The Secrets of Frank Herbert's Dune
Author: Richard P. Rubinstein
Date: 2000-09-15 00:41:09+00:00
Description: Based on Frank Herbert's Dune, the epic new SCI FI Channel mini-series embodies science fiction adventure at its grandest! This lavish new production, starring William Hurt, Alec Newman and Giancarlo Giannini, and featuring the direction of John Harrison and the cinematography of Vittorio Storaro, sets a new standard. Faithful in all aspects to Herbert's vision, it presents Dune for the first time in its full complexity...the most magnificent adaptation ever on the screen.
Publisher: ibooks, Incorporated

Table of Contents

FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION
THE PLAYERS
House Atreides
House Harkonnen
The Emperor
The Fremen
Bene Gesserit
The Spacing Guild
PRODUCTION
Production Design
Costume Design
The Mechanical Effects: KNB
Visual Effects Commentary
Netter Digital
Digital Firepower & E=mc^2 Digital
Title House Digital
AI Effects
Area 51
Cinematography

Richard P. Rubinstein, John Harrison and William Hurt

FOREWORD

RICHARD P. RUBINSTEIN
Executive Producer

I would have never thought that I would embrace television the way I have because I started off as a feature film producer. But while my back was turned, television grew up. In addition, I learned from my experience with Stephen King’s "The Stand" that the mini-series format is a major asset for adapting a long complicated novel into a movie. I know writer/director John Harrison felt that way when he adapted Dune into a screenplay for a 6-hour mini-series.

My relationship with Dune began as a reader in the late 60s. It was one of my favorite novels. When I saw the Dino De Laurentiis produced feature adaptation I did not feel like it captured the soul of the book. However, it wasn’t until almost 15 years later that I began to try to do something about giving the novel a second chance on screen. One night, around four o’clock in the morning, I was looking at my "first edition" bookshelf, and my eye gravitated to the spine of Dune. I wondered if I could get the TV rights and produce a mini-series version of the book. The next day I went into the office and found out that there was an ongoing dispute in terms of who owned the television rights. Literally the day that the dispute was resolved was the day that I approved an agreement with the Frank Herbert estate to option the TV rights to Dune and its 5 sequel books.

Even though Dune has received great acclaim as a science fiction novel, it is much more than a science fiction story. Readers or viewers can experience Dune on several different levels having little to do with science in the future. There are universal and powerful themes in "Frank Herbert’s Dune" relating to love, loyalty, and a young man coming of age. Dune is also a big action/adventure epic in the tradition of Lawrence of Arabia. This is not to suggest that we’ve forgotten the high tech and monster fans since "Frank Herbert’s Dune" has some knockout special effects including the giant worms that guard the spice.

Richard P. Rubinstein and Vittorio Storaro

The budget for this mini-series was more than $20 million dollars. It sounds like a lot of money, but given what we wanted to achieve, it wasn't as much as you might think. A great portion of Dune is set on the desert world of Arrakis. It wasn’t until after I spent several days in the Namibian desert where the wind was a steady forty-five miles an hour that I realized you can’t be out in that kind of environment and not have sand get into everything. That kind of experience led us to focus on the practical difficulties of filming in the desert. We looked at our budget and thought, "Can we afford to be sitting doing nothing for three days if the wind comes up?" We didn’t think so. John Harrison then embraced an interior/exterior concept where we would create a unique desert universe for "Frank Herbert’s Dune" on very large soundstages. Mitchell Galin, David Kappes, and John then found Prague’s Barrandov Studios fit the bill.

As the senior Executive Producer, I try to maintain a day to day distance creatively after the birth of the project. This approach allows me to have some perspective and overview during the editing of the movie but puts more importance on having the right director and creative team in the first place. After you see the mini-series, I believe you will feel that my faith in John Harrison, Vittorio Storaro, Theodor Pistek, Miljen "Kreka" Kljakovic, Ernest Farino and Harry Miller among many others was justified. On the producing side I was lucky to have my co-executive producer, Mitchell Galin to represent us in the development of the script and during casting. On a day to day basis I slept well because David Kappes was in Prague running the production. With respect to the cast I’ve said facetiously that we’re not holding it against certain actors that their names are well known. That wasn’t why they were hired. John’s first focus was getting the right actors and I felt he was very successful. John also had the freedom to use more new faces than usual because Dune itself is a well-recognized "brand name" novel and a star in its own right.

I had good timing when it came to finding a TV home for Dune. The SCI FI Channel had decided to make a big statement about its commitment to original programming. Their problem was finding a program that appealed to the SCI FI Channel’s core audience, but also reached out to a broader range of viewers. They saw in Dune the same general audience appeal that I did.

I am very grateful to the past and present execs at the SCI FI Channel and USA Networks, to New Amsterdam’s corporate partner, ABC, and to our international partner, Betafilm of Munich, for giving us enough rope to hang ourselves. I hope The Secrets of Frank Herbert’s Dune will give you a feel for how we avoided the gallows. This book can’t ever stand in for the mini-series itself, but it does give you a view from behind the camera.

My heartfelt thanks go out to all who helped make it happen including the legions of fans of Frank Herbert’s novel that told us they were ready for another adaptation.
New York City
July 2000

John Harrison

INTRODUCTION

"FRANK HERBERT’S DUNE"
THE STORY,THE CAST,THE CREW
By Director John Harrison

Three years ago Richard P. Rubinstein and Mitchell Galin came to me and said that they’d acquired the television rights to Frank Herbert’s novel Dune and would I be interested in writing and directing a mini-series based on it. Richard, Mitchell and I had collaborated successfully many times in the past, both in features and television. I knew we could do it again with this material. An opportunity like this comes along infrequently if ever in one’s career, and I saw in "Frank Herbert’s Dune" an extraordinary opportunity to unite a much-loved and renowned piece of literature with some of the finest filmmaking talents in the business; a chance to create unique and memorable television. How could I not take this project on? I was sure that we could do some-thing with it that hadn’t been done previously.

So, after a moment’s pause (so as not to appear too greedy) I asked how fast I could sign up? Like many of my generation, I’d read the book when I was young and was strongly influenced by it. Reading Dune wasn’t simply an exercise in fun reading; it was a serious, often difficult encounter with ideas, political, social and religious. The chance to translate those ideas to a broad medium like television was both exciting and challenging.

Duke Leto (William Hurt)

I spent several weeks reading and re-reading Herbert’s book, analyzing the characters, the story, making notes on each chapter, trying to outline the action in each one, but most importantly the theme of each. Because in the end, Dune is not simply a book of plot and adventure, it’s a book of philosophy.

I believed from the start that the story of Dune could be accessible even to a wide audience; that even people who might never pick up a science-fiction book could understand and embrace it. After all, it’s a classic myth-story: A young man, Paul Atreides, is uprooted from his cherished homeland, taken by his beloved and honorable father to a distant and dangerous planet to start a new life. But jealous enemies assassinate the father and the son is left with his mother to die in the brutal, merciless wilderness. Adopted by seemingly primitive indigenous tribes, the young man learns their ways, adopts their customs, and eventually fulfills the promise of their legends and becomes their Mah’di, their messiah. In so doing, he learns the truth about himself and the meaning of his life. Through that odyssey of his own spirit, the young prince leads the desert tribes to freedom and rids the universe of the corruption that is pulling it apart. But such victory is never that neat and easy. The young prince’s triumph sets off a chain of events not even he can control.

The saga of Dune doesn’t end. It grows.

A classic story. A fable. A cautionary tale. The stuff of myth.

Paul Atreides (Alec Newman)

I decided that Herbert’s own structure could serve quite well as the basis for the mini-series. Each night would reflect one of the three "books" that comprise his novel: "Dune," "Muad’dib," and "The Prophet." Night One, therefore, would be the story of the Atreides family and the vicious, complex conspiracies against it. Night Two would be the story of Paul surviving his family’s defeat, learning the ways of the desert. And finally, Night Three would be Paul’s emergence as the Fremen Mah’di, the messiah that would lead them to victory and freedom, the leader who struggles under the yoke of his own destiny. And tying it all together would be the mystical odyssey of Paul towards the enlightenement to which he was fated.

Saskia Reeves and John Harrison

I was determined to be as faithful as possible to Frank Herbert’s novel. And after about six months I had completed the story adaptation and the over 300-page screenplay. Now of course, novels and television are two different mediums. So there had to be certain adaptations. The narrative structure, for example, had to be more linear. Some subplots had to be subsumed into others. Some characters would never get the detailed attention they got in the novel. But I think those who know the book well will see that what we’ve accomplished is an honest and scrupulous adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel.

