Deadline is reporting that none other than Call Me By Your Name break-out star Timothée Chalamet is in final negotiations to lead the cast of Denis Villeneuve’s planned Dune redo. The film is in active development over at Legendary with Blade Runner 2049 and Sicario helmer Villeneuve directing, and Chalamet playing the lead role of Paul Atreides.
The movie will be based on Frank Herbert’s novel, the rights to which Legendary grabbed back in 2016.
Dune tells the epic story of the planet Arrakis, its Atreides rulers and their mortal enemies the Harkonnens. The book is regarded as one of the finest, most widely acclaimed and enduring science fiction novel of this century.
Here’s the official synopsis of the source material, which was first published in 1965.
Set in the far future amidst a sprawling feudal interstellar empire where planetary dynasties are controlled by noble houses that owe an allegiance to the imperial House Corrino, Dune tells the story of young Paul Atreides (the heir apparent to Duke Leto Atreides and heir of House Atreides) as he and his family accept control of the desert planet Arrakis, the only source of the ‘spice’ melange, the most important and valuable substance in the cosmos. The story explores the complex, multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion as the forces of the empire confront each other for control of Arrakis.
The work was previously adapted by David Lynch in the 1980s and was also adapted into a TV mini-series in 2000.
Chalamet will next be seen opposite Steve Carell in the forthcoming Beautiful Boy over at Amazon Studios.
