Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’ is moving ahead full speed, with a cast that seems to grow with each passing day. Timothée Chalamet is signed on to portray the main character, Paul Atreides, a role played by Kyle MacLachlan in the 1984 big screen adaptation, directed by David Lynch. While the original is something of a cult classic (sometimes more for camp-sake than quality), it was a notorious flop at the time. The reasons why are numerous, but it’s widely felt that Lynch was too ambitious and tried to cram too much of Frank Herbert‘s massive novel into too short a window rather than breaking it up into a series.
That seems to be the sentiment of MacLachlan. While appearing on the AM to DM podcast, he said:
“I’m curious to see what happens, you know, he’s [Denis Villeneuve] getting together a great cast obviously, really talented people. It’s a challenging piece of material to try to bring to the screen, so I wish him luck with that, if anyone can do it, he’ll do a great job. He’s a terrific filmmaker….The book, I’m kind of a nerd about the book. I read it when I was 15 for the first time. I know the book very well. There are three sections, you can break that into three movies and still have a lot left over.”
He’s right about the all-star cast that Villeneuve has assembled. Reportedly, Zendaya is being sought to play female lead Chani. Already confirmed are Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Dave Bautista as Glossu ‘Beast’ Rabban, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides, Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Mohiam, and Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen.
Luckily, MacLachlan’s career wasn’t sidelined by the disappointment of ‘Dune’. He went on to win a Golden Globe for ‘Twin Peaks’, a series created by Lynch. Maclachlan has since starred on many TV series, but a few highlights include ‘Sex and the City’, ‘How I Met Your Mother’, ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’, and ‘Portlandia’. He is currently filming the historical drama ‘Atlantic Crossing’, in which he plays President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Villeneuve’s version of ‘Dune’ is scheduled for release on November 20, 2020.