Now it was up to Richard and Mitchell to put together the production. And it wasn’t easy. But, thankfully, their dedication and perseverance even during the most difficult periods finally paid off and we head-ed to Europe to start facing the myriad decisions that would have to be made. With the uncompromising help and patient management skills of David Kappes, our producer, we were able to assemble an army of first-rate artists and technicians to bring this novel to life and deliver production values exceeding expectations.

Dr. Kynes (Karel Dobry)

To me, Dune is an adventure novel. It is called sci-fi but I think of it as speculative fiction, a romantic epic in the classic tradition. When we decided to investigate the possibility of creating a completely fantasy-oriented unvierse primarily on sound stages in Europe, I was adamant that we not do it as a "green screen" show. By that I mean I didn’t want to create an environment that had one or two props and the rest of the room simply key green backdrops into which we’d "paint" computer-generated environments. I didn’t feel this method would allow us to accurately portray the world I wanted to see, and secondly I didn’t want the actors performing in a reference-less vacuum. Instead, I was lucky enough to get two wonderful artists to help me create a marvelously unique vision of "Frank Herbert’s Dune," Production Designer Miljen "Kreka" Kljakovic and Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro.

Gurney Halleck (P.H. Moriarty)

I had been a fan of Kreka’s work for many years, going back to his films Delicatessen and Kusturica’s The Underground. During a scouting trip through North Africa and Europe, I veered off to Paris where he lives to seduce him into designing the mini-series for me. We agreed right away that to make such a project work we’d need specific and remark-able identities for each of the specific environments of "Frank Herbert’s Dune." These locales included the Imperial planet of the Emperor, the dark planet where Baron Harkonnen lives, and of course, the desert plan-et Arrakis, also called Dune, wasteland of the empire. Home of the Spice. Home of the mysterious Fremen. I wanted everyone watching the mini-series to understand instantly the cultural difference between these worlds and communities.

Stilgar (Uwe Ochsenknecht)

I was introduced to Vittorio Storaro by my talented, resourceful right-hand man, Assistant Director Matt Clark. Turns out this master of light had long loved Herbert’s novel. He’d almost worked on Jodoworski’s ill-fated attempt to produce a movie of Dune in the 70s, and had been approached again by Ridley Scott during another effort to bring Herbert’s novel to film. When he heard that I was doing a new version, a longer version to truly capture the book, he asked to meet me. It was like a dream come true for me, of course. I’d been studying Vittorio’s work for years, stealing his ideas, his styles, in even the simplest of my TV work. I knew if I could get him to shoot this production of "Frank Herbert’s Dune," we would have a striking and memorable picture. Sure enough, the evidence is now there for everyone to enjoy. Not only did Vittorio create an incredible, thoughtful and detailed color scheme for every aspect of the mini-series, emotionally and philosophically he helped design and execute the magnificent Translites that complimented Kreka’s production design. Created and rendered with computer graphics by Fabrizio Storaro, these Translites are as large as one hundred feet by thirty feet and covering the entire length of the biggest soundstage in Europe. They allowed me to create environments we never could have had anywhere on location. Sietch Tabr, for example, the primary home of Stilgar’s Fremen tribe deep in the desert on Dune. Kreka, Vittorio and I spent many hours pondering what such a sietch would look like. From the start, I was determined to exhibit the rich cultural life of the Fremen, which is described in great detail in the book. Their desert communities had to visually represent that sophisticated culture. With Vittorio and Kreka’s unyielding encouragement, I settled on a look that was inspired by the mysterious and haunting temples of Petra in Jordan, the esthete communities of the Essenes, and the Holy Land paintings of David Roberts.

Paul Atreides, Duke Leto and Dr. Kynes

Like the production design, I wanted a costume design that was instantly recognizable and stunning. When I came to Prague, I knew of the designer, Theodor Pistek, who had won an Academy Award for Amadeus. I also knew that he is a national treasure in the Czech Republic. We’d be lucky just to have an interview with him. When I told him about "Frank Herbert’s Dune," he wasn’t much interested in the job because he’s not a fan of science fiction. But I said, "No, no. This is not sci-fi. This is epic adventure. It’s classic storytelling, and we have a terrific opportunity to break the mold here. I want you to think of this as Shakespeare . . . as Mallory. I want you to consider a kind of Oriental/Arab/Medieval European design concept . . . because I think Herbert’s novel is infused with ideas and images from all these."

John Harrison and Ernest Farino

Luckily Theodor became intrigued, and within a week, I had a pile of phenomenal drawings for all the principal characters. Then we start-ed working with Vittorio in terms of color schemes. Like the production design, every wardrobe identifies the world that we’re in. Each one gives you a psychological insight into the character, the tribe and the culture with which we’re dealing.

The final pieces of the creative puzzle fell into place when Ernie Farino agreed to handle the visual effects and Harry Miller joined me to edit this epic. Having worked with both many times, I knew the great burden of pulling this six-hour leviathan together was in great hands.

Vittorio Storaro

Ernie was integrally involved with Kreka, Vittorio and myself designing every one of the visual effects in this production. Everything from set extensions to worm attacks. Everything from crowd replication to Heighliners folding space. Without his expert collaboration day in and day out we would have been lost and the scope of "Frank Herbert’s Dune" would have been lost. Furthermore, Ernie took on the difficult task of directing the 2nd unit.

A Fremen girl

Having cut several pictures together already, I knew that Harry Miller would be able to manage the enormous challenges of this story-telling. He was in Prague for the entire production, cutting as we shot, so that I could visit on weekends and see how we were doing. Because he knew my rhythms, my style, he was able to present me with finely-tuned scenes. Many were the day I looked to Harry to solve a dramatic problem with his editing skills. And as we’ve had to make the inevitable adjustments to structure and pacing, Harry’s keen storytelling sense has been invaluable.

left to right: Stilgar, Duke Leto, Duncan Idaho (James Watson) and Thufir Howat (Jan Vlasák)

Reverend Mother Ramallo (Drahomira Fialkova) and Chani (Barbora Kodetová)

So now the creative team behind the camera was complete. All we needed was a world-class cast to bring the mini-series to life.

When we were talking about casting "Frank Herbert’s Dune," we had to make a choice. Either go after certain stars and try drawing an audience by virtue of their names, or go with gifted talent that would be right for each role regardless of how well-known. My instinct is always to go with great actors, and if they are unknown, so be it. After all, the real star in this case is the story of Dune. So I was insistent that we find the best actor for each of the roles. Luckily for me, everyone agreed that a production of "Frank Herbert’s Dune" cries out for an international cast. Actors of different cultures and backgrounds could only enhance the dif-ferent worlds of the story. I was lucky to have found an ensemble of gift-ed talent to bring each role to life.

Almost immediately I was presented with an opportunity I couldn’t resist. William Hurt wanted to play Duke Leto. Like so many of the rest of us involved in this project, William had always loved Herbert’s novel. When we met in New York City, I knew I’d found Duke Leto. Continuing long distance conversations while he was on other locations and I was in pre-production only reinforced my enthusiasm.

John Harrison and Theodor Pistek

I love working with actors. I love the process of discovering who the character is. In television, one has precious little time to explore such issues, let alone rehearse them. But the degree of intelligence, of commitment, of depth William was willing to bring to a character that is essentially murdered and removed from the story early on, was truly gratifying to me. Because of it, Leto’s spirit infuses the remainder of Paul’s journey through nights Two and Three as if he were still on the scene.

The major challenge of "Frank Herbert’s Dune" was finding the right person to play the lead, Paul Atreides. In the book Paul is introduced at age fifteen and we see him age a few years over the course of the story. The talent pool in this age range is woefully shallow. I knew we’d have to cast someone older and find someone with the range to pull off every-thing from the ambivalence and angst of a teenager to the mature, desert-hardened fanaticism and charisma of a legend. It wouldn’t be easy. With Molly Lopata, our casting director, I looked everywhere. Finally (and almost by accident), I found Alec Newman, a brilliant young Scot who had the energy, the look, the intensity to become Paul Muad’dib. Our first meeting was late at night in a hotel lobby; not the most inspiring place for an actor to show his wares or a director to judge them. But something about Alec wouldn’t leave me alone, and after that meeting I felt convinced that I’d found the right actor for Paul. It was a stroke of great luck. Or maybe it was meant to be. Maybe he was the Muad’dib waiting to happen.

