Kyle MacLachlan has given his support to Timothée Chalamet in Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming reboot of science fiction classic Dune and stated his reaction to the film being remade.
Chalamet, who came to prominence in the last few years with noted performances in the likes of Call Me By Your Name and Lady Bird, will take over the central role of Paul Atreides, the story’s hero and one of the biggest Mary Sues in the history of fiction. He travels to the desert planet of Arrakis, the only source in the universe of the mind-expanding drug melange that allows for space travel, after his father, Duke Leto, is granted stewardship of the place by the galactic emperor. Of the task of portraying the character and the existence of a remake, MacLachlan had this to say:
“There will be a couple of us out there, running around, there’s plenty of room I think. Timothée I think will do a fantastic job, I’m very much looking forward to the vision he has. David Lynch is, of course, a very specific vision, so this will be something completely different I’m sure. Why not have both stand on their own merits?”
MacLachlan, of course, was the star of the original Dune movie, directed by David Lynch in 1984 after such luminaries as Alejandro Jodorowsky and Ridley Scott took a pass at the material. Although having gathered a reputation over the decades as something of a cult classic, opinion on the film remains firmly divided regarding how worthy an adaptation of the novel it truly is.
Aside from declarations of enthusiasm courtesy of those involved in the film, official word on the specifics of the new Dune and official production releases have so far been scant, with one of the biggest being the recent unveiling of the first logo, cleverly stylizing each letter of the title with the same shape in various orientations.
MacLachlan’s words are certainly refreshing though, since news of remakes are more often than not met with knee-jerk reactions of dissent, and it’s encouraging to see someone with a close connection to the original give his blessing for its paths to be retrodden, inspiring more hope that this new Dune might become the definitive screen version.
