Dune

Though I didn't like either version of the Baron, Villanueve's take is less unpalatable to me. Yes, he's supposed to glide around on tippy toe. If I was to bring back any actor to portray him, it would be Orson Welles. You need a sort of annoyed intellect. I think Sarskaard could have done it, but they trimmed him of the proper lines. He didn't mention once that he was a carnivore surrounded by rabbits.

{{ Villanueves is certainly more palatable from a book perspective, but even then its also a lot blander and less interesting than either book or Lynch's.
One other issue I had is the requirement for book knowledge at certain points to fully understand a character or scene. For example when the Duke rescues the carrier crew and gives up the spice and puts lives first Kynes gives him a look, now I know exactly what Kynes is thnking at this point, but if you dont know the book it's a pretty meaningless look for which there is no infilm indication for what its meant to convey. And theres a few bits like that.
I get Villanueve wanted to avoid internal monolgues of the sort the book, and Lynch's version is filled with but there has to be a better middle ground.}}

{{ Was talking about this with a mate and it occured to me that I dont think you once see the Emperor in this version. Which is a weird choice

Spoiler:

He gets mentions throughout, I wonder if they were trying to make him a 'Sauron' type of viallin- you hear about him but never see him. As it is otherwise a very odd choice not to establish him and his position. }}

Not sure why that comment was in spoilers.  I get the impression Villanueve was trying to set things up as clearly as possible, so that if a character doesn't meet an Atreides face to face, they can wait to be introduced after the narrative structure has been firmly established.  (He actually said something very much along these lines in an interview: that he was exercising restraint in part 1, and would feel much freer in part 2).

In the book we don't actually meet the emperor until he lands an Arrakis, so in that sense the film is being faithful to the book.  We only get snippets of him via Irulan's commentaries, and I only recall one actual phrase from him: "Send her away as a gift; she's too beautiful to keep."

{{ In spoilers because anyone unfamilar with the book will not know that particular plot wrinkle beforehand,and it is a minor reveal early on.
But yeah he doesn't showup in person but its just unusual when structuring such a story for the cinema not to establish such a character in some fashion- at least enough so the audience will recognise them later when they come more to the fore.
I did feel without seeing him it felt less

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Okay I'm tired of seeing spoilers, and as this plot point is revealed early on it's not a plot twist so there is nothing to spoil.

I agree the part of the emperor is important enough to justify his appearance early on, and I liked the imperial scenes in Lynch's Dune - especially the guild rather arrogantly ordering him around.  Which reminds me of a clip I've seen from the TV version of Dune   (which actually does belong in spoilers for those who don't plan on reading the book in the next 2 years, or you can just choose not to click) :

I saw that a little while ago but got annoyed by how much they rambled. Coming back to it and clicking deeper in it's better.

They do a lot of ramblin' on that show, that's for sure....
Part of the appeal!

So Feyd Ruatha and Irulan are on the verge of being cast with filming staring as early as this summer!

I have no read on the guy cast for Feyd, but anyone will have a hard time getting out from the shadow of the iconic casting of Sting.

Frances Pugh I think is nearly perfect for Irulan. We won't see much of her in the second part, but Villanueve plans on continuing to Dune Messiah, wherein Irulan gets snippy and devious. Good casting, though she somewhat clashes with the image of the tall willowy Irulan described endlessly in the books.

I can't stand the way this guy pronounces "Irulan".

Christopher Walken cast as the Emperor. Great casting. Not finding a standout video or story so just saying it.

lol, Christopher Walken as the Emperor?

If he was younger it would be pretty funny, but I think at his age his mannerisms just might work.

It sounds like comedy casting of the highest caliber: an out of season April Fool's joke.

I look forward to this very much!

I don't think this guy nails it until his last point. For example if Frank Herbert is not as much as a stylist in his writing as Tolkien, then Asimov has no style whatsoever. And yet Tolkien said he enjoyed Foundation.

Why should anyone care what Tolkien thought of Dune?
May as well ask Herbert his opinion on The Faerie Queene.

A bit young, but it's a minor part so doesn't matter so much.

I bought a copy of the original book the other day*, I have a vague memory of attempting to read it when I was 15 or 16 but gave up a few pages in (at this point I hadn't really read much sci-fi at all certainly nothing that old), my tastes in literature have certainly changed lots since then, and I enjoyed the film (with some reservations) so I'm looking forward to giving it another attempt soon(ish

*I've got back into reading fiction recently...I'm also waiting to read (deep breath) The Count Of Monte Cristo The Way of Kings (stormlight archives 1)A Fire Upon The Deep and Leviathan Wakes (the expanse book 1)...I'm currently reading the His Dark Materials trilogy for the first time (and throughly enjoying it) and re-reading Hyperion for the first time time in several years (excellent book-'The Priest's Tale' being a particularly creepy standout) so yeah...it might be a while before I get round to it!

I mainly read non-fiction myself these days. But Dumas is such a great read if I saw one of his books (I haven't read The Count either) I'd pick it up and plunge right in.

I read Dune fairly young, and the benefit of that is you miss most of what's going on, so pick up more upon re-reading. But as Forest has pointed out you don't exactly fall in love with any of the characters; they are more of abstractions, though well done abstractions.

Don't bloody bother with Stormlight. Unless you like wind-bag authors.

A teaser for a teaser.

So it's here.  But what bothers me is all the youthful American accents.  Snatches the exoticism right out of it.