Denis Villeneuve’s Dune adds both Rabban and Baron Harkonnen

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune adds both Rabban and Baron Harkonnen

0 comments 📅10 January 2019, 00:05

The last three films director Denis Villeneuve has given us – Sicario, Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 – are arguably the best movies in their respective years of release, add to that the source material of Frank Herbert’s influential 1965 sci-fi novel and screenwriter Eric Roth…and we’re more than likely looking at another cinematic sci-fi masterpiece.

Sadly, there hasn’t been much word on this incoming epic…until today. Dave Bautista his teaming back up with Villeneuve to take the role of Rabban, the Baron’s half-wit nephew who doesn’t do a very good job of quashing the Freman uprising on Arrakis.

Variety reports that the former WWE wrestler turned Guardians of the Galaxy star will join Timothée Chalamet and Rebecca Ferguson in the upcoming film. Chalamet is playing the film’s lead, Paul Atreides and Ferguson is his mother, Lady Jessica.

Villeneuve clearly knows how to coach a performance out of Bautista, who is working hard to establish himself as a credible actor. Sadly, Sam Mendes failed to utilize anything Bautista might have had to offer and his role in Spectre was little more than “Main Grunt”.

Plus…according to The Hollywood Reporter, the unforgettable role of Baron Harkonnen has now been filled by Stellan Skarsgård.

This will be the first time in a while that Skarsgård has been a villain in mainstream cinema, he’s been playing more likable types like Erik Selvig in the MCU. Other unforgettable bad guy roles in the past include Ronin and The Hunt for Red October.

While still disliked by many, David Lynch’s Dune in 1984 still remains a classic, at least still to us. Yes, it took liberties with many plot elements like the Weirding Module, but the production design was simply amazing. The reimagining of the stillsuits was inspired. Considered a boxoffice failure, this was the last time anyone attempted to bring Dune to the big screen. In that movie Paul L Smith played Rabban and Kenneth McMillan played Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in a seriously underrated performance.

There’s no release date revealed for the movie yet, but maybe we’ll see Dune in the summer or fall of 2020..? When we do, though, that probably won’t be the last of it. According to Herbert’s son Brian, the film will only cover the first half of the book – so Legendary, which is producing, obviously sees this as the start of a franchise.

Scott Snowden is MyM’s US Editor. Follow him on Twitter.

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