By Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic “Dune: Part Two” was originally slated for November until the strikes led to the studio pushing the movie to March.
Despite the delay, work on the film is effectively done with many keenly anticipating the title. The first part did much of the expositional heavy lifting of the original Frank Herbert novel, meaning the second part can try something a bit more experimental.
Speaking at a press conference for the film in South Korea (via Tong Tong Culture this week, Villeneuve says he was more satisfied with this second film than his first.
“For me, this film is much better than Part One. There’s something more alive in it. There’s a relationship to the characters. I was trying to reach for an intensity and a quality of emotions that I didn’t reach with Part One and that I did reach with Part Two. I’m not saying the film is perfect, but I’m much more happy with Part Two than I was with Part One.”
That second part finishes the adaptation of the first novel, but Villeneuve has previously teased a desire to also adapt “Dune Messiah” – the much slimmer second book (256 pages vs. the 896 of ‘Dune’) which could be translated to screen in one film.
At the event, he confirmed he’s further along than you might think and has nearly finished writing the script. He says:
“The screenplay is almost finished but it is not finished. It will take a little time… There’s a dream of making a third movie … it would make absolute sense to me … I don’t know exactly when I will go back to Arrakis. I might make a detour before just to go away from the sun. For my mental sanity, I might do something in between, but my dream would be to go a last time on this planet that I love.”
To date only one screen adaptation of “Dune Messiah” exists which is the 2003 Syfy three-part mini-series “Children of Dune” which adapts the second and third books.
“Dune: Part Two” will hit cinemas on March 1st.
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