‘Dune' Trailer Has Arrived

“Dune” was considered an unfilmable novel for the longest time, even before David Lynch’s botch attempt in 1984. There is just too much going on in Frank Herbert’s novel to fully envision a successful cinematic attempt, alas, director Denis Villeneuve, a Herbert fanatic, has decided to take on the impossible task. Today’s newly released trailer doesn’t necessarily pull up the hairs off my skin, nor does it really excite me in ways I was anticipating, no, instead, as far as I’m concerned, it qualifies as a red flag

It’s quite clear that Villeneuve’s adaptation of “Dune” is MASSIVE, jamming in every detail possible, with a ridiculously impressive cast to boot. The tease of the “worm” in the final shot of this trailer will surely get millions of fanboys creaming their pants in anticipation, but so what? Much like the box-office failure of “Blade Runner 2049,” is there an actual, big enough audience for this movie? Regardless, I’ll be first in line to watch this because Villeneuve is a talented filmmaker worth seeking.

There is no question that Villeneuve’s adaptation of “Dune” is one of the most-anticipated 2020 movies this fall for fanboys worldwide. Not only is the source material, author Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel, in dire need of a solid movie adaptation (sadly, Lynch’s version bombed back in 1984) but Villeneuve himself has become one of the most sought-after directors in the industry, after his back-to-back trifecta of “Sicario,” “Arrival,” and “Blade Runner 2049.”

Warner Brothers seem to have given Villeneuve carte-blanche to splatter whatever his art desires on the screen with this next movie. By all accounts, Villeneuve’s adaptation of Herbert’s “Dune” is the biggest risk of his career. As mentioned earlier, even Lynch failed miserably with his own film adaptation back in the 80s. And yet, I trust Villeneuve will do something very special with Herbert’s material. He has long been fascinated by the novel and what’s currently happening is very much a dream come true for him.

Josh Brolin was added to the cast of the upcoming adaptation today, which already includes Oscar Isaac, Timothee Chalamet, Javier Bardem, Dave Bautista, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Rampling, and Stellan Skarsgard. Production had already begun last spring and ended earlier this year in Budapest and Jordan.

“Dune” is supposed to be released in theaters on December 18th. However, who knows if that date will stick since the COVID-19 pandemic is shaking up the entire industry at large and release dates have been shuffled all around because of it. It’ll all depend on when the public at large will be comfortable in being indoors, watching a movie in the dark with hundreds of other strangers, some of which will be coughing, with no sense of panic ensuing. That seems like a distant world away, but keep the faith, we all want this sort of normalcy to come back sooner rather than later, and upcoming films by Denis Villeneuve, Christopher Nolan, Wes Anderson, and Paul Verhoeven will hopefully get us all back to the cinema.