Barbora Kodetová, Richard P. Rubinstein and John Harrison

In England I also found Saskia Reeves, a renowned British Theater actress, to play Paul’s mother, Lady Jessica. I’d looked far and wide for somebody who would have the gravitas, the sensitivity and the emotional warmth to play Lady Jessica. I saw an audition tape of hers in which she did a half-hour monologue about killing her mother. It was an extraordinarily compelling performance. Everything I’d been looking for was exhibited in this monologue. But like all the other actors in "Frank Herbert’s Dune," Saskia is extremely thoughtful and deliberate. It took many long and heartfelt conversations to convince her she could be a great Jessica. In the end, she proved it.

In the novel, Princess Irulan is simply the biographer/narrator of much of the story. But those who know the Dune mythology understand that she plays a significant character in the continuing drama. She couldn’t simply be a cipher that would appear in the final scenes, a mere device for Paul to checkmate the Emperor. I needed someone who could take the character I gleaned from Irulan’s writings and create a mem-rable persona. I found that someone in Julie Cox, also from London. A gifted and beautiful young actress, Julie has taken Irulan and given her a life that was only hinted at in the novel.

Uwe Ochsenknecht is a wonderfully intense and complex actor from Germany, a big star in Europe, whose talents range from serious drama to hilarious comedy. Perfect for the complexity of Silgar, I thought. Like the others, Uwe was a fan of the book and he came to me with wonderfully developed ideas of how to make Stilgar human and compelling.

Lady Jessica and Paul Atreides

I was introduced to Barbora "Bara" Kodetova via a short film of one of Strindberg’s plays. The entire piece was essentially Bara’s monologue, and it was so moving I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Furthermore, Bara comes from a family of great Czech actors, and she has the spirit, the passion, the physicality to play Chani, the great love of Paul Muad’dib.

Giancarlo Giannini came from Italy to play the Emperor. I was thrilled when he agreed to take the part. Giancarlo is known for his great romantic and comic performances. But few outside Italiy realize that he is one of the finest Shakespearean actors that country has produced. The day he walked on the set in his first wardrobe, as Shaddam IV, his pres-enced proclaimed, "I am the Emperor."

Ian McNeice who plays Baron Harkonnen lives in Los Angeles. Molly Lopata introduced me to him and he did one of the most outrageous auditions I have ever seen. Whenever you write a scene you obviously have a certain image of that character in your mind, and it’s incredibly wonderful to find an actor who takes the image that you have, becomes it and takes it even further. That’s what Ian McNeice did with the Baron, and he continued to surprise me with all of the wonderful things he brought to the role. William Hurt told Ian that he was born to play this role.

I was introduced to P.H. Moriarty, who plays Gurney Halleck, by David Kappes, who had worked with him on a previous film. P.H. began his acting career working with Bob Hoskins on The Long Good Friday, and I met him almost as a courtesy to David. But once I saw him, I knew that this guy was Gurney Halleck. He has an eye that was damaged earlier in his life, which, having added the scar that Gurney Halleck has, makes his face so expressive and so intense.

I’d seen Matt Keeslar, who plays Feyd, in a couple of films and I thought this is a really interesting young actor, but I didn’t know too much about him. My friend Wes Craven did Scream 3 with him and thought he did a terrific job. When he was suggested to me I thought, well, he’s kind of an emerging young star. Maybe he won’t want to come over and do "Frank Herbert’s Dune" in the Czech Republic for four months. But he wanted to do it right away, so we snatched him up and he’s delightfully evil.

I believe that the story of Dune is in many ways more relevant today than it was when Herbert wrote it. The world in which we live now is far closer to the universe he created than the bipolar Cold War of the Fifties and Sixties. I consider it my good fortune and enormous responsibility to have had this chance. I also realize that without the collaboration of the people I’ve mentioned here, and the countless others I haven’t (but whose work is all over this production), "Frank Herbert’s Dune" could not have been made. For their efforts, their friendship and help to remain true to the spirit of Frank Herbert’s monumental work at the same time we fashioned an accessible and entertaining filmed adventure, I’m extremely grateful.

Paul Atreides

Duke Leto and Lady Jessica

HOUSE ATREIDES

Led by Duke Leto Atreides, House Atreides is one of the Great Royal Houses of the Imperium. These Royal Houses comprise one arm of a tenuously balanced trilogy of power with the Emperor and the Navigators of the Spacing Guild comprising the others.

The balance of power among the Houses appears to shift in favor of House Atreides when Duke Leto is ordered by the Emperor to replace House Harkonnen and oversee the production of "Spice," a life-sustaining substance found only on the planet Arrakis (called "Dune" by its native inhabitants). Spice is the most precious commodity in the universe. It is believed among the Houses that he who controls the Spice controls the Empire. But when Leto is betrayed by one of his own, a devastating conflict with the rival Harkonnen ensues. The Duke’s son, Paul, and his mother, Jessica, a magical Bene Gesserit witch with powers of mind control, must escape into the desert. Under his mother’s tutelage, Paul hones his own considerable Bene Gesserit gifts, begins to see into the future and realize his far-reaching ability to shape it.

Duke Leto

Academy Award winner William Hurt plays Duke Leto in the mini-series. Born March 20, 1950, his first starring role in a feature was in the science fiction film Altered States (1980) which featured a mind-bending story and state-of-the-art special effects. Other major roles soon followed in a variety of films including The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), Children Of A Lesser God (1986), Broadcast News (1987), The Accidental Tourist (1987), and the science fiction films Until the End of the World (1991), Dark City (1998) and Lost in Space (1998).

"As far as Duke Leto is concerned," Hurt stated, "he's a man who is struggling with his destiny. Leto's very aware of the trap that he's in."

William Hurt was familiar with Dune even before the previous filmed version was made. "I first read it not long after it came out—the late sixties or early seventies—and it grabbed me." He said. "I was a science fiction junkie for a long time. What I loved about Dune was that it talked about human politics and the human search for something better."

William Hurt was pleased with how the production came together. "I've really enjoyed it," he said. "I think we're very lucky to have John Harrison as our director. He's chosen some wonderful actors and gives them room to work. I'm amazed by the generosity of the producers and the director to let us find the scenes this way. It just gives you tremendous amounts of energy, and ideas."

Duke Leto and Duncan Idaho

Duke Leto's son, Paul, is the central character of the story. Paul is played by Alec Newman. Alec was born November 27, 1974 in Glasgow, Scotland. Initially, Alec has worked mostly on the stage, however his previous film roles prior to "Frank Herbert’s Dune" were in Rag Nymph (1997) and Greenwich Mean Time (1999). In describing his young co-star, William Hurt stated, "I identify a lot with him. It's not hard to care about him. He's a very generous and a very conscientious actor. It takes a lot of stamina to handle something like this. He is very sturdy and talented. It's hard to find those combinations of sturdiness and great talent. You look at him and you go, I can't think of anybody other than him to play Paul Atreides."

Unlike William Hurt, Alec Newman said, "Before I met John Harrison to talk about the part, I really didn't know Dune at all. After I read the script, I realized that it's really a very human story and it has all the elements of the human world. It's really exciting visually. It's about religion. It's about politics. About social order. There's a debate about morality. They're really well laid out in the book and in John Harrison's script. Although Dune is set in the far distant future, it feels like you're really dealing with a story that has a kind of historical feel."

William Hurt

"From the very word go I realized that whatever else Paul Atreides is—the Kwisatz Haderach foretold by the Bene Gesserit or the Mah'di—the messiah of the Fremen," Alec said, "he is a human being. Paul actually spends a lot of time in the story reacting in a very human way to what people say he is. He reacts with fear, trepidation, and doubt. Then there's a very slow realization of what he is and what destiny has chosen for him. Paul spends a lot of time resisting his destiny until he realizes he actually is this messiah-like figure."

Working on "Frank Herbert’s Dune" also required that he train in the use of weapons and have some action scenes.

Paul Atreides

"I really enjoyed it, so I probably was a bit too much into it. I'd been lucky enough to have had some stage combat training in drama school in London with broadswords and sabers and unarmed combat, so first reading through the script of ‘Frank Herbert’s Dune’ I thought, Great, there's a scrap there! That'll be fun. Actually, it’s been a lot more challenging than I ever anticipated. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't been already trained reasonably well.

"Peter Drozda, the stunt coordinator is quite a character. I wouldn't mess with him because I think with one hand he can throw me and six other guys all over a wall without even thinking about it. He used to be an Olympic wrestler."

Paul Atreides

The camaraderie Alec felt extended to his experience working with director John Harrison. "The great thing about working with John is his imagination," said Alec. "I really trust it. He's very much an actor's director. He manages to keep everything happening through his passion for the story."

Jessica Atreides, the "bound concubine" of Duke Leto, is portrayed by Saskia Reeves, an English actress. "Jessica Atreides has quite an interesting journey herself," said Saskia. "She has gone against the very thing she'd been bred to do [have an Atreides daughter] because of her enormous love for Duke Leto. Her journey is the story of what happens because of her decision to give Leto the son he desired. The decision has resonance. It's a very good story."

