Oscar Isaac Says Denis Villeneuve's Dune Movie Will Be 'Shocking' and 'Nightmarish'

Philip Ellis

December 14, 2019 3:08 PM

He's about to say goodbye to the Star Wars universe, playing Poe Dameron for the last time in The Rise of Skywalker , and now Oscar Isaac is getting ready to jump headfirst into another colorful, epic science fiction world. Isaac will play the protagonist Duke Leto Atreides in Denis Villeneuve's upcoming big-screen adaptation of Frank Herbert's seminal 1965 novel Dune.

Oscar Isaac Says 'Dune' Will Be 'Nightmarish'

Dune has previously been turned into a movie by surreal filmmaker David Lynch in 1984, and a subsequent TV miniseries in 2000, but Isaac has said that Villeneuve's vision is entirely new and distinct from any adaptation that has come before.

"Its just a wholly, wholly different thing," he told EW. "I couldnt imagine anyone more suited for the tone of the original Frank Herbert novels than Denis."

Dune takes place on a desert planet called Arrakis, one of many feudal worlds ruled over by galactic stewards, and the only natural source of a highly valuable substance known as "spice." Timothe Chalamet ( Call Me By Your Name ) will also star as Isaac's on-screen son Paul Atreides, while Rebecca Ferguson ( Mission: Impossible - Fallout ) will play his concubine Lady Jessica. The wider ensemble cast will include Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy), Josh Brolin (Endgame), Zendaya (Euphoria) and Jason Momoa (Aquaman).

"There are some things that are for lack of a better word nightmarish about what you see," Isaac continued. "Theres just this kind of brutalist element to it. Its shocking. Its scary. Its very visceral... And I know that definitely between Denis and myself and Chalamet and Rebecca Ferguson as the family unit, we really searched for the emotion of it. Im beyond myself with excitement. I think its good to feel cool, unique, and special."

Last year, Villeneuve spoke about how his ideas for the adaptation have been impacted by the Star Wars movies, which were themselves influenced by Herbert's novel. "Most of the main ideas of Star Wars are coming from Dune so its going to be a challenge to [tackle] this," he said. "The ambition is to do the Star Wars movie I never saw. In a way, its Star Wars for adults. Well see."

Dune is currently scheduled to be released on December 18, 2020, meaning even after the third Star Wars trilogy has come to an end, Isaac is pretty much guaranteed another sci-fi smash at the Christmas box office.

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Philip Ellis