Guardians Of The Galaxy co-star Dave Bautista has signed onto director Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic science-fiction novel Dune. Bautista will be joining the previously cast Timothee Chalamet and Rebecca Ferguson.
Set in the far future, Dune centers on the desert planet Arrakis, the only known source of a spice which is vital to interplanetary space travel. Chalamet will star as Paul Atreides, the son of a nobleman who has been placed in charge of spice production of Arrakis by the the Padishah Emperor, Shaddam IV. Ferguson will be playing Paul’s mother, Lady Jessica, a member of a religious order who believe that Paul may be a prophesied messiah.
Bautista has been cast as “The Beast” Rabban, the sadistic nephew of the head of House Harkonnen, the political rivals of House Atreides.
Dune is a tough novel to adapt, as previous attempts have demonstrated. It is a sprawling, complex work that deals with grand themes of environmentalism, religion and political intrigue. It is also a very internal novel, a fact that director David Lynch wrestled with in his 1984 adaptation to various degrees of success. But Villeneuve has a pretty good sense for cinematic science-fiction that works with weighty themes like those found in Dune. So here’s hoping that his experience will help bring a worthy adaptaion of the material to big screen.
Via Hollywood Reporter.
