Denis Villeneuve will be sprinting to finish Dune by December release date

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Director Denis Villeneuve is planning an epic, two film adaptation of the Frank Herbert sci-fi classic DUNE, but the second film has yet to receive a greenlight and now Villeneuve says he's going to have to "sprint" to get the first film finished in time for its December 18th release date. 

For most of the production of Villeneuve's first DUNE movie, there was no need to rush. But now that the pandemic has stolen five months, the schedule has gotten much tighter, as some reshoots that were supposed to take place around the time the pandemic began won't be happening until sometime in August.

The director recently sat down for an interview to promote the Shanghai International Film Festival, and during the conversation he said, 

I was planning to go back and shoot some elements later because I wanted to readjust the movie. I needed time. At the time I didn’t know that it would be a pandemic … as we were about to go back to do those elements. The impact was that it crushed my schedule right now. It will be a sprint to finish the movie on time right now, because we were allowed to go back to shoot those elements in a few weeks… it meant also that I have to finish some elements of the movie, like VFX and the editing, being in Montreal as my crew stayed in Los Angeles."

Villeneuve went on to say that he has found it difficult to work on cutting the film together with editor Joe Walker when they're far apart.

I realize how much editing is like playing music with someone and you need to be in the same room. There’s something about the interaction, human interaction, the spontaneity, the energy in the room. I really miss not being in the same room as my editor… it’s very, very painful."

Timothée Chalamet stars in DUNE as Paul Atreides, 

a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet's exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence – a commodity capable of unlocking humanity's greatest potential – only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

The cast also includes Oscar Issac as Paul's father Duke Leto Atreides, Rebecca Ferguson as Paul's mother Lady Jessica, Jason Momoa as swordmaster Duncan Idaho, Javier Bardem as helpful tribe leader Stilgar, Josh Brolin as troubadour-swordsman Gurney Halleck, Stellan Skarsgård as the villainous Baron Harkonnen, Dave Bautista as Harkonnen's brutish nephew Glossu Rabban, Sharon Duncan-Brewster as ecologist Doctor Liet Kynes, Charlotte Rampling as the emperor's truthsayer Reverend Mother Mohiam, David Dastmalchian as the twisted Piter De Vries, Chang Chen as Atreides family physician Dr. Yueh, and Stephen McKinley Henderson as Thufir Hawat, Master of Assassins for House Atreides.

Villeneuve directed the film from a screenplay he wrote with Eric Roth and Jon Spaihts, and produced it with Mary Parent and Cale Boyter. Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, Thomas Tull, and Kim Herbert served as executive producers. Kevin J. Anderson was the creative consultant. 

This will be the third adaptation of DUNE. The two previous adaptations were a 1984 film directed by David Lynch and a 2000 mini-series directed by John Harrison.