Dune Cinematographer Promises Film Is a Complete Story Despite Being Only Half of the Book

Frank Herbert’s Dune is one of the most beloved tomes in all of science fiction literature, but it’s also one of the densest and expansive, resulting in director Denis Villeneuve cutting down the source material nearly in half to craft his upcoming film. Despite knowing that the events of the upcoming film condense the source material, the film’s director of photography Greig Fraser promises that the upcoming film is a standalone event that won’t merely feel like a portion of an overall story. Given that a sequel hasn’t officially been announced, this will likely make the film feel more approachable than were it being billed as only the first half of the source material.

“It’s a fully formed story in itself with places to go. It’s a fully standalone epic film that people will get a lot out of when they see it,” Fraser shared with Collider. “It was quite an adventure visually. It was a beautiful experience making it. The people involved with it, I was overwhelmed. Some of the actors, as well as being insanely talented actors, are just lovely, lovely people who I’ve become very close to since then.”

As fans have seen in franchises like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, or Twilight, it’s a common tactic to break up a big story into two parts, but these remarks seem to debunk the idea that this film would merely set the stage with a partial story, leading audiences to wonder when, or if, the rest of that story would be continued.

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.

Director Villeneuve previously teased the trajectory we can expect to see in the new film.

“Paul has been raised in a very strict environment with a lot of training, because he’s the son of a Duke and one day… he’s training to be the Duke,” Villeneuve shared with Empire Magazine. “But as much as he’s been prepared and trained for that role, is it really what he dreams to be? That’s the contradiction of that character. It’s like Michael Corleone in The Godfather – it’s someone that has a very tragic fate and he will become something that he was not wishing to become.”

The new Dune reboot is set to land in theaters on December 18th.

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