Riding a sandworm across the desert planet of Arrakis is something most “Dune” fans have undoubtedly wanted to do at one point or another, but it begs the question: how would one actually get off the giant annelids?
Well, “Dune: Part Two” director Denis Villeneuve seems to have an answer, telling IndieWire as such in an interview centered on the sequel.
“Dune’s” lore established that the Fremen — a fiercely independent group of desert warriors — can ride the worms, controlling and using them in battle or as transportation across a vast terrain, with entire villages riding on their capacious backs. However, we never actually see anyone get off the worms.
Villeneuve revealed he gets “repeated queries” about this “crazy Uber system,” with viewers asking how the Fremen dismounted the worms upon reaching their final destination.
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Although Villeneuve has an answer, viewers will unfortunately have to wait until the third installment.
“I knew how. I found a way,” Villeneuve said. “It was not dramatically necessary in ‘Dune: Part Two’ to see someone get out of the worm, but I know how to do it. And I can’t wait to put that on screen.”
He described Paul Atreides’ (played by Timothée Chalamet) sandworm riding scene as his “favorite” sequence in the film. The scene took two months to film, with a second unit needed to execute with gyrating platforms, grapple hooks and blowing desert sand (the whole scene was shot in the desert with sunlight; nothing was made on stage).
“Everything that we shot in the deep desert was not easy because I wanted a level of realism that required us to create giant structures or shadow makers in order to make the light believable. The characters and all the action sequences required a tremendous amount of prep, and logistics to protect the crew from the heat and to protect the stunts,” Villeneuve said.
He added: “The one scene that I didn’t want to compromise at all was the worm ride. It technically required a lot of time and research and development. That was by far one of the most complex things I’ve ever done.”
“Dune: Part Two” is the second installment of Villeneuve’s “Dune” film series, an adaptation of the 1965 science fiction novel of the same name by Frank Herbert. Set in a distant future where interstellar travel relies on a valuable spice, young nobleman Paul Atreides must navigate treacherous politics and desert landscapes to fulfill his destiny as he becomes entangled in a power struggle for control of the desert planet Arrakis.
Part Two, released on March 1st, has already generated an impressive $32.1 million gross on opening day, including $12 million from Thursday evening and earlier event preview screenings — the biggest opening weekend of the year, surpassing the $28.6 million three-day total of “Bob Marley: One Love.”
