Original Dune Novel ‘Stayed Like An Old Dream’ For Director Denis Villeneuve

Dune gets praise from Denis Villeneuve.

If the traffic we get for the Dune adaptation is anything to go off of, fans of the original novel are ecstatic for this new film. And why wouldn’t they be? The original Frank Herbert novels are milestones of science-fiction, and they’re being reimagined by an amazing filmmaker. I say this in all sincerity: Denis Villeneuve is probably one of the top ten filmmakers working in Hollywood today. 

Yes, Villeneuve is a great director. That is true without question. But based on films like Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, he has a way of grounding sci-fi visually. I can only imagine he’ll be bringing that greatness to Dune, but what about Dune captured his imagination to begin with? In a recent hourlong interview with the filmmaker, Villeneuve recounted stumbling onto the book as a teenager, and how it quickly became one of his favorites.

“The world, the complexity, the beauty, the richness of the cultures, the way it was described,” he said. “The adventure of a boy leaving his world and having to adapt himself to a new reality, having to adapt himself to a new culture. To have the humility to embrace that new culture and to survive those environments, I thought was very moving at the time. And, for a young boy, I thought what the book was saying about politics, about the economy, about how we are dealing with natural resources, exploitation of natural resources, destroying the environment.”

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More than anything, it sounds like Villeneuve loves how it mixes the simple with the complex.

“For me, it’s a very complex, powerful book that tells a universal story that’s very strong, simple, and approaches very complex subject matters at the same time,” Villeneuve said. “It stayed with me through the years. It stayed like an old dream. I was saying to myself, ‘One day, I would love to bring this to the screen.’”

Considering how much the books clearly meant to Villeneuve, it’s beautiful to see he got his chance to make the film adaptation. The source material is prestigious enough as it is, but add in someone like Villeneuve, and you have surefire gold.

Are you excited to see Dune emerge from the mind of Denis Villeneuve? Sound off down below!

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SOURCE: Secrets of Dune