Legendary buys film and tv rights to Dune [movie] Dune 2021

[$iljanus]

And Dave Batista is?

Bladerunner.

He was barely in 2049.

But he was good, right?
That's all I know him from, so I really don't have any strong convictions on this one.

You never saw Guardians of the Galaxy? He was Drax.

BR 2049 showed that he could do a different kind of character.

And in his small role he was good and I wish they had expanded his role a bit.

[Archinerd]

Oh yeah, I did see both of those movies.
Drax was fun, not Dune fun, but like you say BR2049 shows he has some range.

[hepcat]

And in his small role he was good and I wish they had expanded his role a bit.

I was surprised to find out that was him. It was a VERY different role. He definitely has some range.

As I said, I don't dislike Momoa. As a matter of fact, I think he's a decent enough action star. And I'm not saying he should stay in that niche, just that his "bro" based personality doesn't seem like a good fit for this movie. At least as far as his other roles have shown.

[Isgrimnur]

BR 2049 showed that he could do a different kind of character.

Spectre sure didn't.

[Holman]

Of course Beast Rabban is a sadistic brute whose political function is to squeeze Arrakis and make Feyd-Rautha look like a Harkonnen savior.

I imagine Bautista will have fun with the role.

[Hyena]

I can EASILY see Momoa as a fremen. I could see him as Jamis, maybe even Stilgar, depending on how young they wanted to go with that character. And as Jamis, you wouldn't have to put up with his acting for very long...

[hepcat]

A Fremen would be fine. But Duncan Idaho requires more subtlety than I think Momoa is capable of.

[Holman]

At the risk of sounding predictably SJW, I wonder why they're going with such a thoroughly white cast.

DUNE is set 40,000 years in the future. Surely our racial categories no longer pertain or even exist (even if Herbert sometimes still plays to 20th-century ethno-cultural tropes). It would have been a nice touch to cast non-white actors in some of these roles in order to make the point that everything in the Duniverse is that much different from today. Even a black Leto, white Jessica, and Asian Paul would work--no one's cranky objections would matter because acting is acting and race in Dune is different from anything we know.

(Momoa counts as non-white, I know, but then Duncan Idaho is always an outsider in the books. The movie could do more.)

[$iljanus]

At the risk of sounding predictably SJW, I wonder why they're going with such a thoroughly white cast.

DUNE is set 40,000 years in the future. Surely our racial categories no longer pertain or even exist (even if Herbert sometimes still plays to 20th-century ethno-cultural tropes). It would have been a nice touch to cast non-white actors in some of these roles in order to make the point that everything in the Duniverse is that much different from today. Even a black Leto, white Jessica, and Asian Paul would work--no one's cranky objections would matter because acting is acting and race in Dune is different from anything we know.

(Momoa counts as non-white, I know, but then Duncan Idaho is always an outsider in the books. The movie could do more.)

I hate that bringing up these questions runs the risk of labeling you as a "SJW" which personally I find a compliment anyway. So don't feel bashful bringing this up.

I think that Lance Riddick would have made a great Gurney Halleck or Stilgar. In a time thousands of years in the future there's room for faces other than white and to their credit you have (potentially) Javier Bardem, Dave Bautista, and whoever is playing Channi.

[pr0ner]

At the risk of sounding predictably SJW, I wonder why they're going with such a thoroughly white cast.

DUNE is set 40,000 years in the future. Surely our racial categories no longer pertain or even exist (even if Herbert sometimes still plays to 20th-century ethno-cultural tropes). It would have been a nice touch to cast non-white actors in some of these roles in order to make the point that everything in the Duniverse is that much different from today. Even a black Leto, white Jessica, and Asian Paul would work--no one's cranky objections would matter because acting is acting and race in Dune is different from anything we know.

(Momoa counts as non-white, I know, but then Duncan Idaho is always an outsider in the books. The movie could do more.)

I hate that bringing up these questions runs the risk of labeling you as a "SJW" which personally I find a compliment anyway. So don't feel bashful bringing this up.

I think that Lance Riddick would have made a great Gurney Halleck or Stilgar. In a time thousands of years in the future there's room for faces other than white and to their credit you have (potentially) Javier Bardem, Dave Bautista, and whoever is playing Channi.

Don't forget Oscar Isaac.

[Daehawk]

http://www.darkhorizons.com/maclachlan- ... -thoughts/

[McNutt]

I'm in the middle of the first book and can't tell if the Dune universe is set in Earth's future or if these people are not descendants of us. Is this ever clarified?

[Holman]

I'm in the middle of the first book and can't tell if the Dune universe is set in Earth's future or if these people are not descendants of us. Is this ever clarified?

