There are a lot of hopes for the upcoming adaptation of the first half of Frank Herbert's legendary 1965 novel Dune. With the massive novel being adapted into a two-part film, one hope is a more faithful adaptation compared to the 1984 David Lynch-directed version. And clearly they are trying there best according to co-star Stellan Skarsgård who plays, as described by Herbert in his original novel, the "grossly and immensely fat" Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. A character that, in that book, is so large he requires anti-gravity technology to stay mobile.
Speaking today with The Daily Beast, Skarsgård spoke on the extreme process that it took to get him to look the part. Don't worry...he didn't actually gain the weight, but during his time on set he did spend, according to his own words, "30% of the time in the makeup trailer". He elaborated in the below quote:
“I did eight or ten days on the movie, so my character doesn’t show up for too much, but his presence will be felt. He’s such a frightening presence where even if he doesn’t say anything, I think you’ll be afraid of him. And I’m extremely fat. I had eight hours in the makeup chair every day. And in some scenes, I look very tall because I levitate. You’re going to have a lot of fun with it.”
Obviously it makes sense that the Baron doesn't show up much in the first part as much of the early film deals with Paul (Played by Timothée Chalamet) escaping an attempted assassination and learning to accept his role as a prophesized savior among the desert dwellers known as the Fremen. Still, it's good to hear the great care is being put into making this an authentic Dune experience.
Dune co-stars Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, David Dastmalchian, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem. It is directed by Denis Villeneuve (Who co-wrote the script with Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth). It is set to be released theatrically in the United States in IMAX and 3D as well as a month-long simultaneous release on the HBO Max streaming service on October 1st.
This is my favourite book ever, you'd better not fuck this up Villeneuve.