Warner Bros. Pictures released a full trailer for its upcoming sci-fi epic “Dune” on September 9, so how does it look? Watch the jam-packed three-minute preview for the film above, and scroll down to let us know how you think it’ll do at the Oscars. And you can now predict several categories at the 2021 Oscars here in our predictions center.
“Dune” is based on the classic 1965 novel by Frank Herbert, and it tells the story of a young man, Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet), whose father Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) takes control of the desert planet Arakis to harvest its supply of a valuable substance known as “the spice.” But this isn’t the first time a filmmaker has tried to wrangle Herbert’s novel onto the big screen. David Lynch previously adapted it in 1984, but it was poorly received by critics and was a box office disappointment, though it did earn a sole Oscar nomination for Best Sound.
But this version is directed by Denis Villeneuve, who has already enjoyed success with sci-fi. Though the genre is often overlooked by awards voters who don’t always take it seriously as art, his alien-visitation drama “Arrival” earned eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Director. And the rest of the cast and crew is full of awards-friendly talent.
In addition to past Oscar nominee Chalamet (“Call Me by Your Name“), the cast also features Oscar winner Javier Barden, Oscar nominees Charlotte Rampling and Josh Brolin, Tony nominee Stephen McKinley Henderson and Emmy nominee Zendaya. The script was co-written by Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts and Oscar winner Eric Roth.
Elsewhere behind the camera you’ve got Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer, Oscar-nominated cinematographer Greig Fraser, Oscar-nominated production designer Patrice Vermette, Oscar-nominated film editor Joe Walker and Oscar-nominated costume designer Jacqueline West, to name a few. So the film undoubtedly has the pedigree of an awards contender, and the trailer indicates production values that could clean up in craft categories.
As for Best Picture, we’ve seen the academy soften on their bias against genre films in recent years, nominating sci-fi spectacles “Gravity” (2013), “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015), “The Martian” (2015), the aforementioned “Arrival” and “Black Panther” (2018) for the top award. And the girl-meets-fish romantic fairy tale “The Shape of Water” (2017) actually won Best Picture. So if “Dune” can succeed critically and commercially where Lynch’s adaptation failed, the stars are the limit.
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