New Dune adaptation from "Arrival" "Blade Runner 2049" director

[Bug-Eyed Earl]

The book will be split into 2 films.

Timothee Chalamet to play Paul Atreides

Rebecca Ferguson to play Lady Jessica.

I wish Frank Hipper was still around so I could see his opinion. This also makes me nostalgic for all the Jodorowsky bashing from this board's early years; a few years ago a documentary about his hypothetical Dune movie came out and every moment was completely reverent; they conveniently left out how insanely long the movie would have been (10 hours!), so now a lot of online film fans who don't understand the idea of film rights have been clamoring for Jodorowsky to get a chance to finally make his movie, so this version with this director makes me happy- it's the final nail in the Jodorowsky coffin.

[The Romulan Republic]

I tried to read Dune and never could really get into it for some reason, but I might give this a watch.

[Elheru Aran]

I tried to read Dune and never could really get into it for some reason, but I might give this a watch.

The book can be a bit of a slog. Just try to skip all the ecological crap and read the interesting bits. The little appendix on the end going into all the terms helps. The sequels are a little better. Shorter, too. Though I've never read past God-Emperor, which wasn't that impressive; Dune Messiah and Children of Dune are pretty decent. Haven't read Heretics or Chapterhouse. And the general rule of thumb is, if the author line has Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson... just put it down and walk away.

As far as movies go, the Jodorowsky version would have been... interesting. Probably not great-- he's unusually obsessed with sex, and his aesthetic tends towards the wildly fantastic. It would've been a glorious, ugly mess that would've flopped immediately, but get a cult following and be aired on late-night television for decades, all the nippley bits edited out though. Salvador Dali as the Padishah Emperor, enthroned on a massive toilet, on a moving planet-spacecraft made entirely of gold. Gimp-suited Sardaukar. Leto Atreides castrated in a bull-fight. Jessica, using Bene Gesserit sex-magic to conceive Paul from a drop of his father's blood. Thufir Hawat as a ugly dwarf, teaching interminable lessons. The concept work was gorgeous, you have to give him points for that-- that's what happens when you hire famous artists to do your pre-production designs. Chris Foss, Moebius, HR Giger, among others. He basically ripped off most of his own production work once the Dune project flopped and poured it into his Incal/Metabarons universe-- sex-nun Shabda-Oud riding space-whales to conceive the next Metabaron from drops of the previous Metabaron's blood, to give just one example. Gawd Metabarons is weird. Anyway.

He wasn't the only one who did a lot of borrowing though, it's pretty clear that Dino de Laurentiis swiped some of the design work, particularly Giger's work on the Harkonnens, for the Lynch version. Which was also a mess-- there are several versions floating around, the original theatrical version having been heavily trimmed for length and being practically unwatchable. As I understand it, the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries are far more faithful to the books, but suffer from a lack of financing (such as obvious digital effects, but then they were early-2000s).

I also really want to say that there was some European version of Dune. I saw this on late night television, years ago-- probably late 90s or very early 00s. It had a distinct feel of being made either 80s or early 90s. I don't recall much about it, but it definitely wasn't the Lynch version-- the Paul Atreides actor wasn't Kyle Maclachlan, and I do distinctly remember one scene of two nearly naked Fremen drowning a baby sandworm in water before a spice-orgy happened. It was on a French satellite television channel. I've never been able to find it since, though. It might have been part of some SF anthology series rather than an independent movie, but it's hard to say since I only saw snippets as someone was channel-surfing.

Anyway. To get to the point. This will be interesting to see. I'm not sure how thrilled I am about it being split into two films. I'd rather a long movie, and here's a crazy thought-- bring back the intermission if it has to be over two hours. Give people a chance to get up, stretch their legs, take a leak, buy some concessions. Sure it might screw with how movie theaters work these days, but come on. Art-house it if you have to. I'm still disgusted by how they chopped The Hobbit up into three movies when that was a two-movie max book, and could've easily enough been just one.

[Sea Skimmer]

I have a feeling like while the book does have enough material that I can see splitting it into two pieces, that this is going to led to a lot of material being invented, which might not be entirely a bad thing since I'm actually not a big fan of the universe, but may not make for a very good experience. Guess nothing to do but wait for the trailers.

