Director Denis Villeneuve is hoping that his upcoming Dune film, which is set to reach theatres and the HBO Max streaming service on October 22nd, is just the first of a two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic novel – which is why the movie now sports the official title Dune: Part 1. Villeneuve needs this film to be a success so he can make the second half of the adaptation, which is why he objected to Warner Bros' plan to release the film on HBO Max the same day it reaches theatres. But they're sticking with that release strategy, and a new trailer has now arrived online to promote the release. You can check it out in the embed above.
Scripted by Villeneuve, Eric Roth, and Jon Spaihts, Dune: Part 1 stars Timothée Chalamet 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.
Chalamet's co-stars include Oscar Issac as Paul's father Duke Leto Atreides; Rebecca Ferguson as Paul's mother Lady Jessica; Josh Brolin as troubadour-swordsman Gurney Halleck; Jason Momoa as swordmaster Duncan Idaho; Javier Bardem as helpful tribe leader Stilgar; Stellan Skarsgård as the villainous Baron Harkonnen; Dave Bautista as the brutish "Beast" Rabban; David Dastmalchian as the twisted Piter De Vries; Sharon Duncan-Brewster as ecologist Doctor Liet Kynes; Charlotte Rampling as the emperor's truthsayer Reverend Mother Mohiam; Chang Chen as physician Dr. Yueh; Stephen McKinley Henderson as Thufir Hawat, Master of Assassins for House Atreides; and Zendaya as Chani, "a mystery woman who haunts Paul in his dreams".
Our own Chris Bumbray had the chance to watch the first 10 minutes of Dune: Part 1, as well as an action sequence from later in the film. His report, which contains SPOILERS, can be seen here:
So the movie starts with a prologue on Arrakis narrated by Zendaya's Chani. First, she gives us a brief history of the Harkonnen family's tyrannical rule and their war with the Fremen. Next, we see some brief glimpses of action in the full IMAX ratio before segueing to Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) having a vision of Chani in his sleep. We learn he's been having dreams for months. At the same time, his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), continues his training in the Bene Gesserit technique "The Voice," which is conveyed excitingly through a combination of silence and bass.
We then learn Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac) is being sent to Arrakis with his family to take over from the Harkonnens. We see Leto, with Isaac having tons of gravitas, as well as Josh Brolin's Gurney Halleck, the Leto family's badass protector. We also get a glimpse of Thufir Hawat (Stephen McKinley Henderson) before the footage wraps up. From there, we saw the trailer that comes out tomorrow, which introduces us to Jason Momoa's badass-looking Duncan Idaho, along with a taste of the footage we saw and some really cool action beats.
We then got a look at an extended action sequence from later in the first act, when Duke Leto and his son rescue spice miners. In the David Lynch film, this was a pretty brief moment, but here it's a massive IMAX-shot action sequence, which gives us the full effect of Greig Fraser's fantastic photography and Hans Zimmer's pounding score. A note on the score, in a brief interview featurette Zimmer mentioned wanting to stay away from traditional instruments as he tried to evoke the sounds of another world, meaning lots of percussion and vocals. The score, in many ways, sounds like something he intends to be his Magnum Opus and potentially a new classic for the venerable composer.
To read more of Bumbray's thoughts on what he saw, head over to THIS LINK.
Mary Parent and Cale Boyter produced Dune: Part 1 with Villeneuve. Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, Thomas Tull, and Kim Herbert served as executive producers. Kevin J. Anderson was the creative consultant.