Dune, coming back to Arrakis
27 years ago the worldwide audience landed on Arrakis for the first time. It’s the planet of Melange, the raw material that the whole universe wants, especially the Houses Atreides and Arkonnen fighting to rule the galaxy. But Dune, the space saga created by Frank Herbert, is much more than this and the directors that handled this material through the years got burnt by the vastness of the world imagined by the American writer. It happened to David Lynch with his movie, one of those projects that became legendary because of its production issues, starting from the clash between the director and the Italian tycoon Dino De Laurentiis. Lynch’s Dune is still a fascinating movie also thanks to its cast. Alejandro Jodorowski tried to make his version of the sci-fi epos because there’s much of the philosophy of the director in the mystic of Paul Atreides.
Now it’s time for Denis Villeneuve to challenge this material. Villeneuve is not afraid of the challenge, he already received the legacy of Blade Runner from Ridley Scott directing its sequel. Blade Runner 2049 divided the fans of the original movie, but it’s still visually stunning. He also came in Venice in 2016 with Arrival, a great example of existential sci-fi.
When the Artistic Director Alberto Barbera announced Dune’s world premiere at Venice 78 there was a tremor in the Force quoting another great star saga. And it’s understandable because is a long-awaited movie with an incredible cast. Timothée Chalamet seems a perfect Paul Muad’Dib and he’s joined by another future star, Zendaya. And then Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Rebecca Ferguson, Jason Momoa, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgaard, Charlotte Rampling, Javier Bardem.
Welcome to Arrakis, welcome to great cinema.