[Lord Revan]

I also really want to say that there was some European version of Dune. I saw this on late night television, years ago-- probably late 90s or very early 00s. It had a distinct feel of being made either 80s or early 90s. I don't recall much about it, but it definitely wasn't the Lynch version-- the Paul Atreides actor wasn't Kyle Maclachlan, and I do distinctly remember one scene of two nearly naked Fremen drowning a baby sandworm in water before a spice-orgy happened. It was on a French satellite television channel. I've never been able to find it since, though. It might have been part of some SF anthology series rather than an independent movie, but it's hard to say since I only saw snippets as someone was channel-surfing.

That sounds like the Scifi-channel mini-series tbh, I can't remember those 2 scenes followed each other (I've seen it once and it was a long time ago) but there was scene of skimpily clad fremen (as in wearing a poncho 10 sizes too small for them) drowning a baby sand worm and a big fremen orgy (can't remember if spice was involved though).

[Elheru Aran]

I also really want to say that there was some European version of Dune. I saw this on late night television, years ago-- probably late 90s or very early 00s. It had a distinct feel of being made either 80s or early 90s. I don't recall much about it, but it definitely wasn't the Lynch version-- the Paul Atreides actor wasn't Kyle Maclachlan, and I do distinctly remember one scene of two nearly naked Fremen drowning a baby sandworm in water before a spice-orgy happened. It was on a French satellite television channel. I've never been able to find it since, though. It might have been part of some SF anthology series rather than an independent movie, but it's hard to say since I only saw snippets as someone was channel-surfing.

That sounds like the Scifi-channel mini-series tbh, I can't remember those 2 scenes followed each other (I've seen it once and it was a long time ago) but there was scene of skimpily clad fremen (as in wearing a poncho 10 sizes too small for them) drowning a baby sand worm and a big fremen orgy (can't remember if spice was involved though).

I had a bit of extra time last night and pulled it up on my phone. Seems someone uploaded the entire thing to Youtube.

The sandworm drowning scene does look about right, but the costumes were different, as was the scenery. The spice orgy was also rather more explicit, with more bare skin everywhere. Also I'm pretty certain the Paul Atreides actor wasn't Alec Newman.

...but it does ring a bell and it was released in December of 2000, so maaaaaaybe. I'd have to watch more than a few fast-forwarded scenes to make sure.

[Gunhead]

Hmm... I think Dune is one of those series with good concepts, that itself didn't realize all that well but were good enough so other people copied them making the Dune an icon amongst scifi fans in particular. Then again I only liked the first three to any notable degree and basically think the follow ups are pretty solidly trash so I'm biased that way.
I think people like the concepts of dune more than they like the actual novels, well I do anyway.
That said I think redoing the original novels is a bit pointless, not saying it couldn't be good but the material does need a lot of rewriting to be adapted into a movie(s). The potential for Dune is there, but I don't think it's in the retelling the story of Paul since we already know how it plays out, but taking the world and expanding it with new events and characters.

-Gunhead

[Q99]

Dune was basically a high water mark for worldbuilding that blew most prior SF out of the water. It was atmospheric, had a heavy emphasis on culture, and had a ton of cool concepts like the mutated navigators and so on. It was a game changer.

And honestly I quite enjoy the old Lynch version, even if it changes some themes (rather than 'the harshest environment creates the strongest warriors' they invented a sound thing).

[Lord Revan]

I also really want to say that there was some European version of Dune. I saw this on late night television, years ago-- probably late 90s or very early 00s. It had a distinct feel of being made either 80s or early 90s. I don't recall much about it, but it definitely wasn't the Lynch version-- the Paul Atreides actor wasn't Kyle Maclachlan, and I do distinctly remember one scene of two nearly naked Fremen drowning a baby sandworm in water before a spice-orgy happened. It was on a French satellite television channel. I've never been able to find it since, though. It might have been part of some SF anthology series rather than an independent movie, but it's hard to say since I only saw snippets as someone was channel-surfing.

That sounds like the Scifi-channel mini-series tbh, I can't remember those 2 scenes followed each other (I've seen it once and it was a long time ago) but there was scene of skimpily clad fremen (as in wearing a poncho 10 sizes too small for them) drowning a baby sand worm and a big fremen orgy (can't remember if spice was involved though).

I had a bit of extra time last night and pulled it up on my phone. Seems someone uploaded the entire thing to Youtube.

The sandworm drowning scene does look about right, but the costumes were different, as was the scenery. The spice orgy was also rather more explicit, with more bare skin everywhere. Also I'm pretty certain the Paul Atreides actor wasn't Alec Newman.