Yes, it's Earth's future, but it's so far beyond us (maybe 40,000 years?) that our history is essentially forgotten. Various waves of catastrophe and crisis make this plausible, although Herbert is still fond of directly connecting his characters to elements of mythic human history (e.g. Agamemnon and the House of Atreus/Atreides) that would have been long since diluted. Herbert was a Jungian, after all.

(BTW, If you're reading DUNE, the appendices in the end make some of this more clear. Appendix II, on religion and space travel, is a masterpiece. And you can read the appendices before you've finished the book--it might even make more sense that way.)

Of course, once you're 40K in the future with (our) history forgotten, does it really matter whether Greece or the USA ever existed at all? Herbert's foundations are generic and monomythic, so they're probably meant to be taken as more universal than historically contingent.

[McNutt]

I am getting very tired of Herbert's use of the word "presently." He won't stop using it! "Presently, Paul picked up the cup." "Presently, the Baron laughed."

[Redfive]

I'm listening to it with my free trial of Audible.

So far I'm quite happy with the readers and the occasional music in this version.

[Combustible Lemur]

I'm in the middle of the first book and can't tell if the Dune universe is set in Earth's future or if these people are not descendants of us. Is this ever clarified?

Yes, it's Earth's future, but it's so far beyond us (maybe 40,000 years?) that our history is essentially forgotten. Various waves of catastrophe and crisis make this plausible, although Herbert is still fond of directly connecting his characters to elements of mythic human history (e.g. Agamemnon and the House of Atreus/Atreides) that would have been long since diluted. Herbert was a Jungian, after all.

(BTW, If you're reading DUNE, the appendices in the end make some of this more clear. Appendix II, on religion and space travel, is a masterpiece. And you can read the appendices before you've finished the book--it might even make more sense that way.)

Of course, once you're 40K in the future with (our) history forgotten, does it really matter whether Greece or the USA ever existed at all? Herbert's foundations are generic and monomythic, so they're probably meant to be taken as more universal than historically contingent.

There are some fantastic narration/explanations by some random guy on youtube with an encyclopedic knowledge of all the books and appendices including the Brian Herbert's and their inconcistencies.

ideas of ice and fire

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[pr0ner]

Hans Zimmer is going to be providing the score for this movie.

They really are going A-List everything.

[Redfive]

I am getting very tired of Herbert's use of the word "presently." He won't stop using it! "Presently, Paul picked up the cup." "Presently, the Baron laughed."

Still working through the audio version but I snicker every time (and there are many) I hear 'presently.'

EDIT: I found a PDF of it online and a quick search says that 'presently' was used 58 times!

[McNutt]

I haven't used that word 58 times in my life. What makes it worse is that every time Herbert used it, the word made no difference. The sentence meant the same without it.

[Isgrimnur]

Spoiler:

Presently I am reading Dune. Presently Frank Herbert is using the word ‘presently’ again. Presently it no longer surprises me.

[Daehawk]

Is it Frank or Brian using it?

[Holman]

Spoiler:

Presently I am reading Dune. Presently Frank Herbert is using the word ‘presently’ again. Presently it no longer surprises me.

I did a quickie full-text search of DUNE. "Presently" appears 58 times.

It's a long book, but it's an unusual adverb, so yeah, it seems like a stylistic quirk.

By comparison, "quickly" appears 23 times, "immediately" 27 times, and "finally" 8 times, and they are much more common in most written English.

[Isgrimnur]

Actions were much more immediate in the 19th century.

[raydude]

Having used the Litany Against Fear to conquer my own fears I will presently forgive the perceived overuse of "presently".

[Holman]

Actions were much more immediate in the 19th century.

The tool I used!

[Holman]

First spike is David Lynch, second is the rise of the World Wide Web?

[Redfive]

Spoiler:

Presently I am reading Dune. Presently Frank Herbert is using the word ‘presently’ again. Presently it no longer surprises me.

I did a quickie full-text search of DUNE. "Presently" appears 58 times.

O'Rly?

[Jaymann]

Presently it appears 58 times!

[Isgrimnur]

Can we put this to bed immediately?

[Jeff V]

Presently it appears 58 times!

"it" only appears 58 times? Now that seems low.

[Lagom Lite]

They're going to make a tv series about the Bene Gesserit to go alongside the film. And I heard rumors of video games and a pen & paper RPG. They're really trying to make a franchise out of this.

I really hope this will be successful; the themes and concepts of the original Dune novel really resonate with our time (ecology, politics, the dangers of charismatic leaders, the corruption of power).

Now. I'd love it if the first scene of the new movie were to be something like this:

We see a stormy, dark, cloudy sky. We hear thunder in the distance and harsh winds, but otherwise silence. Camera pans slowly downward to see a black and green Atreides flag stuck in the ground, waving violently in the wind. Camera pans further down to reveal the ground is covered in skulls. Camera zooms slowly out, revealing a vast field of skulls, greater and greater as the camera keeps zooming. Fade to black.