Lady Jessica and Paul Atreides

Lady Jessica

Saskia Reeves has appeared in a number of movies prior to co-star-ring in "Frank Herbert’s Dune." Her film work includes A Woman Of Substance (1984), Close My Eyes (1990), The Bridge (1990), December Bride (1990), Antonia And Jane (1991), In The Border Country (1991), Butterfly Kiss (1994), Traps (1994), I.D. (1995), The Perfect Match (1995), Different For Girls (1996), Heart (1998), and L.A. Without a Map (1998).

Although principal photography took more than four months, and Jessica’s scenes were filmed throughout, Saskia found that director John Harrison made the work go smoothly.

"He's a very nice man. I'm curious as to how he keeps his sense of humor under such stressful conditions. He's great company. Very patient, and he's been a good friend. I don't think this shoot would have been as happy as it is if he hadn't been directing it. You can always talk to him. He's that way with every single person on the crew; accessible to us all."

She also spoke highly of her co-stars, Alec Newman and William Hurt. "I work more with them than with anybody else. We've become very good friends and that's reflected in our working relationship. It's been wonderful."

Saskia also found it special to work with one of her former drama teachers, Ian McNeice, who plays the lead villain, Baron Harkonnen

"Ian was with the William Shakespeare Company and the drama school I was at would encourage professional actors to direct the students in their final year of drama school. Ian and I worked together on a couple of plays. Ian is an amazing character and a wonderful person, so to finally get to work together professionally has been a real treat."

Matt Keeslar, Peter Drozda and Alec Newman

Baron Harkonnen

Feyd

HOUSE HARKONNEN

An epic story needs villains and the House Harkonnen, led by Baron Vladimir Harkonnen fits the bill perfectly. The Harkonnens have hated House Atreides and have sought their downfall for ages. Their crusade to bring down the Atreides forms the counterpoint to the rise of Paul Atreides and the ascendance of his family.

The Harkonnen live on the dark planet Geidi Prime. Like their nemesis the Atreides, they are one of the Great Houses, which together with the Emperor and the Spacing Guild form the CHOAM (Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles) corporation. CHOAM controls the harvesting of Spice on Arrakis and its distribution throughout the universe.

The Baron is assisted in his ruthless scheming ways by his two nephews, Feyd and his brother Rabban. All three were terrors in their own way.

Treacherous and unprincipled, the Baron is a glutton with a voracious appetite for pleasure and a strong hatred for the Atreides.

Feyd Harkonnen was raised by the Baron and was well-schooled in Harkonnen ruthlessness. He honed his fighting techniques by killing slaves who never really had a fair chance.

Feyd

The Fremen name for Rabban is Mudir Nahya, which translates as "Demon Ruler." The Harkonnens mercilessly subjugated the Fremen during their rule on Arrakis, and Rabban was the Baron's regent there.

Ian McNeice had big shoes to fill as Baron Harkonnen. "I'm fairly big myself," the actor admits, "but they padded me out on top of that." In describing the character he plays McNeice stated, "I think the Baron is one of those delicious Machiavellian characters that is tremendous fun for an actor. I mean he's basically a hedonist. He gorges on everything he sees. His hatred of the House Atreides is also foremost in his mind. In the sequence where Duke Leto dies, the Baron delivers a three-and-a-half page tirade. William [Hurt] sat in a chair opposite me playing a drugged Duke Leto and I basically spattered him with venom for twelve hours. I think he just had one word at the end of it, that's all. I had to thank him for being so patient.

"But I knew that if all I did was go down the Baron’s road of anger and play this one note it could get awfully boring. I managed to find a tremendous amount of humor in the Baron as well and bring that out."

Rabban

Ian McNeice was in London working on a David Copperfield TV mini-series when his agent told him that the producers of "Frank Herbert’s Dune" were interested in talking to him.

"I remembered the movie, and I was very excited because I knew the character very well. The producers and director were interested in a screen test. Luckily the cameraman on the show at the time said he'd help me do something, so we did a screen test with a digital video cam- era. I was wearing a ‘bald’ cap at the time. I thought it would be fun to do something with this so, having read one of the nastier pieces for the part, I tore the skull cap off and revealed this shock of hair underneath. I subsequently heard from John Harrison that they were completely astounded. I think it helped me land the role."

Rabban

McNeice knew ahead of time that one of the unusual character traits of the Baron was that he didn't walk, but instead floated above the ground via anti-gravity devices crafted to support his enormous bulk. The special effects crew rigged up a crane to float the actor just slightly above the floor, and when necessary in extreme circumstances, up to fifteen feet in the air.

In describing the device, McNeice recalled, "They'd built this extension onto a camera crane which was rather comfortable, like a tractor seat. I would sit on this and they could take me and put me up high or move me around. But when it looked as though I was sitting rather than standing, they had to make an adjustment. The device then turned into something rather like a vicious metal bicycle seat, which made my legs go down either side more in a straight line, and with the long costume you couldn't tell how I was supported. But it was incredibly painful. I'm quite a large man, so the whole weight went on to this metal bicycle seat. They did put a bit of foam under there near the end, but I remember that it became a living nightmare.

Baron Harkonnen

"I really had to put up with it because I knew that in order to take me down it would take some time to get me up again. So there were times when I just had to grit my teeth and bear it. They were very good about how much they used it and they knew that when I went into it they'd have to move quite quickly, and luckily they used stunt men to do the rehearsals, so I'd get on it and we'd film pretty quick.

"It became an amazing thing and you could travel quite fast in it and go up quite high in it. Vittorio Storaro, who is a god of a cinematographer, was very enthusiastic. It became rather a good process of director, actor and cinematographer working as a team, as opposed to ‘We're going to do this next.' What was amazing was that I actually didn't have to hit a mark myself or walk for seven weeks and at the end of it, there was this one Czech grip who'd done all the work in pushing me around and finding the marks, and on my final day I got a trolley with several cases of his favorite beer, which was rolled out at the end, and I said to him, ‘George, all you have to do now is push that home.' "

Far left: Baron Harkonnen; far right: Piter Devries (Jan Unger)

One of his costars in "Frank Herbert’s Dune" is actress Saskia Reeves, who Ian McNeice met while she was still attending drama school in London, England.

"I actually directed her in a couple of shows," McNeice recalled. "One was Measure For Measure and I knew then that she had tremendous talent. She very sweetly looks back at this point and says, ‘You're the only one that ever said anything nice about my work.' After she left drama school she didn't stop. She did TV movie after movie and really hasn't stopped since." Although they both feature largely in the story, they actually only have one scene together. "There's a scene where she's strapped down and she's in front of me and I have another tirade. I seem to be doing it all the time. "

Ian’s film and television credits stretch back some twenty years. They start in England and include such productions as The Life And Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1981), Top Secret! (1984), 84 Charing Cross Road (1986), Edge of Darkness (1986), Cry Freedom (1987), Valmont (1989), Around The World In 80 Days (1989 TV mini-series), The Russia House (1990), Year Of The Comet (1992), The Wimbledon Poisoner (1994 TV mini-series), Funny Bones (1995), The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain (1995), Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), A Life Less Ordinary (1997), A Christmas Carol (1999), and Longitude (2000, a TV mini-series).

Baron Harkonnen

In "Frank Herbert’s Dune," Feyd Harkonnen is played by Matt Keeslar. In the context of the story, the Bene Gesserit had intended Jessica Atreides to have a daughter by Duke Leto, and this daughter was destined to marry Feyd. When Jessica defied the Bene Gesserit by giving the Duke a son, Paul and Feyd were set on a collision course from which only one would ultimately emerge.

Keeslar is comfortable playing Feyd, but he doesn't diminish the dangerous side of the character he portrays.

"The thing about Feyd is that he's the ultimate sociopath," the actor readily admits. "He doesn't have any remorse about killing. He lives for excitement. He lives for the moment. In the mini-series he celebrates his one hundredth kill of a slave . . . you almost think of him as some sort of very spoiled professional athlete. He trains all the time, and part of his training is this killing that he does which is a rite of passage for Harkonnen boys."

Feyd and Baron Harkonnen

Piter Devries and Lady Jessica

Keeslar was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1972. After receiving training at Julliard, he began appearing in films in 1994 in Safe Passage, Renaissance Man and Quiz Show. These were followed by a TV production of A Streetcar Named Desire (1995), Waiting For Guffman (1996), Mr. Magoo (1997), The Last Days of Disco (1998), Durango (1999), and in the year 2000 was Urbania, Psycho Beach Party and Scream 3.

