If you were impressed by the visuals of Denis Villeneuve‘s first Dune movie, get ready to experience more thrills and surprises when the sequel hits theaters later this year. As confirmed today during the Warner Bros. panel at CinemaCon, Dune: Part Two was completely shot in IMAX. To put it into context, only 40% of the first installment was filmed while using the format, giving a whole new look to the second part of the story featuring Timothée Chalamet in the role of Paul Atreides. During an exclusive interview with Collider, the filmmaker had previously indicated how he wanted to continue experimenting with the format. Here’s what Villeneuve said about using IMAX cameras during the production of Dune: Part Two:
Definitely. [Cinematographer] Greig Fraser and I, we fell in love with this format, and definitely there be—even probably more—IMAX footage in this movie. Definitely.
In the first movie, Paul was a very shy person, haunted by the girl who visited him in his dreams while trying to learn how to control the Voice. An ability his inherited from her mother (Rebecca Ferguson), who got from a council of witches, the Voice allows the user to give firm commands to anyone who can hear them. The true power resides in the fact that the person who is instructed to do something actually does it, regardless of if they want to or not. While Paul struggled to use it at first, he was able to get his mother and himself out of a dangerous situation with the skill.
The whole story takes place within the context of a government that rules over several different planets in a galaxy very distant from ours. Paul is meant to free the Fremen from the people that took away their home and resources, but he didn’t count on meeting Chani (Zendaya). As a vision, the girl of her dreams seemed to call to him, but she was merely an idea Paul daydreamed about. But now, the mysterious character is in front of him, and their relationship will define the future of their universe. Paul will try to avenge the death of his father (played by Oscar Isaac in the first film) and defeat the evil Emperor (Christopher Walken).
Managing Expectations for the Sequel
After the first movie premiered in theaters, accompanied by flattering reviews and multiple Academy Award nominations, Warner Bros. and Villeneuve had a smash hit in their hands. With Austin Butler and Florence Pugh joining the action, the filmmaker is quite aware of the huge anticipation fans and general audiences feel for his upcoming sequel. During the interview with Collider, Villeneuve pointed out that directing the second film does come with a certain amount of pressure:
The first one, it was more to make sure that we will land in the world and that the movie will be accepted. Now it’s to make sure that we can close that first book, so it’s like there’s some premises that are in the first movie that I need to ignore. So yeah, I think I would say there’s more pressure with the second one in some ways.
You can check out the official trailer for the first Dune movie below, while you wait for the sequel to arrive in theaters on November 3:
via Collider