The newDunemovie is a major undertaking for Warner Bros., but between the source material, the incredible talent attached, and the film’s potential to reignite a major franchise opportunity, the payoff could be huge. The movie could be a big holiday play for Warner Bros. with a July 28, 2025 release featuring top talent includingTimothée Chalamet,Josh Brolin,Javier Bardem,Oscar Isaac,Rebecca Ferguson,Dave Bautista,Charlotte Rampling,David Dastmalchian,Zendayaand alsoStellan Skarsgårdwho just attended the Toronto International Film Festival.
While in Toronto for the premiere ofHope, a wildly impressive and devastating relationship drama with unforgettable performances from bothAndrea Bræin Hovigand Skarsgård, the pair swung by the Collider Lounge to chat about the film. We’ll have the full conversation onHopefor you very soon, but we couldn’t resist the urge to ask Skarsgård a little something about working with directorDenis VilleneuveonDune. Here’s what he told us:
“I’ve always wanted to work with him partly because he’s such a wonderful man, but also because he’s a brilliant director. It’s fun when you get one of those big sci-fi movies and you know it’s going to be directed by a true filmmaker. It’s not going to be directed by the studio. It seemed like they were giving him pretty free hands. And you have to, because his personal stamp on the film is paramount for the success of it.”
The story takes place in the distant future when a spice called melange is the most valuable substance in existence. The only place to get melange? On the planet Arrakis. The Harkonnen family once ruled Arrakis but the planet is reassigned to their enemies, House Atreides. Eventually the Harkonnens seize it back and then it’s up to young Paul Atreides (Chalamet) to regain control of Arrakis. Skarsgård steps in as one of the film’s main villains, Baron Harkonnen. He laughed and explained, “I had seven hours in make-up every day because I had to be really fat.”
Again,Duneis quite the endeavor for Villeneuve and the studio so we asked Skarsgård what it is about this new adaptation that’ll capture the attention and imaginations of moviegoers worldwide:
“What he’s really good at is creating this strange atmosphere with his imagery and this cinematic poetry that is his trademark and that will add so much richness to the pretty simple story.”
Not only is this newDunemovie scheduled to hit theaters on August 05, 2025, but Villeneuve is also attached to direct the pilot episode of aDuneTV series calledDune: The Sisterhood. Legendary reportedly has high hopes for an epicDunefranchise including the movie, the show, comic books, video fames and digital content packages. For more on all of the buddingDuneprojects, browse the links below.
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