See Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, and more pics from Dune 2020!

The other day, we finally got our first official look at director Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Dune, with a picture of Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides:

Set in the year 10,191, Dune follow Paul and his family — the members of the noble House Atreides — as they travel from their homeworld of Caladan to the desert planet of Arrakis, aka Dune. Dune is a coveted planet among the royal houses of the Imperium because it is the only planet known to produce the substance known as spice, which extends the lifespan of those who ingest it and in some cases give them the power of prescience.

House Atreides has been given governorship of Dune by the Padishah Emperor, but there are dangers everywhere, particularly from House Harkonnen, the planet’s former governors. Once on the planet, Paul and his family must quickly learn to adjust to its harsh desert climate, as well as make peace and learn to work with its native inhabitants, the Fremen.

The picture we got the other day showed Paul on Caladan, with its bountiful waters. Today, we have pictures of Dune, with no water anywhere.

“It was really surreal,” Chalamet told Vanity Fair’s Anthony Breznican about filming scenes in the Wadi Rum section of the Jordan desert. “There are these Goliath landscapes, which you may imagine existing on planets in our universe, but not on Earth.”

"I remember going out of my room at 2 a.m., and it being probably 100 degrees. The shooting temperature was sometimes 120 degrees. They put a cap on it out there, if it gets too hot. I forget what the exact number is, but you can’t keep working. In a really grounded way, it was helpful to be in the stillsuits and to be at that level of exhaustion."

Stillsuits are the think rubber-like armor-like suits the Fremen wear in order to be able to live and thrive in the desert — that’s Paul and his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) wearing them in the photo above. They recycle the body’s fluids and convert it into drinkable water. They are as important as life itself, on Arrakis, and all of House Atreides has to learn to wear the awkward-at-first outfits if they are going to adapt to life on the new planet.

Villeneuve is making two movies out of Frank Herbert’s influential novel. And if the first couple movies are a success, there are more books in the series. “I would not agree to make this adaptation of the book with one single movie,” Villeneuve said. “The world is too complex. It’s a world that takes its power in details.”

"No matter what you believe, Earth is changing, and we will have to adapt. That’s why I think that Dune, this book, was written in the 20th century. It was a distant portrait of the reality of the oil and the capitalism and the exploitation—the overexploitation—of Earth. Today, things are just worse. It’s a coming-of-age story, but also a call for action for the youth."

While things might go smoothly on Arrakis for House Atreides for a while, House Harkonnen has plans to wrest control back for itself. That evil house is led by the grotesque, foul Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård), whose appetites are unspeakably monstrous and who is so incredibly fat he must use tiny jets placed around his suit called suspensors in order to keep him afloat. (Unfortunately, Warner Bros. didn’t release a picture of him yet; hopefully that description is enough to jog your imagination.

Villeneuve knew putting this character on screen would be a challenge. “As much as I deeply love the book, I felt that the baron was flirting very often with caricature. And I tried to bring him a bit more dimension. That’s why I brought in Stellan. Stellan has something in the eyes. You feel that there’s someone thinking, thinking, thinking—that has tension and is calculating inside, deep in the eyes. I can testify, it can be quite frightening.”

Villeneuve also took a bit of a different approach to the role of Paul’s mother, Lady Jessica. She’s a member of an influential, all-female sect known as the Bene Gesserit. The film’s synopsis refers to them as “warrior priestesses,” which is close enough. “It’s better than ‘space nun,’” joked Villeneuve.

“She’s a mother, she’s a concubine, she’s a soldier,” Ferguson said of Lady Jessica. “Denis was very respectful of Frank’s work in the book, [but] the quality of the arcs for much of the women have been brought up to a new level. There were some shifts he did, and they are beautifully portrayed now.”

The women of Dune definitely stand on their own as powerful figures who have real effects on the narrative, and I’m glad Villeneuve is giving them the spotlight they deserve. He’s gone a bit further and taken a character who’s a man in the books — Dr. Liet Kynes, an Imperial Planetologist and Fremen leader who harbors a dream to terraform Arrakis into a place of flowing water and thick forests; the great Max von Sydow played him in David Lynch’s 1984 Dune movie — and cast a women to play the role: Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Senator Pamlo in Rogue One).

“What Denis had stated to me was there was a lack of female characters in his cast, and he had always been very feminist, pro-women, and wanted to write the role for a woman,” Duncan-Brewster said. “This human being manages to basically keep the peace amongst many people. Women are very good at that, so why can’t Kynes be a woman? Why shouldn’t Kynes be a woman?”

Then there’s Chani, a Fremen girl with whom Paul falls in love. She “haunts Paul in his dreams as a vision with glowing blue eyes.”

All the Fremen have blue-in-blue eyes, by the way; it’s a side effect of ingesting a lot of spice. Chani is played by Zendaya, just one of the many stars in this fantastic cast. Another is Oscar Isaac, who just wrapped up his time as Poe Dameron in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. He plays Duke Leto, the head of House Atreides and Paul’s father.

Meanwhile, Game of Thrones/Aquaman star Jason Momoa will play Duncan Idaho, the swordmaster of House Atreides and one of Paul’s teachers:

I can’t remember ever seeing Momoa clean-shaven. It’ll take some getting used to, but obviously any movie is going to benefit from his charisma, and Idaho is a great role.

Paul’s other teacher in the ways of war is Gurney Halleck, played by Josh Brolin, Thanos himself.

In the books, Gurney has a noticeable inkvine scar that is visible from his eye to his jawline. I hope that gets added in post-production. But I am digging the armored look. And of course, I fully expect him to strum the baliset; in the books, Gurney is a musician in addition to being a warrior.

And finally, here’s Javier Bardem as the Fremen leader Stilgar, on set with Villeneuve:

In short, the movie is looking awesome. “It’s a book that tackles politics, religion, ecology, spirituality—and with a lot of characters,” said Villeneuve. “I think that’s why it’s so difficult. Honestly, it’s by far the most difficult thing I’ve done in my life.”

Villeneuve is also on tap to direct the second Dune movie, and after that, who knows? Dune is set to hit theaters on December 20 of this year. Let’s hope the coronavirus doesn’t push that date back, because now I’m now eager than ever to see it.

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