“Star Wars” is one of Denis Villeneuve’s favorite films, but it turns out that franchise almost got in the way of his “Dune” adaptation. As production designer Patrice Vermette told The Hollywood Reporter, the “Dune” team was scouting locations in Jordan’s Wadi Rum desert when he noticed what “looked like a big tech scout” that was unrelated to Villeneuve’s project. What other studio tentpole had crews in Wadi Rum? “Star Wars,” of course. The desert was already being used for “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”
As THR reports: “When the [‘Dune’ team’s] chopper was back on the ground, Vermette followed his instincts and texted a friend, Paul Inglis, who had worked on Villeneuve’s ‘Blade Runner 2049’ and since had been hired as the supervising art director on J.J. Abrams’ ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,’ then in production. ‘Hey, man, random question. Do you happen to...
As THR reports: “When the [‘Dune’ team’s] chopper was back on the ground, Vermette followed his instincts and texted a friend, Paul Inglis, who had worked on Villeneuve’s ‘Blade Runner 2049’ and since had been hired as the supervising art director on J.J. Abrams’ ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,’ then in production. ‘Hey, man, random question. Do you happen to...
- 11/30/2021
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Denis Villeneuve prefers practical filmmaking over CGI, which means he searched far and wide to find the perfect desert to represent the planet Arrakis in his upcoming “Dune” adaptation. Arrakis is a desert planet that is home to the universe’s most valuable resource, a super-powered drug called spice that enhances human abilities and powers space flight. Villeneuve found his Arrakis in Abu Dhabi’s Liwa Desert. The location was also used by J.J. Abrams for desert sequences in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
“We were looking for locations that had big, rocky mountains with desert around, which sounds achievable but it’s not particularly easy to find in the UAE, especially when they’re also looking at other countries like Jordan where you have places like Wadi Rum,” Robbie McAree of Epic Films told The National. Epic Films provided production services for “Dune” in Abu Dhabi.
“Eventually it changed.
“We were looking for locations that had big, rocky mountains with desert around, which sounds achievable but it’s not particularly easy to find in the UAE, especially when they’re also looking at other countries like Jordan where you have places like Wadi Rum,” Robbie McAree of Epic Films told The National. Epic Films provided production services for “Dune” in Abu Dhabi.
“Eventually it changed.
- 9/27/2021
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
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