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moreorless wrote: Tue Jun 11, 2019 8:30 am

Lost Highway wrote: Tue Jun 11, 2019 8:14 am They are feeling confident, considering that this is the remake of an 80s sci-fi movie which was a flop, made by the director of a recent flop sequel to a 80s sci-fi movie which originally flopped.

I'm guessing the nature of this means the budget must be pretty substantial as well, with the Blade Runner sequel you could potentially have made something a bit smaller scale but Dune much less so.

You could perhaps argue I spose the whole thing might be best suited for a very high end TV/Net series.

Yup, the budget is substantial. They aren’t going to green-light the second Dune movie till the first one is a success. So if things go pear shaped, we’ll only get half an adaptation and certainly no spin-off series.

I hope if this film becomes a massive blockbuster success that some of his earlier Canadian films will get a better Blu-ray release."Polytechnique" (2009) might be one of the best looking B&W films I've seen this millennium. The Blu-ray is a fairly dismal bare-bones affair without much by the way of extras so perhaps someone like Criterion or Arrow might take a shot at his back catalogue and call it something like "Villeneuve: The Canadian Works"

Polytechnique is an amazing film, still the only Villeneuve film that I’ve seen which I’m 100% behind (Arrival comes close). The one thing about the Blu-ray which is interesting is that it includes the English and the French language versions, that instead of dubbing the film, he shot two versions. I have to admit that I haven’t seen any of his films before Polytechnique.

I bet Charlotte Rampling is already waiting in line to cash those TV cheques.

R0lf wrote: Tue Jun 11, 2019 2:02 pm I bet Charlotte Rampling is already waiting in line to cash those TV cheques.

Considering her career choices, she never struck me as an actress motivated by money.

I'm probably one of the few (only?) who didn't care for the book much, though the ideas are strong enough where a miniseries or two movies like Villeneuve is planning have potential. Especially early on there are some interesting espionage setpieces that would work with more breathing room than Lynch's studio-botched version, but reading the supposedly "exhilarating" scenes riding the worms were disengaging and lifeless, and only left me wanting a more cinematic writer like King to rewrite those scenes. I know I'm alone in this opinion though, and remain cautiously optimistic considering the craft of the man at the helm.

therewillbeblus wrote: Mon Apr 13, 2020 5:39 pm I'm probably one of the few (only?) who didn't care for the book much [...] I know I'm alone in this opinion though

Nah, the book is ponderous, bloated junk. Heavy handed political and environmental allegory, wholly unbeguiling. No serious, well-read SF fans that I know really care for it. Compared to the likes of Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun or John Crowley's Aegypt cycle, it reads like a hippie high-schooler's extra credit Humanities class summer project circa 1972.

I don't get the appeal of the story either although to be fair, the only exposure I've had was Lynch's film and the even worse extended TV cut of it with the Alan Smithee and Judas Booth credits.

Like Lord of the Rings, Dune is not the type of literature I enjoy reading (I gave up on both) but I’m happy to watch a film or tv adaptation for the spectacle and the world building.

Ferocious Detritus wrote: Mon Apr 13, 2020 11:39 pm Nah, the book is ponderous, bloated junk. Heavy handed political and environmental allegory, wholly unbeguiling. No serious, well-read SF fans that I know really care for it. Compared to the likes of Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun or John Crowley's Aegypt cycle, it reads like a hippie high-schooler's extra credit Humanities class summer project circa 1972.

wow Mr (Ms?) Detritus that is seemingly ferocious but speak for yourself. no argument as to others' work. Dune was published in the mid 60s and i think plenty of people care for it, or did so and still do in a way though they may have moved on.

Villeneuve did not set me alight with the Bladerunner sequel though I only saw it once so far, but Arrival is a joy.

I always quite liked Lynch's film, in some ways, it was my introduction to it.

Everything about this looks glorious.

captveg wrote: Thu Apr 16, 2020 10:55 pm Everything about this looks glorious.

What have we seen so far?

Ferocious Detritus wrote: Thu Apr 16, 2020 11:51 pm

captveg wrote: Thu Apr 16, 2020 10:55 pm Everything about this looks glorious.

What have we seen so far?

I'm assuming captveg is referring to the article, stills, and production photos published Tuesday by Vanity Fair.

I am surprised how much it looks like they used the same concept designs as Lynch's.

I can't work up much enthusiasm because Paul Atreides is such a dull character and the thought of Chalamet playing him has me even more bored. Villeneuve is going to play this straight up and prestige-y and that is gonna make for a cold show. At least Lynch's had a genuine weirdness to it at points.

However, I am intrigued by the actress castings, specifically Ferguson and Duncan-Brewster.

That's how I've been feeling looking at these images, for the most part. The designs especially look very underwhelming to me. I saw somebody place a still of one of the Bene Gesserit costumes from the Lynch movie next to the still from this new one, and the new movie just doesn't compare. Not that Lynch's movie is very good, but it is intriguing. I've not seen any film yet from Villeneuve that moves me, and, as you say, I don't see Villeneuve making this weird enough to be fun. Taking this story very seriously in the prestige mode is not really going to make it better, I don't think.

I am a little surprised that they leaned so far to borrow from the Lynch designs. You'd think they would want to differentiate the film from the previous attempts, and confound some of the people who are already skeptical about the project, by doing really different designs. One of the things that endeared me to the Jodorowsky documentary was how it became gradually apparent the huge and really different vision for his movie, vis-a-vis the one that we got. Studios seem inexplicably cool with Villeneuve gambling with tons of their money, so why couldn't it be wild and unexpected? Something that would make us feel that this was a truly alien society. Somehow the Lynch movie brings that across and these still don't do it at all.

I liked the original book well enough -- but the sequels seemed to get get just worse and worse...

I've seen 3 films by V and didn't particularly like any of them. But yes, this does look like a super prestige adaptation. I think critics and cinephiles will generally love it. But yes, looks dull to me from the images.

Anyone know if this is just the first book and if yes, at what point will the story be split?

What I've heard is that it is half of the first book. So I think it probably ends with

Spoiler

the Harkonnens routing the Atreides and Jessica and Paul escaping their captors in the desert.

Timothee Chalamet puts me to sleep too and I never found Paul Atreides particularly compelling either.

I’ve liked Timothee Chalamet in certain roles where his youthful immaturity is utilized well, which off the top of my head is everything I’ve seen him in, but I don’t foresee him being given the same outlet to flaunt those ‘strengths’ here in what will almost certainly be too self-serious (and yeah, not an interesting character).

He made for a fine Gatsby Welles

I completely agree but I think that performance still played to those strengths. That was one of the three I’m thinking of along with Call Me By Your Name and Lady Bird, which was a much funnier use of that quality in a very different way. To be fair, I’m not saying he’s incapable of being self-serious but so far what has landed for me is a vibe of honest inner conflict in development, or sheer stunting of maturity, that I expect to be overshadowed in this blockbuster, but we’ll see.

What I'm saying is that they should rename his character in Dune to also be Gatsby Welles

I’d sign that petition