Because Paul Muad'Dib is no savior. He is the cause of a religious galactic civil war on the scale of billions. And he knows it will happen because he can see the future and the cause of his actions, yet he fails to act. At most, Paul is a victim, but really, he is the villain.

As much as I adore the 1984 Lynch movie, this is the one aspect I really feel needs to come across on screen: Frank Herbert meant Dune to warn against charismatic leaders.

I'd like it if the new movie is more about politics and intrigue rather than Lynchian nightmare fuel (the Baron should be a Machiavellian mastermind, not an evil cartoon)...

High hopes…

[Jeff V]

They're going to make a tv series about the Bene Gesserit to go alongside the film. And I heard rumors of video games and a pen & paper RPG. They're really trying to make a franchise out of this.

There's been video game, some quite famous (or infamous, depending on your taste). I wouldn't be surprised if there was also a Dune RPG some point in history. The Avalon-Hill Dune board game is one of my all-time favorites. I wonder if this Bene Gesserit series is going to leech its script off the Brian Herbert novels?

Because Paul Muad'Dib is no savior. He is the cause of a religious galactic civil war on the scale of billions. And he knows it will happen because he can see the future and the cause of his actions, yet he fails to act. At most, Paul is a victim, but really, he is the villain.

Remember the name of the second Dune book? IIRC, they compare him with both Jeebus and Hitler. Which is odd, because Dune occurs many thousands of years later and both would be obscure ancient footnotes by then.

As much as I adore the 1984 Lynch movie, this is the one aspect I really feel needs to come across on screen: Frank Herbert meant Dune to warn against charismatic leaders.

I'd like it if the new movie is more about politics and intrigue rather than Lynchian nightmare fuel (the Baron should be a Machiavellian mastermind, not an evil cartoon)...

Your assessment of the portrayal of the Baron was my #1 gripe against the Lynch film. Well, that, and an additional and necessary 3 hours or so were left on the cutting room floor. Beast Rabban portrayed as a cartoon - fine, although he was more sadistic than Lynch gave him credit for. But the Baron was certainly more cunning...we are to believe Leto was that dim so as to be out-witted by the likes of the Lynchian Baron?

[Lagom Lite]

Remember the name of the second Dune book?

"Dune: Messiah". The sequel books are much weaker than the first one, but certainly worth reading (especially God-Emperor of Dune IMO, which is about the actual savior of humanity; Paul's son).

There is this reference in the novels to "the Golden Age of Earth", at this point mythology since no one seems to remember where Earth even is anymore, but which would explain references to our times.

[Holman]

Remember the name of the second Dune book? IIRC, they compare him with both Jeebus and Hitler. Which is odd, because Dune occurs many thousands of years later and both would be obscure ancient footnotes by then.

IIRC, the Jesus and "Emperor Hitler" and suchlike references come from Paul and Leto II, who had access to endless lifetimes of memories.

Of course it still feels like a massive coincidence that they would reference figures who just happen to be of great significance to (out of all of human history) Herbert's readers.

[Sepiche]

we are to believe Leto was that dim so as to be out-witted by the likes of the Lynchian Baron?

When the first book starts, the Baron had been being outmaneuvered by Leto (or really Thufir) at every turn for years, but one of the major points of the book was the Baron had to go far outside the "rules" to actually best Leto.

Both breaking Yueh, and getting the aid of the Sardaukar were considered so far beyond the pale they didn't factor in to Thufir's calculations.

[Holman]

we are to believe Leto was that dim so as to be out-witted by the likes of the Lynchian Baron?

When the first book starts, the Baron had been being outmaneuvered by Leto (or really Thufir) at every turn for years, but one of the major points of the book was the Baron had to go far outside the "rules" to actually best Leto.

Both breaking Yueh, and getting the aid of the Sardaukar were considered so far beyond the pale they didn't factor in to Thufir's calculations.

Yeah. The Baron didn't outmaneuver anyone. Shaddam IV did. He gave Leto a privilege too good to refuse.

I guess the Baron's one effective scheme was turning Dr. Yueh, something that was supposed to be impossible. (Although it seems like it was really pretty simple. Did no one ever think of taking a hostage before?)

[Daehawk]

Filming Has Wrapped On Villeneuve’s “Dune”

[Holman]

Still haven't heard who plays Thufir Hawat.

IMDB doesn't list anyone in the role.

[Jaymon]

I am getting very tired of Herbert's use of the word "presently." He won't stop using it! "Presently, Paul picked up the cup." "Presently, the Baron laughed."

Dune is a book about a guy who can see the future so perfect its like he is actually there. So its very important for the author to establish exactly when an event is taking place. Thus the use of "presently" to establish that an event is taking place in the present.

[hepcat]

Still haven't heard who plays Thufir Hawat.

IMDB doesn't list anyone in the role.

Then I would assume he'll just play himself.