Dune (titled on-screen as Dune: Part One) is a 2021 American epic space opera film co-produced and directed by Denis Villeneuve, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth. It is the first of a two-part adaptation of the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert and the first installment in Villeneuve's Dune film trilogy. The cast includes Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem. Set in the distant future, the film follows Paul Atreides (Chalamet) as his family, the aristocratic House Atreides, is thrust into a war for the inhospitable desert planet Arrakis.

The film is the third adaptation of Dune, following David Lynch's 1984 film and John Harrison's 2000 television miniseries. After an unsuccessful attempt by Paramount Pictures to produce a new adaptation, Legendary Pictures acquired the Dune film and television rights in 2016, with Villeneuve signing on as director in February 2017. Production contracts were secured only for the first film, relying on its success before a sequel would be produced. Principal photography took place from March to July 2019 in Hungary, Jordan, Norway, the United Arab Emirates, and other locations.

Dune was scheduled for a late 2020 release, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2021, before its international release on September 15, 2021; it was then released in United States theaters and via streaming on HBO Max on October 22, 2021. Dune grossed $411 million on a $165 million budget and received positive reviews from critics and audiences. It won six awards at the 94th Academy Awards and was nominated in four other categories, in addition to receiving numerous other accolades.

A sequel, Dune: Part Two, was released on March 1, 2024, covering the novel's second half, and another sequel, Dune: Part Three, based on Herbert's 1969 novel Dune Messiah, is scheduled to be released on December 18, 2026.

Plot

In the distant future, Duke Leto Atreides is assigned by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV to replace Baron Vladimir Harkonnen as the fiefholder of Arrakis, a harsh desert planet and the sole source of "spice", a valuable psychotropic substance that imparts heightened vitality and awareness. Spice is also key to interstellar travel. Emperor Shaddam, fearful of Leto's rising power, plots for House Harkonnen, aided by his Sardaukar troops, to retake Arrakis and destroy House Atreides. Leto is suspicious of the Emperor but weighs the risks against the power of controlling Arrakis and making an alliance with its mysterious natives, the Fremen.

Leto's concubine, Lady Jessica, is an acolyte of the Bene Gesserit—a sisterhood whose members possess advanced physical and mental abilities. As part of a centuries-long breeding program, they instructed her to bear a daughter whose son would become the Kwisatz Haderach—a messianic superbeing with the prescience necessary to guide humanity to a better future. Jessica disobeyed and bore a son, Paul, whom she trains in Bene Gesserit practices. Paul also receives mentorship from Leto's aides Duncan Idaho, Gurney Halleck, Wellington Yueh, and Thufir Hawat. The Reverend Mother and Imperial Truthsayer Gaius Helen Mohiam subjects Paul to a highly dangerous gom jabbar test to assess his humanity and impulse control, which he passes. Paul begins having troubling visions of the future.

House Atreides arrives on Arrakis. The Fremen revere Paul and Jessica, which she explains is due to the Bene Gesserit sowing beliefs on Arrakis centuries earlier. An attempt to assassinate Paul fails. At a secret meeting on the Harkonnen planet Giedi Prime, Mohiam insists that Baron Harkonnen spare Paul and Jessica in his coup, to which he duplicitously agrees. Leto meets and negotiates with Fremen chieftain Stilgar and meets the Imperial Judge of the Change, Dr. Liet Kynes, a planetologist who lives among the Fremen. During a flight over the desert, they rescue a stranded spice-harvesting crew from a giant sandworm, and Paul's exposure to the spice triggers intense premonitions.

Yueh betrays the Atreides and disables Arrakeen's shields, allowing the Harkonnens and Sardaukar to invade. Yueh incapacitates Leto, planning to exchange him for his wife, the Baron's prisoner. Yueh replaces one of Leto's teeth with a poison gas capsule with which Leto can assassinate the Baron. After the Baron kills Yueh, Leto releases the gas, killing himself and the Baron's Mentat, Piter De Vries, but the Baron survives. Though the Baron arranged to have Paul and Jessica dropped deep in the desert to die, Yueh had left them with a fremkit with survival supplies. Jessica uses the Voice technique to overpower and kill their captors. Overnighting in the desert, Paul—surrounded by spice—has visions of a bloody holy war fought across the universe in his name.

After conquering Arrakis, Baron Harkonnen appoints his nephew Rabban to oversee the planet, and orders him to restart spice production to recoup the invasion's cost. Meanwhile, Duncan and Kynes find Jessica and Paul, who discloses his plan to marry one of Emperor Shaddam's daughters to avert a potential civil war arising from the Emperor's betrayal. When they are discovered by Sardaukar soldiers, Duncan sacrifices himself to enable Paul and Jessica to escape. Kynes also tries to escape but is caught and mortally wounded. Deep in the desert, Paul and Jessica encounter Stilgar's tribe, including Chani, the young woman from Paul's visions. When Stilgar commands lenience towards Paul and Jessica, the Fremen warrior Jamis challenges them to a ritual duel to the death; Paul accepts and wins. Contrary to Jessica's wishes, Paul joins the Fremen, determined to fulfill his father's goal of bringing peace to Arrakis.

