MOVIE NEWS – Oscar Isaac, Star Wars actor is the latest big star to enter the upcoming Dune remake movie. Legendary Pictures was working on this new take on Frank Herbert’s legendary sci-fi book together since 2016, after concluding a deal with the author’s estate for the rights. Since the two last months, the project has been warming up, with the crew starting to get together, with the shooting anticipated to start in the near future. And now, Isaac joins the already impressive crew.

According to several articles, Oscar Isaac is publicly in talks to join Dune, which will be directed by Denis Villeneuve who helmed Arrival and Blade Runner 2049. There doesn’t seem to be in the way of Oscar Isaac joining the cast, regarding other work commitments, since his other 2019 projects, like The Addams Family and Triple Frontier, are in post-production, and the filming on Star Wars 9 should be wrapping up sooner rather than later. Outside of those projects, he’s got not other work scheduled, meaning he’s free and clear to be his royal highness in space.

The cast already contains Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2), Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible – Fallout), Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name), Stellan Skarsgard (Thor: The Dark World) and Charlotte Rampling (45 Years). Chalamet will play Paul Atreides and, should the deal get done, Oscar Isaac will play his father, Duke Leto Atreides. Isaac is no stranger to sci-fi, having starred previously in movies such as Annihilation, Ex-Machina and as Poe Dameron in the new Star Wars trilogy. Isaac also had a small voice cameo in the hit Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which is up for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars.

For those who may not be familiar, Dune, initially published in 1965, centres on a sprawling feudal interstellar empire in the distant future. In this future, planetary dynasties are controlled by houses of nobility that pledge allegiance to the Imperial House Corrino. The story largely follows the young Paul Atreides, whose family accepts control of the desert planet Arrakis, which is important to the galaxy as it is the only known source of a rare and highly valuable spice drug. The novel has been brought to life before, most notably by David Lynch in 1984 with his movie adaptation and then again in a made-for-TV miniseries that debuted in 2000. Legendary views this as something with franchise potential and they hope that this will just be the first entry in a series of movies based on Frank Herbert’s books.

Denis Villeneuve is also co-writing the screenplay alongside Eric Roth and Jon Spaihts, in addition to directing. Production is expected to begin in the spring and, for the moment, the studio has not yet locked down a release date. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as any further details on the project are made available. This news was previously reported by Variety.

Source: Variety