Dune (2021 film)

Dune (titled on-screen as Dune: Part One) is a 2021 American epic space opera film directed and co-produced by Denis Villeneuve, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth. It is the first of a two-part adaptation of the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert, and the first installment of Villeneuve's Dune film trilogy. The cast includes Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem. Set in the distant future, the film follows Paul Atreides as his family, the noble House Atreides, is thrust into a war for the deadly and inhospitable desert planet Arrakis.

The film is the third adaptation of Dune, following David Lynch's 1984 film and John Harrison's 2000 television miniseries. After an unsuccessful attempt by Paramount Pictures to produce a new adaptation, Legendary Pictures acquired the Dune film and television rights in 2016, with Villeneuve signing on as director in February 2017. Production contracts were secured only for the first film, relying on its success before a sequel would be produced. Principal photography took place from March to July 2019 at locations including Budapest, Jordan, Norway, and Abu Dhabi.

Dune was scheduled for a late 2020 release, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2021, before its international release on September 15, 2021; it was then released in United States theaters and streaming on HBO Max on October 22, 2021. Dune grossed $411 million on a $165 million budget becoming the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2021. It was positively received by critics and audiences. The film won six awards at the 94th Academy Awards and was nominated in four other categories; it received numerous other accolades. A sequel, Dune: Part Two, was released on March 1, 2024, with another sequel, Dune: Part Three, based on Herbert's 1969 novel Dune Messiah, in production.

Plot

In the distant future, Duke Leto Atreides is assigned by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV to replace Baron Vladimir Harkonnen as the fiefholder of Arrakis, a harsh desert planet and the sole source of "spice", a valuable psychotropic substance that imparts heightened vitality and awareness. Spice is also key to interstellar travel, giving Spacing Guild Navigators the ability to guide starships to traverse space instantaneously and safely. Emperor Shaddam, fearful of Leto's rising power, plots for House Harkonnen to retake Arrakis, secretly aided by his Sardaukar troops, and destroy House Atreides. Leto is suspicious of the Emperor but weighs the risks against the power of controlling Arrakis and making an alliance with its mysterious natives, the Fremen.

Leto's concubine, Lady Jessica, is an acolyte of the Bene Gesserit—an exclusive sisterhood whose members possess advanced physical and mental abilities. As part of a centuries-long breeding program, they instructed her to bear a daughter whose son would become the Kwisatz Haderach—a Bene Gesserit and messianic superbeing with the prescience necessary to guide humanity to a better future. Jessica disobeyed and bore a son, Paul, who is trained by Leto's aides, Duncan Idaho, Gurney Halleck, the Suk doctor Wellington Yueh, and the Mentat Thufir Hawat, and by Jessica in Bene Gesserit disciplines. Paul confides in Jessica and Duncan about troubling visions of the future. The Reverend Mother and Imperial Truthsayer Gaius Helen Mohiam subjects Paul to a deadly gom jabbar test to assess his humanity and impulse control, which he passes.

House Atreides arrives at Arrakeen, the principal stronghold on Arrakis. Duncan's advance party has made contact with the Fremen. The natives revere Paul and Jessica, which she explains is due to the Bene Gesserit sowing beliefs on Arrakis centuries earlier. An attempt to assassinate Paul with a hunter-seeker fails. At a secret meeting on the Harkonnen planet Giedi Prime, Mohiam insists Baron Harkonnen spare Paul and Jessica in his coup, to which he duplicitously agrees.

Leto meets and negotiates with Fremen chieftain Stilgar and meets the Imperial Judge of the Change, Dr. Liet Kynes, a planetologist who lives among the Fremen. Kynes briefs them on the dangers of spice harvesting, and the giant sandworms that travel under the desert and render unwise the use of protective shields. During a flight, they rescue a stranded spice-harvesting crew from a sandworm, and Paul's exposure to the spice triggers intense premonitions.

