Denis Villeneuve is teasing his third “Dune” film, despite admitting there will be a “detour” before immediately going into production.
During a “Dune: Part Two” press conference in South Korea (via Variety), Villeneuve revealed that an adaptation of “Dune: Messiah” is “being written right now” and is part of his “dream” to complete a trilogy adaptation.
“The screenplay is almost finished but it is not finished. It will take a little time,” Villeneuve said. “There’s a dream of making a third movie…It would make absolute sense to me.”
However, there definitely will be a “gap” between “Dune: Part Two” and a possible “Dune: Messiah” production, especially since the first two “Dune” films were produced back to back. “Dune: Part Two” will be released March 1.
“I don’t know exactly when I will go back to Arrakis,” Villeneuve said. “I might make a detour before just to go away from the sun. For my mental sanity, I might do something in between, but my dream would be to go a last time on this planet that I love.”
The director teased that in the meantime, audiences can look forward to a “more alive” iteration of the franchise with “Part Two.”
“For me, this film is much better than ‘Part One,’” Villeneuve said. “There’s something more alive in it. There’s a relationship to the characters. I was trying to reach for an intensity and a quality of emotions that I didn’t reach with ‘Part One’ and that I did reach with ‘Part Two.’ I’m not saying the film is perfect, but I’m much more happy with ‘Part Two’ than I was with ‘Part One.’ I can not wait to share it with the fans and the moviegoers.”
“Dune: Part Two” picks up with Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides and Princess Chani (Zendaya), as Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Léa Seydoux, and Christopher Walken join the ensemble cast. Director Villeneuve co-wrote the script with Jon Spaihts, adapting the second half of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel. “The Last of Us” showrunner Craig Mazin has a writing credit on “Dune: Part Two” after spending a month assisting on the script.
