The Magnificent Casting Of DUNE Continues.

It's no secret that Calvin's favorite book is DUNE. I saw the movie in 1984 and it blew my mind. I was in my first year of College and I needed something to read while I worked most nights at the ice rink in my neighborhood. I worked the shelter but often there was nothing to do for hours so I would listen to the radio and read. The day after I saw the film I went to buy the paperback. Over the next two weeks I devoured the book and saw the movie three more times. Say what you want about David Lynch's adaptation but it sure took my enjoyment of the story to a whole richer level. After that I bought the DUNE ENCYCLOPEDIA which had definitions for all the new words and people and places and things that needed more explanation. LOTRs had the same kind of detail and depth but I couldn't stand it when I was 12. When I was 19 I was craving that sort of insane detail. The world of Dune is so well conceived that it would take years to fully understand everything Frank Herbert created. But don't let all that scare you off. Imagine seeing Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone for the first time THEN reading the book. Now you understand. You can't just stop at one book. You have to know it all.

This week there has been a flood of casting news and the news is AMAZING. They have casted actors I could only dream of. That tells you alot about the script and the director when it looks like the director got his FIRST choice for every role. Oh I hope he made Josh Brolin audition. I would love to see that. Can't wait to see how these actors take on roles in a story I know so well. So far I am very impressed.

With Josh Brolan accepting the role as weapons master Gurney Halleck, one of the most important characters around young Paul Atriedes is set. Gurney is the one who taught Paul how to fight and was one of his four teachers after Duncan Idaho, Dr. Yueh and Thufir Hawat. It was his responsibility to teach Paul how to fight and think about how to deal with any situation that Paul would face. He is training the next Duke to survive in a dangerous Universe.

 

I only ask one thing from Josh in this key role. Please do what Patrick Stewart did and save the Atreides pugs.

 

 

Fun fact: he’s also close friends with his old co-star Javier Bardem. Gurney and Stilgar have quite a close bond in the book as two warriors so it will be nice to see how that works out on screen.

Bardem plays Stilgar the Fremen leader who is a formidable warrior and his knowledge of how to do battle on Arrakis is invaluable. He is the one who finds Paul and Jessica in the desert and he invited them into his troop. He supported Muad'Dib as 'the right hand of God' to destroy the Harkonnen and drive them from Arrakis. He also gave Paul his secret Fremen name, Usul. He taught Paul all the ways of the desert including how to ride the giant worm.

Now I hear that my man, Jason Mamoa will be playing Ducan Idaho, the other important teacher of Paul and really his best friend in the palace. Duncan is the character that Duke Leto sends to Dune to find out who and what these Fremen are and if they will ally with the Atriedes to eliminate any and all Harkonnes left on the planet when they take over Arrakis. He came back with knowledge that the Fremen existed in VAST numbers and they were the allies that the Duke needed to hold Arrakis. He is essential to GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE, the forth book. Duncan is cloned many many times from the time of his death and has a very important role to play at the end of the Dune story, 2000 after the first book begins.

Momoa is set to play the swordsman Duncan Idaho, because he is clearly well-versed in playing large men who are good at wielding blades of various descriptions. Some say that’s typecasting, I merely call it destiny.

In Jason Momoa’s last movie, he jumped out of a plane over Africa, while a Pitbull cover of Toto’s “Africa” played on the soundtrack, landing in the vast dunes of a sprawling desert. For his next film, he’s once again landed in Dune.

Deadline reports that Aquaman himself is in negotiations to join Thanos, Drax, Mary Jane, and several other comic book movie actors in the Denis Villeneuve remake of Frank Herbert’s Dune.

Momoa would play Duncan Idaho, a fearsome warrior who fights alongside the Attrides family. He joins an impressive cast that includes, so far, Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgård, Charlotte Rampling, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, and maybe even Zendaya and Oscar Isaac.

 

Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atreides and Fremen leader Muad'Dib

 

 

Zendaya will be Chani, Fremen wife of Paul and daughter of Liet Kynes

 

 

Oscar Isaac will be Duke Leto the Just

Head of House Atreides

 

Dune does not yet have a release date, but 2021 seems likely.