what you need to know before watching the movie

The story of Dune

Dune was released as a novel in 1965. Its author, Frank Herbert, achieved enormous success and not only among fans of fantasy literature and science fiction. This encouraged him to write. Dune’s messiah e Children of Dune, with which he completed a trilogy that would later give way to God Emperor of Dune, Dune Heretics y Dune Chapterhouse.

David Lynch, one of his followers, did not hesitate to make a film and in 1984 he released Dunebut it failed to catch the public and the film was an absolute failure. Today, however, it has defenders who consider it a cult title. The saga came to have a television format, but we had to wait until 2021 to talk again with enthusiasm about Herbert’s work.

He Dune de Villeneuve

When it was announced in 2016 that Denis Villeneuve would direct a new version, the expectation was enormous. He was one of the most acclaimed directors of the moment, with hits under his belt such as the arrival y Blade Runner 2049. To increase the desire to see the film, Eric Roth was turned to co-write the script: we are talking about a Hollywood heavyweight, who had achieved six Oscar nominations and had won for Forrest Gum. The new Dune It was presented at the Venice International Film Festival, achieved six Oscar nominations and won six.

With so much joy the launch of the second part was prepared. And there will be a third, since the director and Warner Bros. were clear that they wanted to make a saga similar to that of The Lord of the Rings.

The second part of Dune

Three years later, Dune, part 2 was released and, once again, the expectation was maximum. A powerful campaign had been carried out, revealing just what was right and creating unprecedented curiosity. But what was most striking was the casting and especially two actors: Florence Pugh, very popular for Little Women, and Austin Butler, who had swept Elvis. But there was more and the madness grew when names like Christopher Walken, Léa Seydoux and Anya Taylor-Joy began to appear. Three signings that were three magnets for the public, especially the latter: she was the actress of the moment thanks to hits like Queen’s Gambit, Emma, ​​The Menu.

They all joined the main cast, the protagonists of the saga: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, Charlotte Rampling y Javier Bardem,

Filming scenarios

The film offers wonderful images and invites the viewer to travel to very different places. Spaces such as the Brion Tomb, in the Italian town of Altivole, work by Carlo Scarpa to house the tomb of the businessman Giuseppe Brionwhich is considered an icon of brutalism. The team moved to other places and cities such as Budapest, in Hungary, Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, and wild areas of Jordan and Namibia.

The powerful soundtrack

Composer Hans Zimmer, a Hollywood legend, won the Oscar for the score to the first part of Dune and he repeated it with delight in the second part. When Villeneuve and Zimmer were filming Blade Runner 2049 They were already clear that they would do the saga together. “The first person I spoke to was Hans and he became obsessed with the idea of ​​trying to create music from another world, from another time,” the director told Variety. He I wanted the score to be spiritual and very feminine, to highlight the power of the Bene Gesserit and especially Lady Jessica, mother of Paul Atreides who is called to be the Messiah.

Zimmer understood the soundtracks of the three films as a single soundtrack and worked on them that way. But it had its negative consequences: the music of the second part was not accepted by the Academy. “I was disqualified because I was using material from the first film in the second, but it’s not a sequel. It’s the culmination; both films form the same story arc. So I was supposed to eliminate all the character themes, write new themes and develop them? “It’s a stupid rule,” he said.

Curiosities

Stellan Skarsgård’s physical transformation is amazing. The actor had to support very heavy 40 kg prostheses which took eight hours to place and two hours to remove. To avoid going to the toilet, I drank very little and took Imodium pills.

Austin Butler revealed that he improvised the scene in which he kisses Stellan Skarsgard (who plays his uncle Feyd-Rautha). In addition, he underwent vocal training to sound as close as possible to the Swedish actor.

The language that the Fremen usually use in novels is called Chakobsa, and derives from Royal Arabic, although it also contains parts of French, Greek, Romani and Slavic, including important modifications of Hebrew and Sanskrit.

Stephen McKinley Henderson y Tim Blake Nelson They shot some scenes for the film, playing Thufir Hawat and Count Hasimir Fenring, but none of them appear in the final cut. Of course, they are mentioned in a special thank you in the final credits.

Spierberg and Nolan’s reactions

Steven Spielberg called the film “one of the most brilliant science fiction films I’ve ever seen.” A phrase that sounded like a blessing to Denis Villeneuve. “Denis, you made the desert look like an ocean. The sandworms were like sea snakes. And that scene surfing on the sandworms is one of the best things I’ve ever seen. Director Christopher Nolan called the film “a miraculous work of adaptation.”

The film aspired to five Oscars, including Best Picture, but only achieved two: Best Sound and Best Special Effects. The sequence in which the characters ride sandworms took 44 days to film and it had to be done on a set of 189 square meters. Upon first reading it in the script, cinematographer Greig Fraser said: How the hell are we going to do that!?

RTVE Play bets on cinema

RTVE Play enters a week full of premieres and news. Great productions like the British one 1917from San Mendes, and Woundedwith Samuel L. Jackson. Both are measured with comedies like The Holiday y Something to remember. cousins ​​and The tenderness They represent Spanish cinema. To celebrate Christmas, three deliveries of Alone at home.