Writer/director Denis Villeneuve reveals that Dune: Part Two is set to begin filming this summer and confirms the script is complete. Villeneuve became the second filmmaker to bring Frank Herbert's 1965 sci-fi epic novel to life on the big screen after David Lynch's 1984 cult classic. Dune revolves around young Paul Atreides and his noble family in the far-flung future as they are put in charge of the inhospitable desert planet Arrakis, putting them in the crosshairs of previous overlords the House Harkonnen and the native Fremen people.
Timothée Chalamet leads the cast of Dune: Part One as Paul alongside Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, David Dastmalchian, Jason Momoa and Javier Bardem. Dune hit theaters and HBO Max this past October to largely positive reviews from critics and audiences alike and a strong box office haul, grossing nearly $700 million against its $165 million budget. Villeneuve prepped his adaptation to split the 412-page book into two parts, with the second half not getting the green light from Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment until a few days after the first film's release, and now the filmmaker is bringing exciting updates for the sequel.
Denis Villeneuve recently caught up with Empire and offered new insight into the development of Dune: Part Two. The writer/director revealed that Dune: Part Two will begin filming this summer and opened up about his first time making a sequel to one of his own films. See what Villeneuve shared below:
“We are supposed to shoot by the end of the summer. I will say it is mostly designed. The thing that helps us right now is that it’s the first time I’ve revisited a universe. So I’m working with the same crew, everybody knows what to do, we know what it will look like. The movie will be more challenging, but we know where we are stepping. And the screenplay is written. So I feel confident. Frankly, the only big unknown for me right now is the pandemic.”
Villeneuve's confirmation that Dune: Part Two will begin filming this summer comes nearly a month after the filmmaker's previous update, in which he said he and his crew were in "soft prep" and were in the process of finishing the screenplay. The filmmaker's new comments should come as an exciting assurance that the development on the sequel is progressing properly with the script now complete and that most of the design work is ready for when they enter production. Villeneuve's note of concern regarding the pandemic affecting filming comes as a number of major productions continue to find themselves delayed in the midst of the omicron variant surge, most notably the next two Mission: Impossible films.
Even if Dune: Part Two were to find its production delayed by the pandemic, Villeneuve's confidence in returning to the world of Arrakis is promising given his passion for the material. This passion has seen him expand his plans for the franchise to a potential trilogy adapting Dune Messiah and the HBO Max spin-off prequel series The Sisterhood, though the possibility of the former happening will depend on the first sequel's financial and critical performance. Only time will tell what's to come as development continues on Dune: Part Two in the lead up to the film's October 2023 release.
Source: Empire
