Fans of Frank Herbert literature, rejoice; Denis Villeneuve’s forthcoming Dune reboot is seemingly a one-to-one adaptation of the classic source material.
That’s according to former MCU star David Dastmalchian (Ant-Man and the Wasp), who spoke at great length about Dune and, more specifically, Villeneuve’s own interpretation of the literary tome during a recent interview with CinemaBlend.
We already know Dastmalchian is part of an all-star cast and has agreed to play the role of Piter De Vries, but beyond that, there’ve been precious few details revealed. Then again, following his recent sci-fi streak (Arrival! Blade Runner 2049!), we have a sneaking suspicion that Villeneuve is cooking up something very, very special – an expectation shared by Dastmalchian himself, who told CinemaBlend the following:
Once I got cast in [Dune], I decided not to revisit the [David Lynch] film. But I did go back and revisited the book because like I said, I love it. I’ve only read the book once, but I’ve gone back to it many times just to dip in and out and pull quotes. It’s just a fun and very dense piece of philosophical writing. It’s so exciting the thought that this level of maturity and complexity in Herbert’s writing is going to be put on a giant screen by Denis Villeneuve. And the cast that he’s put together, it’s so awesome.
On a more personal level, Dastmalchian went on to divulge some pertinent details about his on-screen character, Piter De Vries, and how he compares with the Piter De Vries fans know and love – that character being a Mentat, a human specially trained to perform mental functions rivaling computers.
The Piter De Vries that I’m playing I hope will resonate with and reflect the Piter de Vries that people who loved the books associate with. I can’t really discuss much about the script or the plot itself, but I can just tell you that that old phrase ‘True to the spirit’ or ‘honoring the spirit of’, and to be quite honest I haven’t even seen the most recent of the script, but in the way Denis has talked about the film and what I’ve seen, it’s absolutely true to and in honor of everything that Frank put into the novel. And translating something from novel form to cinema form requires a lot of mastery as storytellers go, and I think there’s no one better for that job than Denis.
It certainly sounds promising, and with a cast comprised of Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård and many, many more, it’s small wonder why Denis Villeneuve’s Dune has quickly emerged as one of the most anticipated film projects currently in development. November 20th, 2020 is the date for your diaries.