Feyd

Feyd and Paul Atreides

A Harkonnen soldier

Emperor Shaddam IV and Reverend Mother Mohiam

THE EMPEROR

The Emperor, Shaddam IV resides in his imperial seat on the planet Kaitain, guarded by crack troops known as the Sardaukar. The Emperor is a controlling partner in CHOAM. In "Frank Herbert’s Dune," he orders Duke Leto to relocate the House Atreides to Arrakis and take over the production of Spice. Duke Leto has no choice but to com-ply.

Emperor Shaddam IV is played by Italian film star Giancarlo Giannini. Born in La Spezoa, Italy in 1942, he has appeared in numerous European motion pictures and came to prominence with American audiences in Lina Wertmüller’s Swept Away (1975). He has also appeared in Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline (1979), as well as American Dreamer (1984), New York Stories (1989), Once Upon A Crime (1992), Jacob: A TNT Bible Story (1994), A Walk In The Clouds (1995), Mimic (1997), and others.

"Giancarlo was a favorite actor of both John [Harrison] and myself for many years," said executive producer Mitchell Galin. "When we explored whether or not he was available for the role, we were excited to learn that he knew the material well and wanted to partake in the project right away."

Emperor Shaddam IV

The Emperor’s daughter is Princess Irulan. While Frank Herbert made her the narrator in his first Dune novel, in the mini-series she steps for-ward as a character who participates in events as they occur. She is sent to Arrakis, after Duke Leto is sent to take over, as a gesture of the Emperor’s good will. This is when she and Paul first meet.

"Princess Irulan is very intelligent, fiery and independent, and coquettish when she needs to be, but not for her own personal gain, because she's Bene Gesserit trained," explains actress Julie Cox, who plays her. "She has a very childlike quality, but great maturity and wisdom, and she probably would be a much better emperor than her father. But she's a woman and the Emperor was waiting for a son. She very much loves her father but is disappointed in him for treating her as ‘just a girl.’ She has her own designs and aspirations to become a leader. But because she doesn't have the nerve to do that yet, she becomes a great scholar.

"She meets Paul quite early on in the story and there's an immediate connection. They're very similar and come from similar backgrounds. Similar temperaments. And if circumstances were different they probably would have been a great couple.

"She's very much aware of the moral issues behind the conflicts that are going on and the way her father is dealing with them. It makes her fight to find out what's really going on. She is driven by a sense of good and a desire to find the truth behind things."

Preparing for a scene

Julie Cox is a young actress whose film work dates back to 1993 when she appeared in Franz Kafka's It's A Wonderful Life. She also played the child-like empress in The Never Ending Story III (1994), as well as having roles in Danielle Steel's Zoya (1995), Death Machine (1995), Danielle Steel's The Ring (1996), Princess In Love (1996, in which she played Princess Diana), the 1997 TV mini-series 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, and the 1999 TV movie of The Scarlet Pimpernel. "Frank Herbert’s Dune" is her first epic adventure. Landing the role in "Frank Herbert’s Dune" was particularly fortuitous since she was already very familiar with the novel itself.

A palace guard

"My agent in London had already cast a couple of people in this and she mentioned it to me and didn't realize that I was already a big fan of the book," the actress recalled. "I said, ‘Absolutely, yes!’ In the book my character is the narrator, but in the mini-series she plays a much more active role. I like the way John [Harrison] adapted it very much, he made it stronger."

Since Irulan is an active participant in the story of "Frank Herbert’s Dune," the love triangle involving Paul Atredies and the Freman woman Chani is more pronounced, as is the parallel between the love shared by Jessica and Duke Leto.

Julie observed that, "I think there's a mutual respect between Jessica and Irulan. They understand each other because they both had to do things for the better of people other than themselves. Jessica made a personal sacrifice because of her love for the Duke by producing a son instead of a daughter. Near the end of the story Irulan suggests that to end the war that is tearing everything apart, she and Paul Atreides should marry. Irulan knows there is no future for herself, that there’s no love for her in this marriage, yet because of the greater issues it seems the right decision."

Cox was particularly gratified that the cinematographer was Vittorio Storaro, which insured that it would be above average in look as well as execution. "When I found out that Vittorio was the cinematographer, it was a bit of a shock and it took awhile to sink in because I'm just a big fan of his. But when I actually watched how he approached his work, and the amount of energy and thought he put into it, my respect for him shot up even more. He's a very patient, gentle man."

The actress is impressed by not just the craftsmanship of the filmmakers, but by her co-workers as well.

"One of the things that appealed to me the most was the quality of the cast. And when you're working on something of this nature, you have to bring a lot of levels behind the character; it makes the environment real. The dialogue is shared with the costumes, and the sets—all part of one package. John said, when he and I discussed my part, that the story is the real hero. There's been a wonderful generosity from the cast for what we do. There’s a wonderful level of talent here and we’re all playing a part of the puzzle."

Paul Atreides and Princess Irulan

Stilgar

Fremen

THE FREMEN

Fremen are the native inhabitants of Arrakis. Mysterious and secretive, they know more than they seem to and in fact help contribute to the life cycle of the gigantic sandworms and the method by which the worms produce Spice. The Fremen are a loosely ordered group of ‘tribes’ who are united by common goals and heritage. While they seem to be a patriarchal society, they are nonetheless strongly influenced by the "wise women" called Reverend Mothers and the beliefs of the Bene Gesserit which have been sown on their world.

Because water on Arrakis is so scarce, the Fremen have developed a method of recycling their personal water in what are called "Stillsuits." A Stillsuit is made from a micro-sandwich fabric, which filters bodily wastes and heat dissipation and reclaims their moisture in catchpockets. The wearer can then access the water in the catchpockets via a straw-like tube. The Fremen also use a Stilltent when they are outside the Sietch (the cave warrens where the Fremen communities live). The Stilltent is made of the same micro-sandwich fabric as the Stillsuit, and is designed to reclaim the moisture from the air exhaled by those who are within the Stilltent.

Three Fremen

In keeping with his desire to set the Fremen apart from the other inhabitants of Dune, director John Harrison conceived of the notion that the Fremen would probably pass down cultural information and moral teachings to their children in the form of stories, and that some of these stories could be related in puppet shows. To accomplish this he turned to Petr and Matej Forman, twin brothers who are master puppeteers in the Czech Republic. They still carve their own puppets, just as the master puppeteers of old did. Petr and Matej Forman (sons of Oscar winning director Milos Forman) appear on screen as Fremen bards, using puppet shows to teach history and morality to Fremen children.

Fremen puppeteers telling a story to children

The lives of the Fremen were first changed by the arrival of the plan-etary ecologist, Pardot Kynes, and then again by the arrival of the House Atreides and Paul Atreides, the "Mah’di"—the messiah. Pardot Kynes became the leader of the Fremen and his leadership was succeeded by his son, Liet-Kynes. Liet-Kynes worked with the Fremen in their goal to make Arrakis a paradise at some future time by creating an ecosystem that contained water. Although he was the Fremen leader, Liet-Kynes did not interfere with the leadership of the individual tribes and allowed the "Naibs" (Fremen word for "Chief") of each tribe to lead. His daughter Chani is the Fremen woman who becomes Paul Atreides’ true love.

A Fremen Puppet

Chani and Paul Atreides

When Paul and Jessica Atreides escape to the desert, they only sur-vive because they are taken in by the Fremen tribe from Sietch Tabr, which is led by Stilgar. Stilgar plays a very important role in "Frank Herbert’s Dune" because he becomes Paul’s mentor and teaches him the ways of the desert. He takes up where Duke Leto left off in helping Paul to become a man and helps guide him towards his destiny. Stilgar is played by German film star, Uwe Ochsenknecht. Born January 7, 1956 in Mannheim, Germany, among his many acting credits is Das Boot (The Boat) the 1980 film directed by Wolfgang Peterson. In 1986 he won the Film Strip in Gold Award for the film Manner (1985) and in 1998 was nominated for the Film Strip in Gold Award for the film Weihnachtsfieber.

A Fremen ceremony

Stilgar

A Fremen warrior

The role of Chani is played by Barbora Kodetova. Her previous film roles include The Dance Master (1995), Rivers of Babylon (1998) and the Swedish film The Stronger (1999). "I'm a theater actress, primarily for the Prague theater. I've played in some films and TV shows on Czech television. But, until this mini-series I've never had experience with a big production from America.

