Sands of time running out
‘Dune’ director focuses on sci-fi classic’s environmental message
VENICE LIDO, Italy — When the highly anticipated remake of Frank Herbert’s influential ’60s novel world premiered in September at the Venice Film Festival, it was “Dune — Part 1.”
Now as Denis Villeneuve’s lauded adaptation opens nationwide, it’s simply “Dune” — maybe because no one knows if there will be a concluding Part 2.
“The biggest challenge,” said Villeneuve (“Sicario,” “Arrival”) “is that the book is so rich and its strength is all in its details. I had to find equilibrium for someone who doesn’t know the book at all and be as cinematic as possible. So that they will need to understand the movie without crushing them with exposition. So the ideas could follow the story.”
“Dune” is set far into a future where Oscar Isaac’s Duke rules the kingdom of Atreides. His son Paul (Timothée Chalamet) is marked as a new messiah.
They wage a war over Arrakis, a desert planet also known as Dune, whose natives, the Fremen, defend it against the House of Harkonnen.
Intentionally, in Herbert’s 1965 text and this film, there’s an environmental emphasis.
Javier Bardem, a real-life green activist, plays the Fremen leader. Herbert, he noted, “was ahead of his time and already concerned how the world was going forward to lose the capacity to have us all in good health as we violate its limits.
“Here we are today looking at that. It’s on the governments, the big corporations to make a big step ahead and change our minds about how we behave in this world. It’s kind of scary: It’s either that or a disaster.
“My character,” he said, “is that way as well and is defending the environmental aspect of this planet to have his people survive. I was linked emotionally and conceptually to that character.”
Added Villeneuve, “When Frank Herbert wrote ‘Dune’ in the ’60s, he was doing a portrait of the 20th century. But it became more about what will happen in the 21st century as it deals with the merger of religion and politics, the danger of messianic figures, the problems with the environment.
“Through the years this book just seemed more and more relevant. I wish this was not the case but I think this movie will speak to the world now more than it did 40 years ago.
“Future generations will judge us. It’s time to make changes. I still have hope but it’s time to take action. The environment is not talked enough in politics. This book” — and by implication, this movie — “is about survival.” “Dune” opens Friday.