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Denis Villeneuve Explains How Dune Landscape Plays a Huge Role in Sci-Fi Adaptation


There is little doubt that people are expecting big things when it comes to Dune. After all, the new adaptation of Frank Herbert's books has an all-star cast that people are hoping will be able to play the characters the way they had imagined. In addition to that, there are concerns about how the film will be able to adapt the source material's vast storyline. However, director Denis Villeneuve's only main concern is making sure that the landscape will be able to captivate the audience.

Villeneuve recently joined the cast of Dune for a virtual Q&A with Stephen Colbert where the filmmaker discussed why he chose to create massive sets in various locations instead of using giant greenscreen soundstages.

"The title is Dune. It needed to be in the real environment, so we would be inspired by the infinity—and the impact of those landscapes on the actors' inspiration, and myself too," Villeneuve said. "When you are pushing on the camera button, you need the chaos of life. You need to recreate life in front of the camera in order to document reality. And most importantly, you need nature."

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Credit: Warner Bros.

"What I did learn about Dune is exploration of the life and the ecosystem and biosphere, and all the science that Frank Herbert put behind that is so beautiful, it's so poetic," he continued. "I think that in order to bring Dune to the screen, I had to be as close to nature as possible and to make Dune as close to us as possible. So when people will see the movie, they will be amazed by the power of the landscape... [and] most importantly, they will feel strangely at home."

There is little doubt that the landscape is one of the most important things about Dune. Needless to say, we can't wait to see this film in theaters.

Dune is still scheduled for release on December 18.

Related: Will Dune Keep December Release Date After Wonder Woman 1984 Delay?

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