dune chronicles the journey of Paul Atreides, a young nobleman in a feudal society set in the far off future, where families face off over the powerful, life-enhancing spice Melange. The covetable drug is found only on the desert planet of Arrakis, and Paul has a destiny to fulfil.
Villeneuve has been talking sporadically about this passion project for about a year. Previously speaking to Yahoo! Movies, the director said his remake of Dune would remain much more faithful to the 1964 book than Lynch’s version.
“David Lynch did an adaptation in the 80s that has some very strong qualities. I mean, David Lynch is one of the best filmmakers alive, I have massive respect for him,” Villeneuve said. “But when I saw his adaptation, I was impressed, but it was not what I had dreamed of, so I’m trying to make the adaptation of my dreams. It will not have any link with the David Lynch movie. I’m going back to the book, and going to the images that came out when I read it.”
The Twin Peaks director’s intergalactic art film, starring Kyle MacLachlan in 1984, was weird and expansive – Lynch disliked it so much he tried to get his director’s credit removed. There was a TV mini-series in 2000, while Alejandro Jodorowsky attempted to make a movie in the 70s starring Salvador Dali, Mick Jagger, and Orson Welles.
Villeneuve has been making waves in the sci-fi film genre with last year’s Blade Runner 2049, Arrival, and Sicario.
Chalamet stars this year in Beautiful Boy, as a son battling his meth addiction and a broken relationship with his father, and is also in talks for a role in the Little Women adaptation, directed by Greta Gerwig and reportedly also featuring fellow Lady Bird star Saoirse Ronan.