Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya are steaming up the sandy terrain in “Dune: Part Two.”
Chalamet returns as Paul Atreides, who is suffering from PTSD after being at war in the previous film and seeing his father killed. His new romance with Zendaya’s Chani grounds him as he prepares to battle new foes, such as Austin Butler’s bald assassin, Feyd Rautha. Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Léa Seydoux, and Christopher Walken join the cast alongside returning “Dune” actors Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Rebecca Ferguson, and Dave Bautista.
Denis Villeneuve directs and 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.
“Dune: Part Two” was shot entirely in IMAX by cinematographer Greig Fraser, who won the 2022 Oscar for “Dune: Part One,” with the first film additionally winning Academy Awards for Best Sound, Visual Effects, Production Design, and Original Score.
Writer-director Villeneuve revealed “Dune: Part Two” is “more alive” than the first film.
“For me, this film is much better than ‘Part One,’” Villeneuve said during a press conference in South Korea (via Variety). “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.”
Villeneuve added that he is currently writing “Dune: Messiah” to complete the trilogy.
“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, Villeneuve warned that since “Dune” and “Dune: Part Two” were filmed back-to-back, “Dune: Messiah” will have a “gap” between the first two films.
“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.”
“Dune: Part Two” premieres March 1 in theaters. Check out the latest trailer below.
