Denis Villeneuve Was 'half-satisfied' With David Lynch's 'Dune'

London: Filmmaker Denis Villeneuve says one of the reasons he chose to work on the film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s “Dune” was that he felt “half-satisfied” with veteran director David Lynch’s 1984 version. Lynch had tackled Herbert’s classic 1965 novel with his film which he famously disowned after its release.

Throughout the making of the movie, the director had frequently locked horns with the producers and the financiers for creative control and over budgetary issues. It is said Lynch even wanted to remove his name from the theatrical cut of the film. With rising Hollywood star Timothee Chalamet in the lead, Villeneuve’s version is set to bow in December.

In an interview with Empire magazine, the “Blade Runner 2049” filmmaker said though he is a “big David Lynch fan”, he wanted to make a new “Dune” with a “different sensibility”. “He’s the master. When I saw (Lynch)’s ‘Dune’ I remember being excited, but his take… there are parts that I love and other elements that I am less comfortable with,” Villeneuve said. “So it’s like, I remember being half-satisfied. That’s why I was thinking to myself, ‘There’s still a movie that needs to be made about that book, just a different sensibility,” he added.

In April, Lynch had said he has “zero interest” in the upcoming “Dune” as he had a bad experience working on his film. “I have zero interest in ‘Dune’… because it was a heartache for me. It was a failure and I didn’t have the final cut. I’ve told this story a billion times. It’s not the film I wanted to make. I like certain parts of it very much but it was a total failure for me,” the veteran filmmaker had said. Set in the distant future, “Dune” follows Paul Atreides (Chalamet), whose family assumes control of the desert planet Arrakis, which is the only known location of the galaxy’s most vital and mind-altering mineral called “spice”.

After Paul and his family are betrayed, the story explores themes of politics, religion, and man’s relationship to nature, as Paul leads a rebellion to restore his family’s reign. The film also features a star-studded cast of Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgard, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, David Dastmalchian, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa and Javier Bardem.