Legendary acquired film and TV rights to the Frank Herbert novels Dune in 2016, with the intention of making multiple films. Villeneuve chose that film over numerous offers as his followup to Blade Runner 2049. That included James Bond, this well before Danny Boyle came in with his own take for that movie that was drafted by John Hodge.
Chalamet will play the lead, which in the David Lynch-directed original was Kyle MacLachlan. The young nobleman Paul Atreides is the central figure in the series of sprawling epic novels first published in 1965. It is set in the far future involving worlds beyond Earth, ruled over by competing feudal families who control access to a drug called Melange. Known popularly as “spice,” the drug gives its users heightened consciousness and an extended lifespan at the cost of crippling addiction and fatal withdrawal. Spice, use of which makes interstellar travel possible, is found only on the desert planet of Arrakis — aka “Dune” — and as such is the most valuable commodity in the galaxy. The original was a contentious shoot, with Lynch battling his producers and financiers, but Dune has been tapped successfully for the small screen and the version by Villeneuve, after films from Incendies to Sicario, Arrival to Blade Runner 2049, makes for about as anticipated an iconic scifi novel series adaptation as you’ll find in Hollywood, Game of Thrones meets Star Wars.
Chalamet is coming off an acclaimed and Oscar-nominated performance in the Luca Guadagnino-directed Call Me By Your Name, and he follows with another Oscarbait picture, as the title character in Amazon Studios’ Beautiful Boy, the harrowing true chronicle of addiction first depicted in the bestselling father-son memoirs by David and Nic Sheff. Chalamet stars with Steve Carell for director Felix van Groeningen, who wrote the script with Luke Davies, based on the memoirs Beautiful Boy by David Sheff and Tweak by Nic Sheff.
Chalemet is repped by UTA and attorney Lev Ginsburg.
It’s excellent that Villenueve is dividing the book into two parts. Chalemet seems like a good choice for the younger Paul Atreides. He was said to be small for his age and still somewhat innocent. But he’s quite intelligent. Through his Bene Gesserit
mother, he is trained in sophisticated techniques in control of bodily manipulation, individuals and groups. He’s also been trained in deadly combat techniques from men who are legends in their own lifetimes. The second part of the book reveals a Paul who has been hardened by horrible circumstances and becomes a leader of nomadic peoples. The person who plays Paul in the second half of the movie should not be Chalemet. According to the book, the adult Paul is tall and, while still a good person who is loyal to family and friends, is also ruthless. The actor chosen must be able to convey these qualities. According to Frank Herbert, part of Dune’s main message is to examine how people become leaders and how they can lead their people into good or bad circumstances. Another thing that is very important is to tell the audience the reason the story is set tens of thousands of years in the future but the society follows the proscriptions of the Butleran Jihad. That’s why, although set far in the future, the society is feudal and turns it’s back on anything that resembles a computer. A little bit of time must be given to this background. Finally I hope they can adapt this book well. So much of it is internal dialog. It will require clever writing, directing and editing. Look forward to seeing it.
He’s a good ‘sensitive’ actor, but I don’t think he’s right for the role. This is miscasting right in the foundation of the new movie, and I think it’s going to hurt the film immeasureably.
Oh no. Wiil the Cheeto be the future Harkonnen Wanabee?
Wow, just wow! What a great possibility! I really REALLY hope this new imagining of Dune gets made!
It will never match the 80s baroque masterpiece that was Lynch’s Dune. It will be a CGI snoozefest