Chani and Paul Atreides

A Fremen ambush

Chani

In describing her character, she discusses how Chani matures from a girl into a woman over the course of the story. "She's a Fremen girl. She's a very nice person. Strong. The relationship between Chani and Paul starts with love. She is a young girl and he is a young guy, and they fall in love in a romantic way. Then their life changes when the war comes. Their relationship changes. They go through very bad things together. In the end in order to end the war, she's strong enough to say, ‘There are times when it’s necessary to share the one you love with things greater than both of you. You have to marry Princess Irulan. I will be here for you for your life, but it's important for you and for all of us.' "

Chani prepares to get the Water of Life from a sandworm

Among the many Fremen ceremonies portrayed in "Frank Herbert’s Dune," one of the most sacred involves the "Water of Life." The Water of Life is the liquid a sandworm vomits at the moment of its death from drowning. During the Water of Life ceremony in the miniseries, Jessica Atreides must drink this poisonous liquid and use her Bene Gesserit abilities to change it from poison to water. If she is successful in transforming the water and lives, she will reach a higher state of awareness and become a Reverend Mother. She undergoes this ceremony while pregnant with Paul’s sister, Alia. The effect on the unborn Alia proves to have many consequences later in the Dune saga.

Lady Jessica prepares for the Water of Life ceremony

Reverend Mother Mohiam

Reverend Mother Mohiam and Bene Gesserit attendant

BENE GESSERIT

The Bene Gesserit was the first mental-physical training school established (primarily for female students) after the Butlerian Jihad. This war marked an important turning point in history because it ultimately resulted in the outlawing of thinking machines and the making of a machine that worked like a human mind. Thus developing the human mind became pre-eminent, particularly among certain factions who could use this to their particular advantage. The Bene Gesserit have learned to detect patterns in history and know events before they happen. Both Jessica Atreides and Reverend Mother Mohiam knew that Duke Leto was doomed, and that there was nothing they could do to prevent it. This knowledge of the future can enable more insightful decisions to be made, but they do not use their abilities to alter the inevitable—at least that is what they are taught. However, the sisterhood works to manipulate events and uses subtlety and subterfuge to achieve its goals.

Lady Jessica and Stilgar

This ancient sisterhood spread to all the known worlds in the universe, sowing implant legends through the "Missionaria Protectiva." Thus when a member of the order came to a world which may have otherwise had little contact or commerce with the Imperium, there were leg-ends in place which a member of the Bene Gesserit could capitalize on to gain influence in what would otherwise be an alien culture. The Lady Jessica Atreides quickly took advantage of this upon her arrival on Arrakis.

Paul Atreides and Reverend Mother Mohiam

Before she became the concubine of Duke Leto, Jessica Atreides was instructed by the sisterhood that as a Bene Gesserit she existed to serve the sisterhood. When Jessica was chosen by the Duke, this fit perfectly into their plans to manipulate the bloodlines of both House Atreides and House Harkonnen and bring about a unification of the two Houses. They foresaw this by having Jessica give the Duke a daughter to marry the male Harkonnen heir. But Jessica defied her teachings for the love of her Duke. When she chose instead to give the Duke the son he desired, events were altered dramatically. This wild card proved to be greater than any- thing the sisterhood had foreseen because Paul Atreides became the Kwisatz Haderach, which means "Shortening of the Way." This is the label applied by the Bene Gesserit to the unknown for which they sought a genetic solution: a male Bene Gesserit whose organic mental powers would bridge space and time. While they suspected that Paul Atreides could in fact be this Kwisatz Haderach, they were afraid to believe that he was. If it were true, then it would mean that he would be beyond the reach of their control and a threat to the foundation of their power.

Reverend Mother Ramallo

Lady Jessica and grandson Leto

A Navigator

A Heighliner spaceship folding space

THE SPACING GUILD

The Navigators of the Spacing Guild are the most mysterious players in the Dune saga. The Guild was the second mental-physical training school established after the Butlerian Jihad. (The Bene Gesserit was the first.) The Guild managed to use Spice to learn how to manipulate space and time and achieve faster-than-light travel. As a result, the genetically manipulated Guild Navigators were able to step in and do what computers had done, before they were outlawed. They are the only ones who have this ability and therefore control interstellar space travel. It is a secret they jealously guard and use to maintain an important position of power in the Imperium. When contracted to move a ship a vast distance through space in days (where other methods would take years), the travelers they transport are sealed in their vessel and never even see the Guild Navigator that controls their vessel.

A Spacing Guild Representative

Spice, which is found only on Arrakis, is vital to the Guild's mastery of space. Spice has qualities vital to unleashing certain mental abilities and affects the space-time awareness center in the brain. One can only assume the vast quantities of Spice that are ingested by Guild Navigators to perceive space-time in hyperspace in order to move interstellar ships vast distances in short periods of time. Its use in space travel is what makes the Spice such a vital, sought-after organic compound of incredible valuable.

In Frank Herbert's novel Dune, the Spacing Guild is mentioned but they remain a mysterious off-stage presence. In the book, when the House Atreides is transported from Caladan to Arrakis, it occurs between chapters. This would not have been as effective on screen. What follows are four pages of the visual effects storyboard from the mini-series, which demonstrates how a Guild Navigator (portrayed as being an alien-looking being with some general human characteristics) navigates a Heigh-liner between the stars. It's a scene not found in the novel.

A Navigator puppet

Left: Miljen "Kreka" Kljakovic; middle: John Harrison

PRODUCTION DESIGNER MILJEN "KREKA" KLJAKOVIC

The Production Designer on "Frank Herbert’s Dune" is Miljen Kljakovic, better known as "Kreka."

"In August of 1999, Kreka joined me in Los Angeles," said director John Harrison. "We sat outside in the hot California sun for two weeks thinking about life on Dune, what kind of place it would be, how people would survive there. What would they eat? What kind of tools did they use? Herbert created this wonderfully complex universe of the ancient and the futuristic, of the feudal and the corporate. How were we going to manifest such a complicated vision?

Production sketch by Kreka

"Every day we would talk and speculate. Kreka would draw and sketch until we finally had a workable scheme for the entire production. Kaitain where the Emperor lives, is very art nouveau, very elegant with lots of golds and purples. The planet Geidi Prime where the Harkonnen live has red as its predominant color and is also defined by the jagged angles of its architecture that suggest one might actually hurt oneself brushing up against it. Arrakis, or Dune, is a desert world, of course. The palace in the city of Arrakeen is this elegant Moroccan-style palace which has stood for centuries in the middle of nowhere. The way Kreka designed it, you feel that it is an ancient place. Kreka crafted a very stylized look for each of the planets."

Production sketch by Kreka

Kreka also worked closely with cinematographer Vittorio Storaro to coordinate and compliment in the sets the thematic color schemes Vittorio would be using for the lighting. The alien realms of the miniseries allowed Kreka to use his imagination to its fullest when it came to designing the sets. He also designed something different for each of the palaces.

A Space Guild representative in the Emperor's library

"When you say a palace you usually think about big, huge columns and very ornamental lighting," he said. "But for this mini-series I wanted to do something really strange. So in the palace on Arrakis, the columns contain lights inside a special glass because I didn't want to put the usual chandeliers or other lights."

He takes pride in the level of workmanship his crew displayed on the mini-series. Pointing to a wall, he said, "This wall is plaster, but when the painters finish their job it will be very detailed and beautiful. It will look like a palace, not a set."

Actress Julie Cox (who plays Princess Irulan) experienced Kreka’s imaginative realm of "Frank Herbert’s Dune" from the inside.

A set under construction

"As an actress, you're always imagining places like this," she said. "Working on sets this beautiful, is inspiring. It can only make you feel like you are that character, and you can believe that this is where you live. This is who I am."

Kreka’s credits include Time of the Gypsies (1989), Delicatesse (1991), Arizona Dream (1993), Underground (1995), Rasputine (1996), The Brave (1997) and Species II (1998).

John Harrison and Theodor Pistek

THE COSTUME DESIGNS OF THEODOR PISTEK

Comments by John Harrison

"Frank Herbert’s Dune" is not off the rack in any way, shape or form. The various factions are very well defined in Frank Herbert's book. I wanted to make sure that in our mini-series each one of those ‘tribes’, if you will, had a distinct look and identifiable style that would immediately tell an audience, "I'm with the Imperial family." Or "I'm with the Atreides family." Each very highly stylized. Theodor Pistek’s wardrobe design by itself tells you something about each of the characters.

Fremen musicians

Pistek is a Czech national treasure. He's one of the country's premiere artists. He’s designed costumes for feature motion pictures as well as hundreds of stage presentations; in fact he won an Academy Award for his costume design for Amadeus.