Cast

Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, ducal heir of House Atreides Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Paul's Bene Gesserit mother and concubine of Leto Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides, Paul's father and the leader of House Atreides Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, weapons master of House Atreides and one of Paul's mentors Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, leader of House Harkonnen, enemy of House Atreides, and former steward of Arrakis Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban, nephew of Baron Harkonnen Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Dr. Liet Kynes, Imperial planetologist and Judge of the Change on Arrakis Stephen McKinley Henderson as Thufir Hawat, the Mentat of House Atreides Zendaya as Chani, a young Fremen woman who appears in Paul's visions Chang Chen as Dr. Wellington Yueh, a Suk doctor employed by House Atreides Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Mohiam, the Emperor's Bene Gesserit Truthsayer Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, the swordmaster of House Atreides and one of Paul's mentors Javier Bardem as Stilgar, the leader of the Fremen tribe at Sietch Tabr David Dastmalchian as Piter De Vries, the Mentat of House Harkonnen Babs Olusanmokun as Jamis, a Fremen from Sietch Tabr Golda Rosheuvel as Shadout Mapes, a Fremen working as a housekeeper for House Atreides Roger Yuan as Lieutenant Lanville, Gurney Halleck's second-in-command Neil Bell as Sardaukar Bashar

Additionally, Benjamin Clementine portrays the Herald of the Change, the head of an Imperial delegation to Caladan. Jean Gilpin, Ellen Dubin and Marianne Faithfull (in her final film role) voice the ancestral Bene Gesserit whose voices are heard by Paul in his visions. Joe Walker, the film's editor, provides the narration for Paul's filmbooks about Arrakis. Choreographer Milena Sidorova portrays the Baron's human-spider hybrid pet via motion capture.

Production

Background

Following the publication of Frank Herbert's novel Dune in 1965, it was considered to have potential for a possible film adaptation. Since 1971, various producers have held film adaptation rights for the novel. Attempts to make an adaptation based on the book were considered to be "unfilmable" due to its breadth of content. The book's status among fans meant that deviations without strong justification could potentially harm the film's reputation.

Alejandro Jodorowsky acquired the rights in the 1970s to make a fourteen-hour adaptation of the book, but the project ultimately failed to secure sufficient funds. This development effort became the subject of the documentary film Jodorowsky's Dune (2013). David Lynch's Dune, produced by Raffaella De Laurentiis in 1984, was intended as a three-hour film but was cut to 137 minutes; it was poorly received and Lynch himself ended up disowning it. In 1996, producer Richard P. Rubinstein acquired the rights to the novel. Frank Herbert's Dune, a live-action miniseries produced by Rubinstein and directed by John Harrison, aired on the Sci Fi Channel in 2000; it was a ratings hit and was generally better received than Lynch's film. Some reviewers criticized the miniseries for lacking the spectacle afforded to a feature film production, as well as for staying too faithful to the book and being bogged down by exposition. Prospects to make a successful adaptation of Dune improved after the critical and commercial success of the film series adaptations of The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, both of which maintained most of the works' key characters and plots while managing the limited running time. In 2008, Paramount Pictures hired Peter Berg to direct an adaptation. Berg left the project in October 2009, with director Pierre Morel being hired in January 2010. Paramount later cancelled the project in March 2011, as they could not come to key agreements, with their rights reverting to Rubinstein.

Development

In 2011, Mary Parent, vice chair of worldwide production for Legendary Pictures, and her producing partner Cale Boyter, acquired adaptation rights for Dune. Legendary obtained film and television rights for Dune in November 2016. Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve expressed interest in the project in September 2016, saying that it had been a longstanding dream of his to adapt Dune. By December, he was in talks with the studio to direct, and his enthusiasm and vision for the film motivated Parent to hire him. Villeneuve chose to complete Arrival (2016) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017) first, to give himself more time to develop and co-write Dune. By February 2017, he was officially confirmed as the film's director.

Some of Villeneuve's previous collaborators on Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 returned for Dune, including film editor Joe Walker, production designer Patrice Vermette, visual effects supervisor Paul Lambert, sound designer and editor Theo Green, sound editor Mark Mangini, and special effects supervisor Gerd Nefzer. Other previous collaborators were slated to work on Dune but dropped out before production began, including visual effects supervisor John Nelson and cinematographer Roger Deakins, who was replaced in December 2018 with Greig Fraser. Dune was produced by Villeneuve, Parent and Boyter, with Tanya Lapointe, Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, Kim Herbert, Thomas Tull, Jon Spaihts, Richard P. Rubinstein, John Harrison, and Herbert W. Gain serving as executive producers and Kevin J. Anderson as creative consultant. Game of Thrones language creator David J. Peterson was confirmed as a constructed language developer for the film in April 2019.

Writing