• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

First Look at Timothée Chalamet in DUNE

mortal

Banned
EVe0_x8XYAU-tGd



This is the first look at Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides on his native planet of Caladan from this December’s film version of the novel, directed by Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 filmmaker Denis Villeneuve.
The 1965 book was so seismic in its influence that its echoes still turn up in sci-fi and fantasy storytelling half a century later. Still, it has stubbornly defied appropriate adaptation itself.

Let the spice flow if old.
 
Last edited:

GreyHorace

Member
I hope so too. This is the only film I give a damn about this year. Whether or not it will still make release by December, I'm just happy to finally see something.
Unless some sort of fuckup happens by studio interference or trouble on set, I'm pretty confident Denis Villenueve will deliver a good movie. He already proved himself with doing the impoosible by making Blade Runner 2049.

My only concern is whether this will click with audiences. Dune is not like Star Wars or Star Trek and it has a much more hardcore scifi tone and feel. Plus the fact that Paul Atreides is not really a hero you can root for as Frank Herbert wrote him.
 
Last edited:
There's a lot of context from the book missing in the movie attempts thus far. One of the biggest omissions is that both Lady Jessica and Paul intended to deceive the "primitive" Fremen into sheltering them by playing off their prophecy. Neither Paul nor Jessica initially believed the prophecy about Mahdi nor did they understand that the Mahdi and the Kwisatz Haderach are essentially the same thing.

I wonder how in depth the movie will get. I'm excited to see it, in either case.
 

GreyHorace

Member
There's a lot of context from the book missing in the movie attempts thus far. One of the biggest omissions is that both Lady Jessica and Paul intended to deceive the "primitive" Fremen into sheltering them by playing off their prophecy. Neither Paul nor Jessica initially believed the prophecy about Mahdi nor did they understand that the Mahdi and the Kwisatz Haderach are essentially the same thing.

I wonder how in depth the movie will get. I'm excited to see it, in either case.

I thought the prophecy of the Mahdi was just something the Bene Geserit made up? They called it the Misssionaria Protectiva, which were beliefs they seeded among primitive tribes around the universe. This enabled them to manipulate the local populace whenever a Bene Geserit got in trouble. Paul with Jessica's guidance was able to use the Fremen's belief to make himself a god figure in their eyes. The messiah they would call Muad'Dib.

Hopefully Denis Villenueve explores this theme in his film.
 
I thought the prophecy of the Mahdi was just something the Bene Geserit made up? They called it the Misssionaria Protectiva, which were beliefs they seeded among primitive tribes around the universe. This enabled them to manipulate the local populace whenever a Bene Geserit got in trouble. Paul with Jessica's guidance was able to use the Fremen's belief to make himself a god figure in their eyes. The messiah they would call Muad'Dib.

Hopefully Denis Villenueve explores this theme in his film.
I forgot about that aspect of it, good point.
 

mortal

Banned
My only concern is whether this will click with audiences. Dune is not like Star Wars or Star Trek and it has a much more hardcore scifi tone and feel. Plus the fact that Paul Atreides is not really a hero you can root for as Frank Herbert wrote him.
Yep. I think it'll have a similar reception to Blade Runner 2049. Ciriiclaly acclaimed, generally loved by fans of Science Fiction, but won't pull the same general audience as Marvel or Star Wars. Which is a good thing, imo, as the themes in the books are not about the veneration of heroes that you typically see in a Star Wars or a super hero film.

The marketing needs to do some heavy lifting to attract the proper audience. I'm a bit concerned that coronavirus situation will have a negative effect.

I wonder how in depth the movie will get. I'm excited to see it, in either case.
The first book is being split into 2 films. So hopefully that's an indication that they're not going to rush through, and will try to explore as much of the book's thematic depth that can be explored in the span of 2 feature length films.

At the very least, it's going to be one of the most beautiful looking science fiction films, and the cast seems very promising. We'll just have to see, but I'm hopeful they'll do a tremendous job.
 
Last edited:

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
Looks good so far. I think (hope) this is in good hands. With such a seminal work of fiction, hope they don't stray too far from the source material.
 

GreyHorace

Member
Yep. I think it'll have a similar reception to Blade Runner 2049. Ciriiclaly acclaimed, generally loved by fans of Science Fiction, but won't pull the same general audience as Marvel or Star Wars. Which is a good thing, imo, as the themes in the books are not about the veneration of heroes that you typically see in a Star Wars or a super hero film.

The marketing needs to do some heavy lifting to attract the proper audience. I'm a bit concerned that coronavirus situation will have a negative affect.

Well... they pretty much said the same thing about The Lord of the Rings and those movies became massive successes. But LOTR has that heroic epic narrative that a general audience can easily root for. Plus Peter Jackson is a filmmaker very much in the same vein as Spielberg and Lucas so his style is very much suited for a blockbuster tentpole.

Dune however, is not a traditional heroic epic. In many ways one could say it's a deconstruction of the epic with characters who are much more morally ambiguous rather than good or evil. And Denis Villenueve is not a your typical popcorn director who makes crowd pleasing films.

I still hope the film does well in the box office, but this not exactly a surefire hit.
 

The Shift

Banned
The casting in this blows - Jason Mamoa as Duncan Idaho ? I can’t take that seriously. Zendaya as Chani? Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck? A retconned female Liet Keynes? Merde! Its just so fucking laughable. Go home Denis.
 

