As if Denis Villeneuve’s Dune reboot wasn’t promising enough, the long-in-development feature has just added another ace to its team: Greig Fraser.
Yes, it seems Villeneuve has parted ways with his trusted DP Roger Deakins for this particular project – previously, the pair had worked on everything from Prisoners to Blade Runner 2049, the latter of which landed him the Oscar for Best Cinematography – but he’s found a bankable talent in Fraser, whose recent credits include Zero Dark Thirty and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
First reported by Kristopher Tapley of Variety (h/t Revenge of the Fans), Fraser’s appointment is undoubtedly a huge coup for Dune, given Rogue One featured some of the very best shots in Star Wars history, and it’ll be interesting to see how he’s able to visualize the seminal sci-fi novel by Frank Herbert and all of its many intricacies.
If you aren’t familiar with the novel Dune, it’s essentially a far-future epic with themes of political meddling and warring dynasties, so it’s not all that surprising to hear Game of Thrones being name-dropped as a point of reference.
More specifically, though, it involves young nobleman Paul Atreides, whose family “assumes control of the desert planet Arrakis. As the only producer of a highly valuable resource, jurisdiction over Arrakis is contested among competing noble families. 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.”
It’s being pitched as Game of Thrones meets Star Wars, and with a director of Villeneuve’s caliber behind the wheel, Dune is on the verge of becoming one of the most hotly-anticipated projects currently in the works. More on this sci-fi epic as it begins to fall into place.