It has been confirmed that Denis Villeneuve will only be tackling the first half of Frank Herbert’s novel Dune for the upcoming film. With filming possibly taking place in early 2019, the filmmakers for Dune are no doubt attempting to finalize the script so that filming can indeed take place within this time frame. Things seem to be swiftly moving along at Legendary Pictures as more updates keep pouring out for Dune.
Dune will be based upon Herbert’s novel of the same name which was released all the way back in 1965. Dune quickly became one of the best selling science fiction novels, so a movie adaptation was no doubt bound to take place. While Villeneuve’s film may be the newest take on the book, it is by no means the first. David Lynch made his own Dune film in 1984 and there were also two TV miniseries called Dune and Children of Dune. Villeneuve previously mentioned that he planned on making Dune into at least two films, possibly more, so the news about the film only covering half of the book shouldn’t come as much of a shock.
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While it was speculated that this might be the case for Dune, executive producer Brian Herbert confirmed suspicions yesterday when he posted on Twitter about receiving the fourth draft of the film’s script. His post can be read in full below.
With Dune having 412 pages, there is plenty of story to cover in a film adaptation. Villeneuve plans to focus more on Herbert’s book than on Lynch’s 1984 film, which is probably for the best since his movie was not very well-received. Some may worry about a film being cut into two or more parts but it seems to be becoming more and more popular for Hollywood films. Movies like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, and IT have all been cut into two parts with varying success. Even though movies split into two parts don’t always do well, fans of the book should rest easy knowing that Villeneuve is in charge.
Villeneuve has proven himself time and again as a director with films like Arrival and Blade Runner: 2049. Villeneuve seems very devoted to Dune, even turning down opportunities like directing Bond 25 in order to make his version of Dune a reality. Given his reputation, it’s safe to assume that only covering half of Herbert’s novel and splitting the film into more than one part is more of a necessity than a cash grab. A release date for Dune has not yet been set, but we will update accordingly as more information for the film is released.
