Dune actor says Villeneuve's version will "honor everything" about the novel

Dune actor says Villeneuve’s version will “honor everything” about the novel

June 4th 2019, 11:22am

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Frank Herbert’s novel “Dune” is the best-selling and among the most beloved sci-fi books ever written, and its breathtaking scope has been quite the challenge to adapt for the big and small screen. Denis Villeneuve (ARRIVAL, BLADE RUNNER 2049) is the latest filmmaker to bring the story to life on the big screen, and while some diehard fans are approaching with hopeful skepticism, actor David Dastmalchian has full confidence that the visionary filmmaker will stay true to the iconic source material in every way.

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This marks the third time Dastmalchian has worked with the director after BLADE RUNNER and 2013’s PRISONERS and recently spoke to CinemaBlend about the upcoming sci-fi epic. Dastmalchian, who plays, Piter De Vries, couldn’t reveal any details about the movie itself, but said he’s seen more than enough to know that the director will be faithful to Herbert’s work.

I can’t really discuss much about the script or the plot itself, but I can just tell you that that old phrase ‘True to the spirit’ or ‘honoring the spirit of’, and to be quite honest I haven’t even seen the most recent of the script, but in the way Denis has talked about the film and what I’ve seen, it’s absolutely true to and in honor of everything that Frank put into the novel. And translating something from novel form to cinema form requires a lot of mastery as storytellers go, and I think there’s no one better for that job than Denis. He’s just so fearless, man. He makes choices and then he goes into the places that we need right now as audiences.

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Dastmalchian continued, showering praise on the director and saying that anyone who has seen BLADE RUNNER or ARRIVAL can expect similar quality in storytelling with his DUNE.

I’m so grateful and excited to be a part of Denis’ vision. I think that he is one of the greatest filmmakers of our time and any time, and I believe what he’s going to do here, it’s just going to take people to a whole other place. He brings so much. When you think about Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 specifically, because those are the two science fiction films that he’s crafted, you see his gift for telling stories that are visually stunning, but that are also rooted in really complex ideas and really fascinating characters.

The most famous iteration of the material is the 1984 movie from director David Lynch, and while it has retained a fan base it was initially met with sour reviews and is considered a box office flop. It was reported as early as December 2016 that Villeneuve would direct a new adaptation of the material, and since has assembled an unbelievable cast, including – *deep inhale* – Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgard, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Stephen Henderson, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa and Javier Bardem.