Oscar Isaac says Denis Villeneuve's Dune movie is shocking, radically different

During a chat about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Oscar Isaac was asked about his other upcoming sci-fi movie: director Denis Villeneuve’s new adaptation of Dune.

Isaac enthusiastically praised the latest version of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, which stars Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, and Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides.

“It’s just a wholly, wholly different thing,” said Isaac when EW asked how the movie compares to previous filmed takes on the material. “I couldn’t imagine anyone more suited for the tone of the original Frank Herbert novels than Denis. There are some things that are — for lack of a better word — nightmarish about what you see… There’s just this kind of brutalist element to it. It’s shocking. It’s scary. It’s 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. I’m beyond myself with excitement. I think it’s good to feel cool, unique, and special.”

Villeneuve previously teased that there’s some Star Wars influence in the film as well. “The ambition is to do the Star Wars movie I never saw,” said the director, whose previous credits include Arrival and Blade Runner 2049. “In a way, it’s Star Wars for adults.”

Dune is considered famously difficult to adapt. The tale was previously told in a 1984 film by director David Lynch and a 2000 miniseries on Syfy Channel. The new Dune is slated to arrive Dec. 18, 2020.

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