Movies DUNE (Sequel Officially Greenlit; Opens to $40.1 Million at the U.S. Box Office)

[minute bull]

Challenge:

Name one current major hollywood actor that is more consistently typecast than Jason Momoa.

Featuring Bruce Willis as "Fed Up Old Man in a handful of scenes."

 

[YellowBanenoo]

I think Rian Johnson would do this better.

 

[Halge]

They are Budislamics, specifically the Zensunni branch. But to say they are a specific current ethnic group is sort of silly since Dune takes place some 20k years in the future. In the books the religion was a fusion of Sunni Islam and Zen Buddhism so they could plausibly be any mix of north african, middle eastern, and east asian.

Yeah, my memory of the Dune books is a fog at this point. I just vaguely remember something about a diaspora regarding the Fremen. Like, them settling the desert planet of Arrakis being analogous (in a symbolic sense) to the Israelites 40 year trek through the desert.

 

[Crimson Glory]

Dune miniseries is among the greats.

Loved watching that back in the early 2000s.

Hoping for good things.

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

They are Budislamics, specifically the Zensunni branch. But to say they are a specific current ethnic group is sort of silly since Dune takes place some 20k years in the future. In the books the religion was a fusion of Sunni Islam and Zen Buddhism so they could plausibly be any mix of north african, middle eastern, and east asian.

Well technically speaking anyone can be any religion so there’s no reason the Fremen couldn’t be descended from a bunch of Zensunni Dutchmen.

 

[moreorless87]

Yeah, my memory of the Dune books is a fog at this point. I just vaguely remember something about a diaspora regarding the Fremen. Like, them settling the desert planet of Arrakis being analogous (in a symbolic sense) to the Israelites 40 year trek through the desert.

Theres some references to the Zen Sunni's migrating around previously and becoming "soft" on a relatively hospitable planet before Dune toughens them up over thousands of years. Really a big point of the books is that populations are a product of their environment and the look of the Fremen is always described much on in that fashion rather than a base ethnicity.

Casting wise I like most of the supporting roles, Momoa seems a little different to what you'd expect but I don't see why he couldn't work well enough as Duncan. Its more the leading roles I'm uncertain about as they seem like "hot prospect" casting by movie execs(maybe on the back of the Blade Runner 2049 not doing so well?), I spose really I haven't seen much of Chalamet and he does have a bit of the look you'd expect for Paul but I worry he's going to end up being too weedy/whiney. Chani isn't really that big a role in this film in the end so Zendaya might not be pushed much but Rebecca Ferguson seems a bit non descript to me as Jessica. I think that's really a key role as with Paul your always needing to cast young but Jessica is a leading role where you could cast something with a strong presense, I saw Amy Adams mentioned in the past for example.

 

[Drain Bamage]

Too many big name stars in this movie

 

[moreorless87]

Too many big name stars in this movie

I think Dune is a lot like Lord of the Rings personally, it demands a cast with a lot of screen presense to bring character to it or risk the story becoming too dry.

 

[Monte Moku]

Seeing Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista cast originally had me worried that they were going to make this a cheesy blockbuster film, but the director, writers and producers look really good; Momoa and Bautista have also been put in roles I think fits their personalities well. Only thing I don't get is casting Zendaya. Her acting is just awful and to my knowledge she has never done any work that has an atmosphere that isn't geared towards kids. I hope she pulls it off, but damn they could have put literally anyone else in there

 

[moreorless87]

Seeing Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista cast originally had me worried that they were going to make this a cheesy blockbuster film, but the director, writers and producers look really good; Momoa and Bautista have also been put in roles I think fits their personalities well. Only thing I don't get is casting Zendaya. Her acting is just awful and to my knowledge she has never done any work that has an atmosphere that isn't geared towards kids. I hope she pulls it off, but damn they could have put literally anyone else in there

Chani you could argue isn't the most demanding role, at least in a film based on the first book. Again though it does make me think that studio execs have been doing some of the casting rather the the director.

