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Dune reboot with massive A-list cast now has release date

Photo credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstoc
Photo credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstoc

From Digital Spy

Director Denis Villeneuve's reboot of Dune has somehow managed to hire almost every working actor and actress in Hollywood, so it's about time it got a release date.

Let's hope the movie actually makes some money to pay back those salaries when it hits cinemas on November 20 2020. Warner Bros isn't fooling around with its release, choosing to bring it to screens in 3D and IMAX because that's how you need to experience giant space worms.

Now, let's get to that star-studded cast! From the depths of Atlantis to the deserts of Arrakis: Aquaman's Jason Momoa has apparently decided on Dune as his next major blockbuster.

Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

The Justice League member became the most recent heavy-hitter to join one of the most star-studded casts in recent memory by entering talks to play the swordmaster and House of Atreides ally Duncan Idaho, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The character has the potential to be as long-running as Aquaman for Momoa, since he carried over throughout many of Frank Herbert's novels.

Photo credit: Che Rosales - Getty Images
Photo credit: Che Rosales - Getty Images

Momoa joins an ever-growing cast. Josh Brolin is following up his finger-snapping role as Thanos in Avengers: Endgame and time-travelling mutant Cable in Deadpool 2 by entering into advanced negotiations for Dune.

The 51-year-old Academy Award nominee will be playing the swordsman and Atreides family ally Gurney Halleck.

Photo credit: Vera Anderson/WireImage - Getty Images
Photo credit: Vera Anderson/WireImage - Getty Images

Prior to Brolin entering talks, Bond villain and Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Javier Bardem signed up as Stilgar, and Spider-Man: Far From Home's Zendaya had also been tipped to join the Denis Villeneuve project.

Zendaya is said to be in advanced talks to sign on to the science fiction reboot to play Chani, the concubine played by Sean Young in the original movie. She would serve as the love interest of Timothée Chalamet's Paul.

Earlier this month, Oscar Isaac signed on for the reboot as well to play Duke Leto Atreides, father to Chalamet's heroic Paul. Isaac has plenty of experience in space epics from his role as Poe Dameron in the Star Wars movies.

Photo credit: Todd Williamson - Getty Images
Photo credit: Todd Williamson - Getty Images

He joins recent addition Charlotte Rampling. The Oscar-nominated actress, who has also had TV roles in the likes of Broadchurch and Dexter, will play the emperor's truthsayer Reverend Mother Mohiam, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

They will all star with Marvel Cinematic Universe stars Dave Bautista and Stellan Skarsgård, Mission: Impossible's Rebecca Ferguson and, of course, lead actor Chalamet in the long-awaited remake of Frank Herbert's science fiction classic.

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

Skarsgård has been cast as Baron Harkonnen, the scheming aristocrat who plots to take control of the galaxy from the Atreides dynasty by dominating production and sale of the resource known as Spice.

He'll be playing the uncle of fellow new cast addition Dave Bautista, who is adding yet another science fiction franchise to his CV.

The former WWE star is not only Drax in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Endgame, but also played the replicant Sapper Morton in Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049.

Photo credit: Sony
Photo credit: Sony

Chalamet has the leading role as Paul Atreides – the prince who is the only hope to save the galaxy from impending war over Spice – with Ferguson playing Lady Jessica.

When Villeneuve signed up to direct this remake of Dune, he described his vision for the ambitious movie as an 'adult version of Star Wars'.

"Most of the main ideas of Star Wars are coming from Dune so it's going to be a challenge to [tackle] this," he told Fandom last year.

"The ambition is to do the Star Wars movie I never saw. In a way, it's Star Wars for adults. We'll see."

Photo credit: Universal/Everett/REX/Shutterstock
Photo credit: Universal/Everett/REX/Shutterstock

Unlike the notoriously divisive film version directed by David Lynch in the 1980s, Villeneuve only plans to adapt a portion of the first Dune novel for his movie, rather than the entire book.


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