"Royal Houses"

Another Beneficiary of Hellywood Nepotism

Timothy Chalamet, Pharisee on both sides and 100% soy in his exchange with Jason Momoa in the trailer.

Sad News for Dune Fans

Warner Bros. has delayed #Dune from December 18, 2020 until October 1, 2021. pic.twitter.com/XqRQoKSe5Q

— Rotten Tomatoes (@RottenTomatoes) October 5, 2020

Dune Cast Q&A

Related:

Overall, A Disappointing Trailer

There are some good bits here and there, but too many reminders of the woke agenda behind this adaptation, and the emo song used in the trailer undermines Paul Atreides. It's one thing to cast a younger male actor who is younger but has the potential to physically grow with the part; this is as big and mature as Timothée Chalamet will get. But, then again, afaik they are not planning to make any sequel movies using the other books in the series.

More DUNE Stills

Nerdist: New DUNE Image Shows Paul Atreides Training

Empire broke this and this.

Is Dune Going to Be Woke?

Midnight's Edge has a video on the photos released for the movie and the Vanity Fair article.



Here is the relevant portion of the Vanity Fair article:

The director has also expanded the role of Paul’s mother, Lady Jessica. She’s a member of the Bene Gesserit, a sect of women who can read minds, control people with their voice (again, a precursor to the Jedi mind trick), and manipulate the balance of power in the universe. In the script, which Villeneuve wrote with Eric Roth and Jon Spaihts, she is even more fearsome than before. The studio’s plot synopsis describes her as a “warrior priestess.” As Villeneuve jokes, “It’s better than ‘space nun.’ ”

Lady Jessica’s duty is to deliver a savior to the universe—and now she has a greater role in defending and training Paul too. “She’s a mother, she’s a concubine, she’s a soldier,” says Ferguson. “Denis was very respectful of Frank’s work in the book, [but] the quality of the arcs for much of the women have been brought up to a new level. There were some shifts he did, and they are beautifully portrayed now.”

In an intriguing change to the source material, Villeneuve has also updated Dr. Liet Kynes, the leading ecologist on Arrakis and an independent power broker amid the various warring factions. Although always depicted as a white man, the character is now played by Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Rogue One), a black woman. “What Denis had stated to me was there was a lack of female characters in his cast, and he had always been very feminist, pro-women, and wanted to write the role for a woman,” Duncan-Brewster says. “This human being manages to basically keep the peace amongst many people. Women are very good at that, so why can’t Kynes be a woman? Why shouldn’t Kynes be a woman?”

The Bene Gesserit do fight (e.g. the weirding way) and this was not shown as much in the 1984  movie, and neither in the SyFy adaptation of the first two novels by Frank Herbert. It's been a while since I've read the first novel but the 1984 movie does have Gurney Halleck commenting about Paul's precise control and how Paul didn't learn it from Duncan Idaho or himself, and must have learned it from Paul's mother. iirc, Paul to not only learned mental discipline from his mother but the weirding way as well. But is there a distinction between the weirding way and its combat applications? If Jessica actually taught Paul how to fight as well, would this diminish the role of Duncan and Gurney in training Paul, perhaps even eclipsing them if the scriptwriters chose to take it in this direction? Or does the novel leave the interpretation Paul learn the mental and physical discipline of special self-control from his mother but melded it with the combat skills he learned from Gurney and Duncan on his own?

As for gender-swapping Liet Kynes -- I don't know if the stories written by Herbert's son and Kevin Anderson based on Herbert's notes go into his backstory more, but he is not only the imperial planetologist but also the leader of the Freman. Do the Freman have a matriarchy now? I believe in Freman culture that the leader would have to be open to taking on challengers to his power through personal combat. One might claim that in Herbert's own literary creation that there is a parity in the fighting abilities of men and women. Maybe this egalitarianism does exist in Herbert's novels but it is at odds with the division and differences between men and women that he also uses for the story. (E.g. the "messiah" being male.)  I never had the impression from the novel that Fremen males and women were on par with respect to their combat skills, but this was not the case with the Bene Gesserit and the sword masters of the empire. Perhaps the best of the Bene Gesserit were even better than the best male sword masters.

While the Freman seem to be more patriarchal in the novel, perhaps adhering closely to the historical peoples that inspired them, they do accept the influence and advice of a Bene Gesserit mother. Also, there is historical precedent for Liet Kynes' father being given a Freman woman in marriage to signal his acceptance by the Freman and to cement an alliance. Are there any examples in history of a man being given to a woman outside his tribe in marriage? I note also that Liet seems to have inherited the position of leader of the Freman from his father, though I don't know if he had any challengers.

Those who are inclined to accept the "egalitarianism" of Dune's novels may be able to easily accept these changes, but I think they ruin whatever grounding in reality the books may have had and the sex differences which Herbert himself acknowledged in building his world. I don't think Herbert was such a committed egalitarian that it determined every detail of his stories.

Midnight's Edge argues that the Vanity Fair article is just part of a publicity campaign aimed at the audience that reads Vanity Fair, and so those involved in making the movie (or the studio) are just saying what they think the readers want to read in order to get them to fill seats in the theater in December (assuming that the movie won't be postponed due to a COVID-19 shutdown). However, if the movie does not live up to this hype, won't the readers (and SJWs) feel hoodwinked? I wouldn't doubt that Villeneueve is a feminist, bsaed on the other movies he's directed.

DUNE Stills

First production still from #Oscar-nominated director Denis Villeneuve's DUNE - releasing at the end of this year. #mydubai pic.twitter.com/cmKS4iDRFv

— Dubai International Film Festival (@dubaifilm) April 14, 2020

Those first #DUNE shots feels like popping straight out from the books alright. Love it. Each "faction" and House carries its own identity while keeping a good visual consticency.. and there is so much more to see. pic.twitter.com/SgObR6usKe

— Pascal Blanché 🌎🍁 (@pascalblanche) April 14, 2020

Don't like what they did with Kynes at all.

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