The Shift

Banned
I have, but do carry on with your horrible takes. Everyone's entitled to one.

Ah I see - that explains your lack of an elaborate response to my initial post.

Go on then - justify how:

A Swordmaster (basically a space ninja) can be a dopey faced beefcake that can't utter dialog in any convincing way.
A pop starlet that has the claim to fame of voicing a Bigfoot in a failed animated movie is somehow a convincing terrorist assassin.
A Marvel movie actor.
A sex/gender swap that retcons all Printed/Cinematic/Episodic TV material thus far.

How in any way, shape or form is any of the above a good thing for a Dune movie?

Edit - Full Cast so far:

Great:
Shrug:
Trash:
 
Last edited:

The Shift

Banned
I'm trying to read the book but there's so much terminology I'm constantly flicking to the back to see what the hell it means!

Perseverance is a big requirement - it will pay off though, especially if you go on to read Children Of Dune and the GOAT entry - God Emperor Of Dune.

Many of us have read the whole series many, many times over and still find new meanings and perspectives within. One thing is clear - you will either love it or loathe it. This new movie will probably appeal to Marvel movie watchers to some extent so it obviously will be dumbed down for that audience. There are multiple cast members from those movies playing hugely important character roles that just don't have the presence or acting chops to elevate the material.
 

Tesseract

Banned
presence and chops are sliding scales, directors either coax good performances outta actors (or not)

not calling them puppets, but i am
 
Last edited:

mortal

Banned
Go on then - justify how:
Justify what? You're the one making conclusions for a film that isn't even out yet.

Your outlines are so shallow, it's hard to even take you seriously. It's almost as if these people actors, wow. It's almost as if they can transform into their respective roles with a good script and a capable director with a vision. In opinion many of these actors gave solid performances in past work I've seen them in, with some being more seasoned than others.

Timothee in Beautiful Boy
Josh Brolin & Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men
Brolin in Sicario & Sin City
Bardem in Biutiful
Oscar Isaac in Ex-Machina & Inside Llewyn Davis
David Dastmalchian in Prisoners & BR 2049
Dave Bautista in BR 2049 & GotG. Seeing him in these two roles convinced he has more range that I thought.
Stephen McKinley Henderson in Fences
Zendaya in Euphoria. I was unfamiliar with her acting, so I decided to watch this series and was pleasantly surprised.
Jason Momoa in Game of Thrones

I actually like the casting, as for the roles I'm still uncertain about, I'm going to wait and watch the film before making conclusions about whether or not they're shit,
You know, like a reasonable person.
 
Last edited:

The Shift

Banned
Justify what? You're the one making conclusions for a film that isn't even out yet.

Your outlines are so shallow, it's hard to even take you seriously. It's almost as if these people actors, wow. It's almost as if they can transform into their respective roles with a good script and a capable director with a vision. In opinion many of these actors gave solid performances in past work I've seen them in, with some being more seasoned than others.

Timothee in Beautiful Boy
Josh Brolin & Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men
Brolin in Sicario & Sin City
Bardem in Biutiful
Oscar Isaac in Ex-Machina & Inside Llewyn Davis
David Dastmalchian in Prisoners & BR 2049
Dave Bautista in BR 2049 & GotG. Seeing him in these two roles convinced he has more range that I thought.
Stephen McKinley Henderson in Fences
Zendaya in Euphoria. I was unfamiliar with her acting, so I decided to watch this series and was pleasantly surprised.
Jason Momoa in Game of Thrones

I actually like the casting, as for the roles I'm still uncertain about, I'm going to wait and watch the film before making conclusions about whether or not they're shit,
You know, like a reasonable person.
Here's a tip - your perpectives/outlines that you weren't going to do mean absolutely fuck all to me. My investment is in the literature itself. Obviously a lot if these actors do not have the class to pull that off.

Have your nonsensical horrible take - you can own that.
 
Last edited:

mortal

Banned
Here's a tip - your perpectives/outlines that you weren't going to do mean absolutely fuck all to me. My investment is in the literature itself. Obviously a lot if these actors do not have the class to pull that off.

Have your nonsensical horrible take - you can own that.
This thread is about the film adaptation, smart ass. Not the book.
 
Last edited:

The Shift

Banned
This thread is about the film adaptation, smart ass. Not the book.

One would hope the screenplay this movie is using is based on the book. Or did the writers only reference the David Lynch take? This movie just didn't occur out of thin air.
 

The Shift

Banned
Looks sterile, Fremen hair and skin in pristine condition - Chan doesn't look like someone who has lived the hardest of lives in the Desert. Swap in Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley and could pass as shots from modern Star Wars. Is that Jason Mamoa tackling a sand dune with a pirate shirt on?
 

The Shift

Banned
LOL, We haven't even seen a trailer yet. So maybe hold your horses there cripple tits.

LOL, we have seen the cast shots, some cinematic shots and on set photographer shots - all visual representations of the final film, and all authorised by the production studio for public consumption and critique.
 

Kadayi

Banned
LOL, we have seen the cast shots, some cinematic shots and on set photographer shots - all visual representations of the final film, and all authorised by the production studio for public consumption and critique.

And your point is what exactly? I' don't like this actor, therefore, it's going to suck? Grow some patience.

Has villeneuve made a bad movie yet?
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom