Warner Bros. (via Vanity Fair) has released the first image from Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming remake of Dune, featuring Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name) as Paul Atreides on the planet Caladan.
“The immediately appealing thing about Paul was the fact that in a story of such detail and scale and world-building, the protagonist is on an anti-hero’s-journey of sorts,” Chalamet said. “He thinks he’s going to be sort of a young general studying his father and his leadership of a fighting force before he comes of age, hopefully a decade later, or something like that.”
“’Dune’ was made by people from all over the world. Many of these people are like family to me, and they’re very much in my thoughts,” Villeneuve said. “I’m so proud to showcase their hard work. I look forward to a time when we can all get together again as ‘Dune’ was made to be seen on the big screen.”
The star-studded cast includes Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name), Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible — Fallout) and Isaac (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) in leading roles. The film will also feature Zendaya (Spider-Man: Far From Home) Jason Momoa (Aquaman), Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy), Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men), Stellan Skarsgard (Thor: The Dark World), Charlotte Rampling (The Night Porter) and Josh Brolin (Avengers: Endgame).
Villeneuve is best known for directing Blade Runner 2049 as well as Sicario. Though Dune will likely resemble the former film more than the latter, both display the sort of experience directing arid, desolate locales that a fan would want in their Dune director, considering a sizable chunk of the story takes place on a desert planet.
Dune will be released in theaters on December 18, 2020.