Everything We Know about Denis Villeneuve’s Dune So Far

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Denis Villeneuve, the arthouse director with a penchant for mainstream success, signed on to direct the notoriously unfilmable sci-fi classic Dune in February of 2017. At that point, the director had recently released the alien contact powerhouse Arrival, and the release of his masterful Blade Runner sequel was still on the horizon. The Canadian director’s name has become synonymous with artistic, thought-provoking films that can engage a mainstream audience. Directors like David Lynch and Alejandro Jorodowsky may have failed to bring Dune to the silver screen properly, but if there’s any contemporary director who can do it right, it’s Villeneuve. Let’s take a look at everything we know so far about Villeneuve’s Dune.

What’s the Length?

Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel may only be around 400 pages, but it manages to convey a remarkably realized sci-fi world, a deep cast of characters, and a complex, thought-provoking plot nonetheless. The density of Herbert’s work has baffled directors for years—Jorodowsky’s failed attempt was pegged to be ten hours long, and Lynch’s 1984 adaptation was panned for the way it strayed from the book in order to fit the constraints of a feature film. (Villeneuve has said his Dune won’t make the same mistake.)

When Legendary Studios acquired the rights to Dune in 2016, it was rumored that the novel would be getting a miniseries adaptation, a la Game of Thrones or Sharp Objects. In fact, the series was previously adapted as such, in a Sci-Fi (now known as Syfy) Channel-produced series in the 2000s. The new Dune may not be stretched out that long, but the novel’s plot will be split across two movies, as confirmed by Frank Herbert’s son, Brian, on Twitter.

I have just received Draft #4 of the DUNE screenplay from Legendary Pictures. This is for the first movie, covering approximately half of the novel DUNE. I’m very excited and pleased about this, and I’m beginning to burn the midnight oil. pic.twitter.com/nIfgb2zJ2J

— Brian Herbert (@DuneAuthor) July 23, 2018

Who Will Be In It?

Previous adaptations have varied wildly in their prospective casting of the lead characters of Dune. Jorodowsky’s drug-trip vision of the work included roles played by Salvador Dali, Orson Welles, David Carradine and even Mick Jagger, while Lynch’s version relied on smaller-time character actors, including future Lynch all-star Kyle McLachlan in his first feature film appearance.

Villeneuve appears to be walking the line between those two casting philosophies: Two of the lead roles are going to relative Hollywood newcomers Timothee Chalamet, who will be portraying main character Paul Atreides, and Rebecca Ferguson, who will be playing Atreides’ mother, Lady Jessica. Both Chalamet and Ferguson have had a streak of acclaimed performances in the last few years: Chalamet in Lady Bird, Call Me By Your Name and Beautiful Boy, and Ferguson in the really-quite-phenomenal Mission: Impossible sequels, starting with 2015’s Rogue Nation.

Ferguson has yet to comment on her casting, but Chalamet said that Villeneuve is one of his favorite directors in an interview with The Playlist. “What’s especially inspiring about Denis films are the size of them,” he said. “They reach a big audience. These are films meant to play in front of big crowds … So, that would be a dream come true and is going to be a dream come true.”