Yueh betrays the Atreides and disables Arrakeen's shields, allowing the Harkonnens and Sardaukar to invade. He incapacitates Leto, planning to exchange him for his wife, the Baron's prisoner. Yueh replaces one of Leto's teeth with a poison gas capsule with which the Duke can assassinate the Baron. After the Baron double-crosses and kills Yueh, Leto releases the gas, killing himself and the Baron's Mentat, Piter De Vries, but the Baron survives. Though the Baron has arranged to have Paul and Jessica dropped deep in the desert to die, a compassionate Yueh has left them with a fremkit with survival supplies. Jessica uses the Voice technique to overpower and kill their captors. Overnighting in the desert, Paul—surrounded by spice—has visions of a bloody holy war fought across the universe in his name.

After conquering Arrakis, Baron Harkonnen appoints his nephew Rabban to oversee the planet, and orders him to restart spice production to recoup the invasion's cost. Meanwhile, Duncan and Kynes find Jessica and Paul, who discloses his plan to marry one of Emperor Shaddam's daughters to avert a potential civil war arising from the Emperor's betrayal. They are discovered by Sardaukar soldiers armed with a lasgun, and Duncan sacrifices himself, enabling Paul and Jessica's escape. Kynes also tries to escape but is caught and mortally wounded, and lures a sandworm to her location to devour herself and the Sardaukar. Deep in the desert, Paul and Jessica encounter Stilgar's Fremen tribe, including Chani, the young woman from Paul's visions. When Stilgar commands lenience towards them, Fremen warrior Jamis challenges his authority, and challenges them to a ritual duel to the death; Paul accepts and wins. Contrary to Jessica's wishes, Paul joins the Fremen, determined to fulfill his father's goal of bringing peace to Arrakis.

Cast

• Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, ducal heir of House Atreides
• Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Paul's Bene Gesserit mother and concubine to Leto
• Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides, Paul's father and the leader of House Atreides
• Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, weapons master of House Atreides and one of Paul's mentors
• Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, leader of House Harkonnen, enemy to House Atreides, and former steward of Arrakis
• Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban, nephew of Baron Harkonnen
• Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Dr. Liet Kynes, Imperial ecologist and Judge of the Change on Arrakis
• Stephen McKinley Henderson as Thufir Hawat, the Mentat of House Atreides
• Zendaya as Chani, a mysterious young Fremen woman who appears in Paul's visions
• Chang Chen as Dr. Wellington Yueh, a Suk doctor in the employ of House Atreides
• Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Mohiam, the Emperor's Bene Gesserit Truthsayer
• Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, the swordmaster of House Atreides and one of Paul's mentors
• Javier Bardem as Stilgar, the leader of the Fremen tribe at Sietch Tabr
• David Dastmalchian as Piter De Vries, the Mentat of House Harkonnen
• Babs Olusanmokun as Jamis, a Fremen from Sietch Tabr
• Golda Rosheuvel as Shadout Mapes, a Fremen working as a housekeeper for House Atreides
• Roger Yuan as Lieutenant Lanville, Gurney Halleck's second-in-command
• Neil Bell as Sardaukar Bashar

Additionally, Benjamin Clementine portrays the Herald of the Change, the head of an Imperial delegation to Caladan. Marianne Faithfull (in her final film role), Jean Gilpin, and Ellen Dubin voice the ancestral Bene Gesserit whose voices are heard by Paul in his visions. Joe Walker, the film's editor, provides the narration for Paul's filmbook guides for Arrakis. Choreographer Milena Sidorova portrays the Baron's human-spider hybrid pet via motion capture.

Production

Background

Following the publication of Frank Herbert's novel Dune in 1965, it was considered to have potential for a possible film adaptation. Since 1971, various producers have held film adaptation rights for the novel. Attempts to make an adaptation based on the book were considered to be "unfilmable" due to its breadth of content. The book's status among fans meant that deviations without strong justification could potentially harm the film's reputation.