Dune director Denis Villeneuve has recently revealed how much progress has been made so far on the sequel to the 2021 hit film. Dune is an adaptation of the classic sci-fi novel by author Frank Herbert and follows the feud between the Atreides and Harkonnen families over the desert planet of Arrakis in the distant future. The recent film adaptation sports an all-star cast including Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, and Oscar Isaac.
Villeneuve's adaptation of Dune covers only the first half of Herbert's novel. According to Villeneuve, there was too much story to tell, which meant either the movie had to be split, or be five hours long. Warner Brothers agreed to split the film into two parts, however, the company only green-lit Part One. At the time Dune was released, there was no guarantee the film would receive a Part Two. Luckily for Villeneuve, Dune was a massive success, and Warner Brothers officially green-lit the Dune sequel on October 26, 2021, not long after the first film's release.
In a recent interview with THR, Denis Villeneuve revealed some of the progress made on Dune: Part Two. According to Villeneuve, the film is in "soft prep," which means they are nearing the end of writing the screenplay. Villeneuve also revealed that the production team will soon begin the process of storyboarding the film. The director also mentioned that while the script is being finished, production designer Patrice Vermette is busy designing the film. See Villeneuve's full quote below:
“Right now, I’m in what you call ‘soft prep,’ meaning that we are finishing the screenplay. We’ll start storyboards soon. [Dune] Part 2 is being designed right now by [production designer] Patrice [Vermette]. It’s that beautiful part where it’s just dreaming, looking at the ceiling and thinking about the movie, I love it. I mean, it’s like the moment where everything is possible, before we have the shock of reality that will come.”
Villeneuve has described this stage of the process as "that beautiful part where it's just dreaming" and went on to state that he loves it. According to Villeneuve, he is at "the moment where everything is possible, before we have the shock of reality that will come." Having almost jumped directly from completion of Dune: Part One to the follow-up, Villeneuve most likely knows that shock of reality all too well. As a self-professed mega-fan of the Dune novels, its understandable why Villeneuve is so excited by the planning phase. It's almost as if he's another fan waiting to see the movie.
While some people criticized the film for being somewhat slow-paced, most fans of the original novel were blown away by Villeneuve's work on Dune. While this was good news for the sequel, it does mean that a lot of expectation is being placed on the director for a satisfying adaptation of Dune's conclusion. With that said, there may be no bigger Dune fan than Villeneuve, and his enthusiasm about Part Two is certainly encouraging. Audiences will just have to wait until 2023 when the finale of the Dune saga is released.
Source: THR