Go Behind the Scenes of 'Dune' and Its Deserts

We're a little removed from the debut of Dune now, and while the movie has stuck with me since then, one thing I can't stop thinking about is how they achieved all those shots out there in the desert.

Director Denis Villeneuve is a visionary who was able to bring Frank Herbert's novel to life. While Dune's box office is still growing, and the pandemic is affecting how people watch movies, let's take a moment to highlight the craftsmanship that went into creating this film. 

Check out this video from The Things, and let's talk after! 

Villeneuve’s highly anticipated, ambitious adaptation of Herbert’s Dune is finally here after years in the making and multiple delays.

It was a wild production that had to deal with the elements as well as the pandemic on the tail end of it. Still, the movie was able to pull off the impossible: making science fiction look real.

Scenes were carried by the A-list cast that includes the likes of Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, and Dave Bautista.

Villeneuve has brought films like Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 to life, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised when he absolutely made the world inside Dune feel alive and tangible. 

But this story has an epic scope. The story follows Paul Atreides, the son of a noble family, who is entrusted with keeping one of the most vital elements in the galaxy safe. Dune was made on a massive budget, which allowed the film’s creative team to really go the extra mile when bringing the planet Arrakis to life.

There was talk on whether or not the movie was a white savior story, but it's more like a cautionary tale about aristocracy and double-crosses. 

To find their desert, they filmed in extremely high temperatures in the deserts of Dubai and Jordan and shot in the mountains of Budapest for other scenes.

The elements are their own character. We see subtle carvings of the sandworms on the wall and the sand the characters walk on.

As we alluded to earlier, it wasn’t all smooth sailing making Dune, as the crew did encounter problems along the way such as lighting windowless locations or having to edit during lockdown where the main editor and the director couldn’t even sit in the same room. Even with those hurdles, there is a lot of promise within Dune.

The movie performed well enough to get a sequel, so we'll get to see them do all this over again. 

Let us know your ideas and observations in the comments. 

Source: The Things