A Sardaukar guard

Interestingly, he had never designed for a science fiction movie, and had actually avoided it. When we first met, he was reluctant to work on "Frank Herbert’s Dune." His prior work has been mostly period drama, like Amadeus. He really didn't want to create the kind of futuristic look that we've all become accustomed to in science fiction. I wooed him by saying that this mini-series was more of a period piece than a futuristic drama. Even though it's set twenty-three thousand years in the future, the intergalactic society has reverted to an almost medieval type of civilization. We therefore wanted to avoid the tight-fitting spandex or the clean shapeless wardrobe that we see so often associated with current sci-fi. To some degree, I wanted our costume designs to be more retro.

A senior advisor to the Emperor

Pistek and I sat down and started talking about the different styles that I wanted. I gave him very broad ideas. I'd give him examples; metaphors for what I would think the individual family or tribe would be like. And in a global sense, I’d talk about the feudal nature of one society in the story as opposed to the high tech characteristics of another. Pistek would then go off and draw. The first set of designs that he showed me were almost dead on for so many characters. In fact I would venture to say that the first set of drawings that he did are all in the miniseries.

Feyd, Emperor Shaddam IV and Princess Irulan

After Vittorio Storaro arrived we discussed Pistek’s designs with color in mind because Storaro is incredibly sophisticated in his view of the use of color as a psychological tool. With Pistek's designs and Vittorio's suggestions for color, we came up with what I think are really memorable looks for each family. For example, we decided that the Imperial family would resonate in gold and violet, and not-quite blues. The Imperial wardrobes are very ornate and ornamental. To create an intimidating look for the Emperor's Sardaukar guards, Pistek turned to ancient Japanese Samurai warrior garb for inspiration. Spiked, metal-plated body armor complemented the Far Eastern-style cut and jet black cloth. "I feel like a human Humvee," one Sardaukar soldier told us.

Chani

The Atreides wardrobes are very functional and very chameleon-like. The earth tones of the planet Dune were our inspiration for the Fremen. I always had a very industrial, almost Blakeian vision of what the Harkonnen world was like. So, Pistek designed all of the Harkonnen costumes with a lot of edges and red tones, which make for a very uncomfortable feeling.

Pistke's design for one of the Lady Jessica's gowns

One of the biggest problems that we had was the design of the Stillsuits that the Fremen use to recycle the wearer’s bodily fluids. We had to find a way to adapt what Herbert described to fit in with the over-all Fremen thematic and at the same time they had to appear practical. I think we came up with something that is very effective.

Pistek's butterfly gown for Princess Irulan

Each principal character had multiple wardrobes in addition to costumes for the attendants, family, guards, soldiers and extras that were all around every one of those individuals. For example, the Emperor had five costumes. Princess Irulan had half a dozen. The Fremen in contrast, had only the same outfit all the time, because it was their desert wear, with the exception of their Stillsuit. Duke Leto had several different wardrobes. Because Paul is Atreides, then he becomes Fremen, and then becomes the Emperor, he had a good half a dozen or more wardrobe changes. Baron Harkonnen had six. Then there were all the costumes for minor characters like a Water Master with the Fremen, or a smuggler with Gurney Halleck out in the desert, or an Atreides lieutenant, or a Harkonnen soldier. There were differences between the Imperial Guards and the Sardaukar mercenaries.

One of Pistek's finished costumes

In the end, Pistek and his team created hundreds of original costumes, all changing in a recognizable pattern with the flow of the story. At times, this visual feast is almost overwhelming, as in the final act of the drama where every major character is represented during the final confrontation between Paul Atreides and the Emperor. But the way Pistek’s designs integrate themselves into the completed look of this production is both masterful and seamless.

one of Pistek's many dresses for Princess Irulan

Matt Keeslar who plays Feyd Harkonnen said, "You can tell that Theodor Pistek wants to fully realize each of the characters within their costumes, and each of the people in the movie. Even if they're only extras who have one line, their costumes have been specifically tailored to fit them as part of his vision. It's pretty exceptional. I've never really worked with a designer who was that determined to be that specific."

Pistek (right) watches Alec Newman (left) getting fitted into a Stillsuit

Lady Jessica and Alia (Laura Burton)

Three designs for the Guild Navigator

A Guild Navigator puppet

THE MECHANICAL EFFECTS
GREG NICOTERO: KNB FX GROUP

Sandworms and The Guild Navigator

The flesh and blood of KNB Effects Group is Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger. The company was formed in 1988 and has major credits on many feature films including: Spawn, Wishmaster, From Dusk 'Til Dawn, Army Of Darkness, Dances With Wolves, Misery, Eraser (where they did the alligators), and The Green Mile (the execution scene).

On "Frank Herbert’s Dune" the KNB Effects Group was responsible for all of the puppet creature effects, including the Guild Navigator and the non-CGI sandworms.

Greg Nicotero says, "I have a long history with Richard [Rubinstein] and John [Harrison] because I worked on Day of the Dead in 1985, where Richard was the producer and John was the first A. D. When John got his feature directorial debut from Richard and Paramount on Tales From The Darkside: The Movie, he hired KNB to do the effects.

The sandworm operating crew; note the levers and cables going into the water

"We spent a lot of time sitting with John and going through the script and fleshing out designs for the Guild Navigator and sandworms. We probably did thirty different Navigator designs and tons of worm designs, not only artwork but three-dimensional sculptures, as well.

"One of the difficulties we faced was that once we got the ‘green light’ and started working on the designs, John left for Prague. So we really didn’t have access to him because he was half a world away, as was Kreka, the production designer.

Another challenge facing KNB was in the construction of the stunted adult worm puppet. The scene in which it was being shot required that the puppet be in waist deep water with several actors. This meant that the puppet could not be electrical, so KNB created a fully mechanical puppet with gears, cables, and levers that was operated by five offstage puppeteers.

A sketch of the Guild Navigator puppet and puppet masters

A section of the sandworm skin; note visual effects "green screen" far left

"The stunted adult worm was a tricky puppet to make because it had to be able to work underwater as well as out of water. Further complicating matters was that we had to send videotape to Prague showing what we were making in order to be certain that it was exactly what John wanted in terms of what it could do. When the sequence began, John wanted to see the worm moving just a little bit under the water before two Fremen enter and grab it. Chani then wades in and sticks a bag over the worm’s mouth and the sandworm vomits ‘The Water of Life’ into the bag. In addition to having to move realistically underwater, once the two actors grabbed it, the worm had to start thrashing around like it was trying to escape, and finally it had to open its mouth and vomit! It was a tremendous challenge for us. We ended up only spending a day and a half shooting all the puppet scenes in Prague, which is really amazing if you think about how complex it is to shoot effects using puppets. That was actually the only time that we were physically on location with the rest of the crew.

A Guild Navigator puppet

"The other worm puppets were for the different physical actions of the worms, including moving underneath the sand, the heads bursting out of the sand, and the heads going back under the sand. All of the puppets actually had skins made from foam latex, but the internal mechanisms were tubes that were segmented."

Everything took time to make. "The stunted worms took two and a half months to make. The Guild Navigator about a month and a half, and the large worms took about four months.

"We also made a full size section of the large worm for the actors to stand on in front of a blue screen so that they could composite in the background later on. It had the wormskin hard plates and little soft fleshy areas so that the Fremen could throw their grappling hooks up and hook onto it."

Paul Atreides and Fremen on a sandworm

KNB did the rest of its work on "Frank Herbert’s Dune" at their Los Angeles studio where they shot the other worm puppets and the Guild Navigator.

Referring to the navigator Greg said, "It was really a challenge to create this unique looking humanoid character. It has these super-evolved lobes that almost looked like wings, but really were enlarged lungs because it had been living in the Spice gas for such a long period of time and had evolved away from human form."

Three views of a sandworm showing the scale to a Havester and Paul Atreides

The small adult sandworm puppet in its shipping crate

Four preliminary sandworm sketches

Riding a sandworm

Ernest Farino and Jacob Schwarz

VISUAL EFFECTS COMMENTARY
by Ernest Farino,Visual Effects Supervisor

"I've always felt that visual effects are like cinematography or music or any other aspect of making a film. They're one of the tools that help tell the story. So they have to be realistic, but of course, interesting, exciting, and dramatic," said "Frank Herbert’s Dune" Visual Effects Supervisor Ernest Farino. Farino is both Visual Effects Supervisor and Second Unit Director on location in Prague. His duties included overseeing and coordinating the different people who were working on the large variety of special visual effects which would enhance the live action photography in telling the story of the mini-series.

