Trailer
Plot summary
Arrakis is a desert world and the only source of the spice that heightens vitality and awareness and makes interstellar travel possible. The Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV hands the planet to Duke Leto Atreides, taking it from Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. Leto brings his concubine Lady Jessica and their son Paul with him, and is suspicious of the Emperor's motives. Jessica, a Bene Gesserit acolyte, has trained Paul in her order's disciplines, and he learns from Leto's aides Duncan Idaho, Gurney Halleck, Thufir Hawat and Wellington Yueh. The Fremen, Arrakis's native people, revere Paul and Jessica, and Reverend Mother Mohiam puts Paul through the gom jabbar test.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Dune (2021)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Hans Zimmer turned down Christopher Nolan's request to score Tenet, citing his love for the book, and spent a week in a Utah desert so its sounds would shape his Dune score.
- London propmakers built two working ornithopter models, 48 and 75 feet long, with operable doors and cockpit interiors; they weighed over 11 tons and needed an Antonov cargo plane to reach Hungary and Jordan.
- The visual effects team spent over a year working out how the sandworms move, studying worms and snakes, while special-effects supervisor Gerd Nefzer buried a vibrating 8x8 foot steel plate under the sand to signal an approaching worm.
- Warner Bros.' December 2020 decision to release its 2021 films simultaneously on HBO Max led Denis Villeneuve to believe his planned sequel was canceled, until the studio promised a follow-up if the film performed well on the service.
- Hans Zimmer found 30 bagpipe players around Edinburgh during the COVID-19 pandemic and recorded them in a church for the House Atreides theme, an idea Villeneuve had wanted to sound ancient and organic.
- Rebecca Ferguson was initially dismissive of playing Lady Jessica because it seemed too similar to her Mission: Impossible role as Ilsa Faust and she feared being typecast as a "strong female character", but Villeneuve's ideas and the book convinced her.
- Zendaya won the role of Chani over five other actresses, chosen for giving the best performance with Timothée Chalamet; Jenna Ortega also auditioned for the part.
SPOILER
Duke Leto's death was the final scene Oscar Isaac filmed; he chose to shoot it nude because he saw it as similar to Christ's crucifixion, and came up with the idea of including the bull's head as an omen.