...but it does ring a bell and it was released in December of 2000, so maaaaaaybe. I'd have to watch more than a few fast-forwarded scenes to make sure.

there's different versions of the Scifi channel miniseries as it's USA/France co-production so it's possible that you saw both the french and USA versions and that's playing tricks with your mind.

Since I honestly can't remember any other European adaption of Dune.

[Elheru Aran]

An European version is possible, but Sci-Fi was never one to spend a lot of money on extras-- if there were scenes filmed but not shown in the US, they would have cost more money, particularly as Sci-Fi probably didn't have much penetration in Europe back then (as far as I know).

That said, it's probably the easiest explanation for what I saw, different actors notwithstanding. I won't worry about it too much.

Dune, in many ways, seems like a SF version of Lord of the Rings-- a long novel series with massive world-building. The main difference, I suppose, being that it wasn't as well done, or that science fiction was a fairly popular genre in the 60s-70s ish, and Star Wars ate up a lot of its popularity while there's never really been a big, popular equivalent to LOTR.

[Tandrax218]

The version you are referencing is a sequel to the 1. Dune sci-fi channel miniseries. I think it was about Alya and children of dune, there is one scene where alya ( i think) is dancing in a bikini with a dagger because she is practicing blade work.

Having watched the Lynch movie and then at the time watching the 1.st and 2nd miniseries i as a viewer felt a lot of #CRINGE because the whole concept was so bad,bad effects, cheap Hungaryan extras, dubious actor choices and so forth, the whole thing looked like it was made for poor people of Walmart living in a trailer park and drinking WD-40 instead of moonshine.

Lynch's version is an unsung masterpiece compared to the miniseries.

Also i think it was broadcast on the "Hallmark Channel" a known tv station that made shitty costumes for their productions and bad tv shows..

[SpottedKitty]

He wasn't the only one who did a lot of borrowing though, it's pretty clear that Dino de Laurentiis swiped some of the design work, particularly Giger's work on the Harkonnens, for the Lynch version. Which was also a mess-- there are several versions floating around, the original theatrical version having been heavily trimmed for length and being practically unwatchable.

Ah, so that's why I really wanted to like it but couldn't quite manage. Saw it in the cinema on first release, and some of the scenes, cuts, changes-from-the-book etc made me

Although a few of the worst instances were at least a bit explained when I read the making-of book a few years later...

[Bug-Eyed Earl]

New cast members:
Stellan Skasgard as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides
Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam
Dave Bautista as Count Glossu "The Beast" Rabban
Zendaya as Chani

And Jon Spaihts is re-writing the script. Which is good news, in that he's been involved with movies that were said to be ruined by his scripts being rewritten (such as Damon Lindelof rewriting "Prometheus") so him getting the final crack at the script before filming is a plus.

[Elheru Aran]

New cast members:
Stellan Skasgard as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides
Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam
Dave Bautista as Count Glossu "The Beast" Rabban
Zendaya as Chani

And Jon Spaihts is re-writing the script. Which is good news, in that he's been involved with movies that were said to be ruined by his scripts being rewritten (such as Damon Lindelof rewriting "Prometheus") so him getting the final crack at the script before filming is a plus.

Amusingly, Charlotte Rampling was also cast in Jodorowsky's version, as Jessica Atreides.

Apparently she had issues with a scene he planned where he would have two thousand Algerian soldiers playing Harkonnens dropping trou and laying deuces in front of the Atreides palace...

[Gunhead]

Well, none of those names really mean all that much to me, except Bautista who can, surprisingly, act as Blade Runner 2049 showed us. So I'll withhold the screams of joy, but remain somewhat optimistic this might not actually suck. Special Oscar goes to Elheru Aran for the lovely image of 2000 hairy assed army guys performing a mass defecation, totally wish that had been included in the special edition. Don't lose heart though maybe this future version will make it happen, in HD no less!

-Gunhead

[Bug-Eyed Earl]

New cast members:
Javier Bardem as Stilgar
Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck
Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho

[Bedlam]

Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho

That's not one that I would usually fit to Duncan, but I guess it might work.

[The Romulan Republic]

Well, they've got some damn fine actors on board.

[FaxModem1]

I really enjoyed Blade Runner 2049, so I look forward to this, as he has a keen visual eye when it comes to science fiction.