The start of Blade Runner 2049 tells me Batista should be fine playing a ruthless hard ass, if anything that seems like the most perfect casting to me along with the Baron.

 

[chickenluver]

Yes I think it very much does, exploring the ideas setup in the original to their conclusion with God Emperor being more an extended coda on that conclusion that you could probably infer from the previous books or get via synopsis.

Quality wise I think Messiah feels slightly rushed relative to the original but it does have an interesting atmosphere to it, Children though I think returns to the same standard as the original albeit more akin to the second half in terms of complexity, no coincidence Hebert spent longer on it than any of the other sequels.

I read Messiah recently and found it to be a rather lackluster follow up. It wasn't bad, but after the first book which was grand in scope but still had disciplined writing, Messiah while much shorter seemed to me to have a lot of superfluous nonsense, particularly as related to Paul and his continual mind wanderings or whatever you'd called them. Everything about it was just not quite as good as the first imo, including the villains, although the face-dancer was a good character. Glad to hear the third book is a return to from.

The start of Blade Runner 2049 tells me Bastia should be fine playing a ruthless hard ass, if anything that seems like the most perfect casting to be along with the Baron.

Agreed. Skarskgard as the baron is my favorite casting so far. Rampling as the reverend mother, and Bardem as Stilgar are good picks as well.

 

[JBSchroeds]

I read Messiah recently and found it to be a rather lackluster follow up. It wasn't bad, but after the first book which was grand in scope but still had disciplined writing, Messiah while much shorter seemed to me to have a lot of superfluous nonsense, particularly as related to Paul and his continual mind wanderings or whatever you'd called them. Everything about it was just not quite as good as the first imo, including the villains, although the face-dancer was a good character. Glad to hear the third book is a return to from.

Messiah is very much an interlude. When Sci-Fi did their miniseries adaptions they compressed the whole thing into one episode to start off their Children of Dune series.

 

[GSP_37]

Was the original movie worth watching? What's the appeal?

 

[chickenluver]

Messiah is very much an interlude.

I get that, but for such a short book it seemed to have an awful lot of unnecessary text, along with a general decline in writing quality imo

Was the original movie worth watching?

It's a travesty

 

[moreorless87]

I read Messiah recently and found it to be a rather lackluster follow up. It wasn't bad, but after the first book which was grand in scope but still had disciplined writing, Messiah while much shorter seemed to me to have a lot of superfluous nonsense, particularly as related to Paul and his continual mind wanderings or whatever you'd called them. Everything about it was just not quite as good as the first imo, including the villains, although the face-dancer was a good character. Glad to hear the third book is a return to from..

I wouldn't expect a return to the style of the early parts of the first book with the third, its still heavily focused on "plans within plans" but does have more character and action to it than Messiah that feels more like a coda to the original.

I would say as well by the second book you need to understand whats really going on with Paul's abilities....

Spoiler

There not mystical at all but rather a combination of having a very large amount of knowledge via genetic memory and the ability to work out complex probabilities as a kind of super mentat so calculating possible futures. That means as well that other prescient individuals such as the Guild navigators actually provide a barrier to each others knowledge of the future

 

[bubbleboyjones]

Dune: A Star Wars Story

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/14/entertainment/dune-movie-first-look-trnd/index.html

 

[Wet Blanket]

Can't wait for this movie!!

 

[JBSchroeds]

Parts of these costumes looks super cheap, like obviously vacuformed and roughly trimmed parts just glued to a fabric backing. I'm not at all impressed by this first-look.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

I think Dune is a lot like Lord of the Rings personally, it demands a cast with a lot of screen presense to bring character to it or risk the story becoming too dry.

None of the people in LOTR were “big stars” at the time. Some were names but none were stars

 

[Drain Bamage]

The start of Blade Runner 2049 tells me Batista should be fine playing a ruthless hard ass, if anything that seems like the most perfect casting to me along with the Baron.

Batista playing another ruthless hardass in another Denis Villanueve big budget reboot of another iconic sci-fi story.

Hollywood with the big imagination lol.