Among the films that Quentin Tarantino will never watch, no matter how beautiful and foundational they may be, are the three installments of Dune signed by Denis Villeneuve. In fact Tarantino had expressed his misgivings about the adaptations of the novel by Frank Herbert, referring only to the first film, but we are certain that a cinema enthusiast like him would never, ever, begin a trilogy from its middle or final chapter, so Villeneuve will never have the pleasure of hearing the opinion of the director of Pulp Fiction on his creation. In any case, the incomparable Quentin has explained his motives to Bret Easton Ellis during an episode of the latter’s podcast, saying that, having already seen the Dune by David Lynch, it is perfectly useless for him to watch the remake with Timothée Chalamet and its sequels. Tarantino has not hidden his aversion to remakes, which, in his view, are the clear demonstration of the creative crisis that haunts Hollywood. With the sly humor we know him for, he simply observed:
I don’t need to see the sandworms (spice worms). I don’t need to see a film in which the word ‘spice’ is spoken in such a dramatic way.
The words of Quentin Tarantino, which also make us smile a little, do not surprise us. Indeed, the film industry is all remakes, sequels, and spin-offs. It should be noted, however, that the films of Denis Villeneuve are truly beautiful, and not watching them would mean missing out on something grand. The David Lynch version has its own charm and features Kyle MacLachlan in the lead, who would later star in Blue Velvet and, above all, play the agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks. When it was released, Dune attracted both admirers and detractors. With a budget of around $40-45 million, it earned only about $31 million in the United States, and for many it remains Lynch’s least successful film, alongside Fire Walk with Me. It is clear that, if we compare it to Villeneuve‘s trilogy considering only the visual effects, there is no contest, but Frank Herbert loved Lynch’s adaptation, so there is little point in comparing the two versions. Dune: Part Three will arrive in our theaters on December 16.
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