While Dune tells the tale of a highly advanced civilization, the trailer for the movie featured many scenes of old-fashioned close combat, because of a piece of technology featured in the story, The Holtzman Shield, that nullifies long-range weaponry. To accommodate the limitations in combat, stunt
In an interview with EW, director Denis Villeneuve explained The Holtzman Shield is something that is worn on the body, which deflects fast-moving projectiles, like bullets. That means only something slow can penetrate the shield. "Humanity went back to close combat," stated Villeneuve, "where you fight with knives and blades because it's the only way you can kill someone through those shields. You can penetrate the shield slowly with the blade."
In order to account for the presence of The Holtzman Sheild tech in fight scenes, Villeneuve developed a new form of combat with the film's stunt coordinator and choreographers that he described as closer to a chess game than a fight sequence. "When you fight someone with a shield, the idea is to distract them with moves in advance," he said.
According to Villeneuve, "You want to distract them with a specific move so you can slowly bring the blade into their body. It's a totally different way of fighting." The filmmaker further explained that this new, very specific form of combat is very fast, and like in chess, the fighters have to plan ways in advance to distract the adversary. He concluded, "It's a very specific, new art form of combat."
You can read Warner Bros. plot synopsis for the film below:
A mythic and emotionally charged hero's journey, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.
Directed by Denis Villeneuve from a script he co-wrote with Eric Roth and Jon Spaihts, Legendary Pictures' Dune stars Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Zendaya as Chani, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides, Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Chang Chen as Dr. Wellington Yueh, Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Dr. Liet Kynes, Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, Dave Bautista Glossu Rabban, David Dastmalchian as Piter De Vries, Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, Stephen Henderson as Thufir Hawat, and Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck. The film arrives in theaters Dec. 18.