With Denis Villeneuve’s first two “Dune” adaptations raking in more than $1.1 billion, it’s no surprise that Warner Bros. gave Villeneuve the green light to complete the trilogy. The third installment, titled “Dune: Part Three,” will be based on the novel “Dune Messiah,” which follows the protagonist, Paul Atreides, who unleashes a holy war against the entirety of the known universe. The project has completed filming and has released a trailer while final edits are made in post-production.
The first and second films in Villeneuve’s trilogy, aptly titled “Dune” and “Dune: Part Two,” have quickly assembled a cult following among sci-fi diehards, some of whom were around to read the novels written by Frank Herbert in 1965, which the films are based on.
The original novel, “Dune,” ranks as the third-highest-selling sci-fi novel of all time, with over 20 million copies in circulation. Additionally, the novel was awarded the Hugo Award and the inaugural Nebula Award, which are both given to the best sci-fi novel of the year. Outside of direct accolades and numbers, the “Dune” novels are considered to be some of the most influential pieces of fiction by many critics and fans.
“Its concerns – environmental stress, human potential, altered states of consciousness and the developing countries’ revolution against imperialism – are blended together into an era-defining vision of personal and cosmic transformation,” wrote Hari Kunzru in a retrospective for The Guardian.
Those same themes don’t go unnoticed by State High teacher Austin Van Allen, who believes the recurring conflicts taking place in the story are more evident today than ever before.
“We can look at what has happened in our world when it comes to oil… especially when you take into account contemporary events,” Van Allen said.
The quickly developing cult following of the novels reached a peak in the 1980s, coinciding with the start of production on a film adaptation by distinguished director David Lynch, whose earlier works, “Eraserhead” and “The Elephant Man,” had been hits both commercially and with audiences.
To the chagrin of many fans, the 1984 film was very poorly received. Negative reviews began pouring in from reputable outlets such as The New York Times, Roger Ebert and Time. Criticism was mainly aimed at the one-dimensional screenplay and poor representation of the ethereal planet of Arrakis.
After a largely forgotten production, the tale of “Dune” was largely left untouched by filmmakers for many years, until it was announced in Jan. 2017 that Denis Villeneuve had signed on to direct the franchise.
Villeneuve stated that he planned to present the first novel in a two-film format, believing that the wealth of information given in the novel would be too difficult to encapsulate in only two hours.
“[The format] does allow for a much deeper world and to go into a lot more deep details in character development. When you have this really layered universe that ‘Dune’ builds, if you have that extra time, you’re more able to fully explore that,” Van Allen said.
In a similar manner to Van Allen, State High teacher Josh Horton also believes that the division of the films allows for a greater connection between the audience and the screen.
“There’s a lot. It’s an epic space opera type…I appreciated the separation because it’s definitely a world where there’s a lot of history, lore and mythos that they establish…So I think that move allows them to spend more time with the characters,” Horton said.
Even with the separation, each film totals over two and a half hours, notably longer than most blockbuster films nowadays.
Much credit for the apparent revival of the franchise is attributed to director Denis Villeneuve, whose work has not gone unnoticed.
“When it comes to the cinematic part of that movie, the way that it was shot, the amount of artistic detail, the composition of scenes, it’s just, it’s beautiful. It’s rare that you find a science fiction movie that has that amount of attention given to the artistic details of the composition of each scene,” Van Allen said in praise of director Denis Villeneuve and cinematographer Greig Fraser.
Now, with the success of the first two films, the third installment has been propelled to the spotlight of world film. Starring actors Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Javier Bardem, Florence Pugh, and many others announced the film through social media posts showing their characters’ appearance with the text, “The Epic Conclusion,” lining the screen. Those posts were also joined by newcomers to the cast, including Hollywood mainstays Robert Pattinson, Jason Momoa and Anya Taylor-Joy.
For fans, the mass appeal of “Dune” is mainly centered around the extremely complex and intricate world that Frank Herbert wrote, and Denis Villeneuve put on screen, even sparking debates when compared to other remarkable sci-fi franchises such as “Star Wars” or “Avatar.”
“I love ‘Star Wars’, but ‘Star Wars’ does have a pretty straightforward hero’s journey going on, where I think ‘Dune’ is not quite the hero’s journey you would expect, if you can even call it a hero’s journey,” Horton said in reference to Paul Atreides’s growth throughout the films.
“[In other franchises] there’s good, and there’s bad, such as light versus Darkside. ‘Dune’ operates in the gray a lot. I think that’s what’s really unique about it. How much of it’s about resources and power, and the things that people will do to protect family, and that gives it a little bit more relatability,” Van Allen shared.
Likewise, State High senior Nathan Gross feels a strong connection to the franchise and believes some people might be surprised by their affinity towards it if given a chance.
“I think it’s a great two films and I’m hoping the third one is gonna be just as good, but for somebody that’s not into sci-fi… I still feel like they can connect to it because there’s that drama to it and that social level of it. It’s not just like aliens and lasers,” Gross said.
As is clear to all viewers, the third and final installment in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” franchise is expected to be a sensation. “Dune: Part Three” releases only in theaters on Dec. 18.
