There are a lot of movies that fans have been waiting a lot longer than they ever expected to see. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been on pause on the big screen for over a year. We're still a month away from the next entry in the Fast & Furious franchise. The Mission: Impossible franchise and the new Top Gun are both still waiting in the wings. However, one of the biggest movies that has been put on hold, in every sense of the world big, is the new adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune.
Director Denis Villeneuve's movie, which will actually only cover part of the first book in the Dune series, was supposed to open last fall, but like everything else it had to wait. Fans of Dune are really excited for the new film, though it's possible that nobody is quite as excited as one of the actors in the film. Dave Bautista, who previously worked with Villeneuve on Blade Runner 2049 is set to play Glossu Rabban in the film, and he spoke with Slashfilm and could not stop singing the praises of just how impressive this movie would be. Bautista explains...
[The] world that he’s created is so far over my head. It’s so beautiful and different, and a lot of times dark and strange. But it’s something I never could have imagined. I just don’t have that mind. When I think about things, and when I think about directing, it’s all very contained, based on simple stories, a lot of times very simple and inspiring stories. And for someone to see something and create a world this big, a galaxy, a universe this big, it’s something that doesn’t comprehend, doesn’t compute in my brain. But it’s weird that he can do both. [Denis Villeneuve] can create these huge epic worlds and scenes, but at the same time just focus on the most simple things about a performance. He’s just a special guy, he’s got a special focus, and man, he’s a brilliant storyteller. Dune is special. I think people are going to be blown away. It’s going to be one of the most beautiful films that people have ever seen. But I think that people who are just diehard fans of Dune, of the novels, they’re going to be blown away. Because they don’t have anything, really, to reference in relation to the books. Now they will. They’ll have that visual reference. He took these characters, he took this world, and he’s taken them off the page and put them on screen. It’s epic.
Dave Bautista says that even he has difficulty wrapping his head around everything that's going on with Dune, and since he's in it, that's saying something. The story is massive in scope, and that's one of the difficult things about adapting it. There's just so much going on in there that trying to fit it all in becomes quite complicated. But based on what Bautista says here, the new movie will succeed where others have failed.
And that's another interesting aspect of Bautista's comments here. He says that fans of the Dune novels don't have anything to reference in relation to the books, except that Dune has been adapted before, more than once. So fans should have those references. It seems like Bautista is saying that this movie has recreated the characters and the worlds in a way that will just blow previous attempts out of the water.
Fans will finally get to see Dune this October. The only question is how. The film was slated to get a simultaneous release on HBO Max and in theaters, but since then there's been significant push back on letting Dune go immediately to streaming. We'll have to keep watching to see how it finally turns out.
