Momoa shared director Denis Villeneuve’s process to creating Dune and getting every cast member on board to understand his vision, which meant sending the actor an 80-page playbook he’d put together for the film that included many drawings of scenes that would make it into the final cut. In addition, after being outfitted in his character’s costume, Momoa ventured with some friends into Wadi Rum in Jordan (where the Arrakis scenes were filmed) in their free time, leading them to film their Dune adventures.
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“I went there and I went with my buddies and we went and shot in the desert just like to have the feeling of being on Arrakis by myself. I was in wardrobe and went out and wandered around from I guess, say 11-3, in the middle of the day, and we’d go shoot in different places and climb mountains and do all this different stuff,” shared Momoa in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, “We made a little piece and we showed it to Denis and he was so inspired by that the next day they didn’t let me go.” Villeneuve felt very inspired after watching what Momoa and his buddies cooked up, that he felt inclined to head back into the desert with Momoa and Dune’s cinematographer Greig Fraser to shoot an actual scene for the film.
“He took me and we just went out and shot very simple with Greig [Fraser]. And that shot ended up being in the movie. So it was really cool to like — he was having so much fun, just you know, that we went to go play. Because everything for [Denis] was all mapped out,” Momoa recalled. “Like he knows exactly what he needs. So to have that little bit of freedom to like go play around, it doesn’t matter if it ends up on the floor. You get juiced up, you start feeling good. Even though you’re tired and maybe you should be resting, it gives you that creative fuel.” Momoa felt fortunate that Villeneuve was willing to take the time to recreate what Momoa had filmed with his friends, saying that sort of collaboration, trust, and willingness from a filmmaker was something truly special on the set of Dune.
Based on Frank Herbert’s groundbreaking 1965 novel, Dune follows the Atreides family accepting the stewardship of the dangerous desert planet Arrakis (also referred to as Dune), which contains the most valuable substance in the universe known as the “spice.” But taking control of the planet with such value means greater conflict for the family to face. Villeneuve originally set out to split the book into two Dune films, believing that the heftiness of the source material would be too much to condense into one film. While a second part was not officially greenlit, Dune thankfully opened up with plenty of praise from critics and has now racked up $352.2 million worldwide, resulting in Dune: Part Two coming to fruition.
Dune: Part Two will cover the second half of the novel and is set to begin filming on July 18th, 2022. Dune’s star-studded ensemble includes Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, Zendaya as Chani, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Dr. Liet-Kynes, and Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban.
Dune is now playing in theatres.
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Source: Entertainment Weekly
