Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, Dune, is set to receive another film adaptation later this year. As popular as the novel is, though, there is cause for alarm among fans, as the 412-page sci-fi opus doesn’t exactly lend itself to a film adaptation. Famously, David Lynch’s 1984 Dune film is often considered a massive failure, and largely because the plot was too sizable for feature-length running time. However, worry not as not only is this Dune film in the hands of a very reliable director (Denis Villeneuve), but the studio is handling this film in a far more manageable way by splitting it over two films.
“I would not agree to make this adaptation of the book with one single movie,” Villeneuve said in an interview with Vanity Fair. “The world is too complex. It’s a world that takes its power in details. It’s a book that tackles politics, religion, ecology, spirituality – and with a lot of characters. I think that’s why it’s so difficult. Honestly, it’s by far the most difficult thing I’ve done in my life.“
Certainly, one can understand such reasoning, and it’s already been proven that Dune can be successfully adapted into a live-action film in an elongated format. While David Lynch’s film was criticized for condensing the book’s plot (although it has since grown a cult following), the Sci-Fi Channel’s miniseries adaptation, Frank Herbert’s Dune, was much more lauded. Not only did this adaptation allow for more time to flesh out the book’s complex story, but it also had a stronger understanding of the book’s tone.
In fact, Dune is one of many examples of a novel that has been adapted into both a theatrical movie and a television miniseries and saw far better results with the latter. For example, the 1945 film version of James M. Cain’s novel, Mildred Pierce, severely condensed the degree of characters in the story and also called for a much simpler narrative. The movie even added thriller tropes which were absent from the book, and not so much in an attempt to make it more marketable, but because it streamlined the more complex psychological aspects of the source material. Todd Haynes’ HBO mini-series take on the book, however, was far more faithful to the novel, retaining both its story and dense psychological elements.
Warner Bros. is fully on board with Villeneuve’s decision to film the book’s two halves separately. They had had success with dividing Stephen King’s It into two films and saw eye-to-eye with the director about how the serialization would help with the book’s meticulous format. Villeneuve also promises to be faithful to Herbert’s vision and ecological themes, feeling that the novel has pertinent concerns about preserving the planet. “That’s why I think that Dune, this book, was written in the 20th century,” Villeneuve explained in the same interview. “It was a distant portrait of the reality of the oil and the capitalism and the exploitation—the overexploitation—of Earth. Today, things are just worse. It’s a coming-of-age story, but also a call for action for the youth.”
An epic truly needs a significant amount of scope in order to flourish, and Dune is no exception. In fact, in many ways, the novel might be the foundation for all subsequent ambitious sci-fi epics. Sure, Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series brought a hyper-intelligence and scope to the genre that had hither been unseen, but Herbert’s novel enveloped an intimacy and mysticism that has proven highly influential over the years. It’s hard to imagine Star Wars having the concept of the force without Dune having existed prior, or for George Lucas’ revered trilogy to feature such palpable world-building. A successful film adaptation of Dune has been something fans have wanted for eons, and Villeneuve and Co. will undoubtedly make this series as expansive as it needs to be.
Directed by Denis Villeneuve from a script he co-wrote with Eric Roth and Jon Spaihts, Legendary Pictures' Dune stars Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Stellan Skarsgård, Javier Bardem, Charlotte Rampling, Dave Bautista, David Dastmalchian, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Stephen Henderson and Josh Brolin. The film arrives in theaters Dec. 18.