I learned today for the first time that a remake of the awesome book (and decidedly less awesome early 80s movie) Dune is being made, and is currently in post-production with a release date of December 18, 2020.
The cast includes many I don't know, but the ones I do know seem excellent for their roles. It's damn near a Marvel reunion...
Jason Mamoa as Duncan Idaho (the swordmaster of House Atreides)
Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck (weaponsmaster of House Atreides, played memorably (and surprisingly) by Patrick Stewart in the original movie
Stellan Skarsgard as Baron Harkonnen
Dave Bautista (better known as Drax the Destroyer) as "Beast" Rabban, the nephew of Harkonnen
This film is also only going to cover the first half of the book, which is good. It's really not possible to cover the whole thing in one 2 or 3 hour movie.
Anyway -- I love the book and a really good film would be great. What say you about all this news? Or am I just the last to known (as would be typical, to be honest!) [Reply]
Originally Posted by Hammock Parties:
Hate the look of Paul but maybe he can act.
For me, the SciFi Dune Miniseries is the definitive version until topped.
Yeah, on looks alone....I'm not impressed. But I wasn't in favor of Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk and that has worked well. Paul is supposed to be pretty young after all... The rest of the cast seems extremely strong.
I never saw the miniseries, unfortunately. I've heard good things. [Reply]
I always thought Paul and Leto should be portrayed by the same actor; the Leto character could just be aged and made to be a bit taller. A line from the book said that when Gurney first saw Paul again, he initially thought he was looking at a ghost image of Leto. That's how I'd do it, anyway.
I guess they could ugly-up Brolin enough to be a respectable Halleck. I don't have any trouble seeing Mamoa as Idaho.
But how are they going to make Skarsgard believable as the Baron? In my mind's eye I've always pictured the Baron as an evil Orson Welles (his later years when he was fat as hell). Neither the abortion that was the '84 movie or the miniseries got him right.
But like DeBerg said, the director did a fantastic job with the last Blade Runner, so I'm willing to give him the slightest benefit of the doubt. But Dune is my favorite book ever, and after the wretched/shoddy/cheap as fuck treatment it's received in the past, it's going to be hard to impress me unless he really gets it right. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Frazod:
But Dune is my favorite book ever, and after the wretched/shoddy/cheap as fuck treatment it's received in the past, it's going to be hard to impress me unless he really gets it right.
1) The Stand-Steven King
2) The Second Son- Charles Sailor
3) Dune- Frank Herbert
4) Stranger in a Strange Land-Robert Heinlein [Reply]
Originally Posted by burt:
1) The Stand-Steven King
2) The Second Son- Charles Sailor
3) Dune- Frank Herbert
4) Stranger in a Strange Land-Robert Heinlein
Not a bad list. I'm still waiting for a movie based on Starship Troopers to be made. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Frazod:
But how are they going to make Skarsgard believable as the Baron? In my mind's eye I've always pictured the Baron as an evil Orson Welles (his later years when he was fat as hell). Neither the abortion that was the '84 movie or the miniseries got him right.
Skarsgard has really good range. He was completely believable as a Russian apparatchik in Chernobyl, and remember that "Vladimir Harkonnen" was based, loosely, on a harshly named Soviet-style ruthless dictator type. If they can make Gary Oldman look like Winston Churchill in his fatter years (though not as morbidly obese as Harkonnen needs to be) then I'm pretty certain they can get Skarsgard there visually. I'm pretty confident in the casting here.
But yeah, we have no reason for real confidence until we see it and it proves itself. It's just a tough story to "get right" on the screen. Lord of the Rings was no worse, though, and Jackson pulled it off pretty damn well. There's stuff about it I dislike, but on balance, he did a helluva job. Let's keep our fingers crossed for a similar result with Dune. [Reply]
The problem, as I see it, is that so much of the story (in the novel) occurs between the characters' ears. It's not a story that lends itself well to a visual format.
But I'm still enough of a Dune fan to say that I'm 90% sure I'm going to see it when it comes out. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Megatron96:
I hope it's good.
The first was pretty bad.
The problem, as I see it, is that so much of the story (in the novel) occurs between the characters' ears. It's not a story that lends itself well to a visual format.
But I'm still enough of a Dune fan to say that I'm 90% sure I'm going to see it when it comes out.
The mini-series on sci-fi was good, so it's doable.
It may just be like so many other novels: there's too much to cover in 2-3 hours. [Reply]
Originally Posted by keg in kc:
The mini-series on sci-fi was good, so it's doable.
It may just be like so many other novels: there's too much to cover in 2-3 hours.
It is, WHICH IS WHY THIS MOVIE IS THE FIRST HALF OF THE BOOK ONLY!
Which I quite like. Not shouting above, just want to make sure everyone knows this, because it's pretty f'ing important in my mind. There's just no way to do it in 3 hours even. [Reply]