Dune: Part 2 Makers Went to Extreme Lengths to Preserve Director Denis Villeneuve’s Vision For the Film and One Incident Proves That
Denis Villeneuve’s epic sci-fi saga, Dune: Part Two, took the viewers on a journey deeper into the fascinating and dangerous world of Arrakis. With an Oscar-winning crew of Greig Fraser and Joe Walker as the cinematographer and editor, the film’s team has done everything to keep the artistic vision of Director Denis Villeneuve for the franchise.
The core of Dune is the inhospitable planet Arrakis. Villeneuve, Fraser, and production designer Patrice Vermette devoted hours to studying the harsh and beautiful desert landscapes of Abu Dhabi which helped them create the author Frank Herbert’s world of Dune.
By the end of Dune: Part Two, Villeneuve has managed to combine the epic scale of the war movie and the inner emotional love between Paul Atreides and Chani. The director’s vision stays consistent with a growing number of characters, thanks to his team of loyal people who are committed to materializing his vision.
Director of Photography Greig Fraser’s commitment to Denis Villeneuve
It is usually seen that makers try to go deep into novels and scriptures whenever they get to make a movie about them. However, Dune‘s cinematographer, Greig Fraser, chose not to read Frank Herbert’s famous Dune novels. This deliberate choice was made because Fraser wanted to remain unattached to preconceived notions, so he could fully explore Villeneuve’s vision of the huge universe.
By not using the source material, Fraser’s point of view was still pure, so his ideas would align perfectly with the director’s artistic vision. In an interview on ReelBlend Podcast, Fraser admits,
“I mean when Denis described to me the scenes that he was writing, and you know because remember, I haven’t still to this day, read the books and I probably won’t actually. I don’t need to. I saw the films so I hadn’t read but I deliberately didn’t read the book because I didn’t want an image of anything.”
“Three pages I read, I had these visceral images in my brain and I went ‘I don’t need that that’s not my job, at this point my job is to listen to what Denis says for this. So I didn’t read the book.”
Fraser suppressed his own imagination after reading a few pages of the novel in order to prevent a creative clash with Denis Villeneuve. Through this surrender, Fraser allowed himself to be exposed to the many possibilities of Villeneuve’s imagination. It formed a partnership that eventually brought success to both Villeneuve and Fraser, in particular.
Will there be Dune: Part Three?
After the success of Dune: Part Two, talks of a possible third installment have already started. Legendary Pictures has officially announced plans to make a third Dune movie. In a 2012 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Denis Villeneuve said that he would like to make the third movie based on Herbert’s sequel novel, Dune Messiah. He said,
“I always envisioned three movies. It’s not that I want to do a franchise, but this is Dune, and Dune is a huge story. In order to honor it, I think you would need at least three movies. That would be the dream. To follow Paul Atreides and his full arc would be nice.”
Dune Messiah introduces new intergalactic factions and explores the complexities of Paul’s rise to power. The third part of the movie has the possibility of showing Villeneuve’s version of the Spacing Guild Navigators. It also gives the possibility of showing advanced biologists who have developed cloning technology that can create shape-shifting spies called Face Dancers.
Besides, Dune: Part Three will also give a chance to the characters who were introduced in Part Two to be given more roles, like, Princess Irulan, played by Florence Pugh, and Paul’s sister Alia, played by Anya Taylor-Joy. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Villeneuve himself stated that he would love to make Dune: Part Three just to further work with Taylor-Joy and Pugh.