Ernie Farino received an Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Achievement in Visual Effects" for his work on the HBO mini-series From The Earth To The Moon. His other credits include Starship Troopers (1998), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Cast A Deadly Spell (1991), The Abyss (1989), and the original Terminator (1984). He's been a fan of special effects since childhood when he was inspired by the likes of Ray Harryhausen (Jason And The Argonauts) and Willis O'Brien (King Kong). It was inevitable that he would contribute to the history of special visual effects himself, and on "Frank Herbert’s Dune" he oversaw the work of dozens of visual effects technicians.

Alec Newman acting in front of a "green screen"

"The teamwork on any movie is important," Farino states. "It's almost a cliché, but on a project of this scope that has so many fantastic elements that can so easily go wrong, everything has to really come together. My responsibility is to work with the director, the cinematographer, and the production designer, to plan everything out very care-fully so that once we get onto the set we all have a clear idea of what needs to be done. From that point on it's a case of monitoring to make sure there are no unexpected problems."

"There are three visual effects companies providing the principal visual effects for ‘Frank Herbert’s Dune,’ Area 51, Netter Digital, and AI Effects. Then there are some additional companies doing other effects, or matte paintings, including Digital Firepower, E=mc 2 Digital and Title House Digital. Basically the effects companies will take the live action scenes that we have photographed in Prague, whether it is a ‘green screen’ or just a normal scene such as a hangar location or on the desert set. They will then process that footage in a way that integrates the images, for instance, of the sandworm, or the Thopter, that they have created in the computer or have animated with the live action footage to make one complete and seamless image.

"It will take approximately eight to nine months to complete all of the visual effects. This includes some of the work that was actually being done while we were still shooting the mini-series such as modeling the worm and the Thopter and various other development work and design work.

Riding a sandworm in front of a "green screen"

"I think the biggest challenge to a project like this," Farino pointed out, "is the fact that you are creating a fully functional science fiction world. That's not to say that hasn't been done before, but nevertheless it still poses considerable challenges and problems given the size and scope of this production. How do you create something that's interesting and different, yet believable enough so that the audience can fully accept this fictional world and enjoy the story?

"I think Kreka did a wonderful job creating the sets and giving us the environment to work with. Now with the visual effects, we add the last elements to Vittorio’s beautiful photography and hopefully complete the realization of John’s vision for the movie."

A Heighliner

NETTER DIGITAL:LAUREL KLICK

Spaceships,Folding Space,Water of Life Sequence, Dream Imagery

Netter Visual Effects Supervisor Laurel Klick described some of their contributions to "Frank Herbert’s Dune." "We're creating all the spaceships and shuttles, and a sequence of shots during the Fremen ‘Water of Life’ ceremony when Jessica Atreides transforms the water from a drowned worm to become a Reverend Mother."

Designing spaceships for a world twenty-three thousand years in the future that did not look like those in other science fiction films required that new approaches be taken.

"More than anything, the ship designs were defined by going as far away from the Star Wars look as we could," Laurel said.

Netter was also responsible for the sequence in which the Navigator folds space and the end of the movie sequence, which has vortexes, cosmic storms and giant tornadoes.

A four-photo sequence showing a Heighliner folding space.

"The Navigator is actually a puppet created by KNB. We are adding its environment and creating the ‘folding space’ effect," said Laurel. Folding space is an unusual effect which they designed from the ground up. "This is a pretty amazing effect. We're interpreting a way of traveling that no one knows for sure what it would actually look like—to have space folding in on itself. We wanted to give the audience a sense of the sky and the atmosphere being sucked in and that everything twists along with the shuttle and then when space unfolds everything comes back to normal in a very organic motion."

the interior of a Heighliner

the interior of a Heighliner

Netter Digital Technologies credits include Impostor, BASEketball, From Dusk Till Dawn, Mousehunt, Mr. Magoo, Babylon 5, Bats, Nutty Professor II, Mystery Men and the TV mini-series Storm of the Century.

Lady Jessica in the Water of Life ceremony

The Arrakeen Palace

DIGITAL FIREPOWER & E=mc^2 DIGITAL
Matte Paintings:Arrakeen Palace,Harkonnen City

Charles Darby and Bob Morgenroth

The visual effects companies Digital Firepower and E=mc^2 Digital worked to provide composited digital matte paintings of the Arakeen Palace and Harkonnen City. Unlike matte paintings, which for years were painted on glass (in order to be back-lit) or realized with other similar methods, digital matte paintings are done on the computer.

As Bob Morgenroth, Visual Effects Producer for E=mc^2 explained, "The digital matte painter for 'Frank Herbert's Dune' is Charles Darby of Digital Fire Power. He has established himself as one of the premiere digital matte painters. He did a majority of the paintings of the Titanic in the James Cameron film that did not involve animation, such as digital matte paintings of the ship in the harbor."

"Myself and my team at Digital Firepower worked on various concepts for both Harkonnen and Arrakeen, incorporating strong primary colors to better emulate the beautiful production design. Inspired by various sources including William Blake and the architecture of Lebbeas Woods, we formed paintings that were designed to portray the character of those who live in the cities we created," said Charles Darby, Matte Supervisor.

For the Arrakeen Palace and Harkonnen City, Darby started by painting a watercolor of the initial concepts. He and Bob then got together with Visual Effects Supervisor Ernest Farino and Director John Harrison to look at the watercolors.

"The watercolors are done relatively quickly, then John, Ernie, and I would make comments as to what direction things need to go in," Morgenroth explains. "The view, for instance, whether it needs to be closer, or wider or taller or farther away.

"The next stage is making the gray scale illustrations. They’re done in black and white and incorporate the changes based on the comments on the watercolors. These images will be scanned into a computer and then digitally embellished with color and detail, ultimately creating the final digital matte painting. The watercolor itself is never used in the actual finished product; it serves as the jumping off point."

While the digital matte paintings were being refined, the earlier, gray scale versions were given to the director to use as "temp shots" during his early editing stages on the project.

"When Digital Firepower finishes the digital matte painting, we take that computer file [which is fairly huge because we're doing this at high definition resolution] and start adding other elements that either we create or Ernie gives us from other visual effects houses and then composite everything into what will be the final shot."

A detail of the Arrakeen Palace

Preparing a Translite for a scene

TITLE HOUSE DIGITAL:CHIP POTTER

Desert Landscape Enhancements, Color Correction of Scanned Negative

Title House Digital did key scenes intended to establish the important exterior vistas on the desert planet Arrakis using a process called "Landscape Enhancements." The process takes the live action sequences filmed on the sound stages and makes them appear more like real exteriors.

As Chip Potter of Title House Digital explains it, "We're using some very sophisticated 3D packages to create digital landscapes that match the angles of the existing sites that were shot.

Translite showing the landscape of Dune

"With the advent of better scanners and higher resolutions, you're now basically able to create a photo montage of what you would like your backdrop to be. You're getting a cross between what the old scenic painters could do, where they would create a realistic backdrop drawn from memory or their artistic skill, and the Translite which is literally a composite of photographs assembled into one giant image.

Translite showing the landscape of Dune

"The Translites were physically seamless and they were beautifully lit and shot, but there is still limitations to shooting on a stage against a Translite. For instance, in the computer we've incorporated a camera move so that we can start off way out in the horizon, move over, crane down and look at our actors who are walking through the sand that was shot in live action on the sound stage. The result is the creation of huge vistas."

The blank screen in the background will be replaced with a landscape image.

Title House Digital has other highly technical tasks to perform on "Frank Herbert’s Dune." They are handling the color correction on the negative that gets scanned for use by all of the visual effects houses. This is a bigger job than it may sound like. That is because cinematographer Vittorio Storaro conceived a unique color palette for the film in which the lighting is not only keyed to specific characters, but to the mood and tone of a scene. In order for this to work the colors must be consistently applied throughout the movie.

Note the illusion of vast depth in the Translite.

Potter said, "What makes the color corrections so interesting is that Vittorio’s color sense, and the way that he sees his imagery, is very brilliant. Very saturated. He may start with a scene that's very orange. I mean overly orange, and then we may go to another scene that's in all deep blues and greens. Just really gorgeous stuff. You go so far as to say that the color is almost a character. The result is that the color is helping to tell the story. But in having to deal with that color on a technical side, it’s somewhat of a challenge. We have to take the imagery from the film and translate it into computer data and make sure that Vittorio’s same choice of color comes up in the computer.

"The main challenge is to maintain the consistency and the look that they've tried so hard to capture."

Lady Jessica performs the "weirding way."

AI EFFECTS

WEIRDING WAY, HUNTER SEEKER, DEFENSIVE SHIELDS, HOLOVID
Frank Isaacs,VFX Producer A.I.FX

AI Effects, Inc. was formed in 1994 by Frank H. Isaacs and Tony Alderson. The duo have a combined total of over 35 years of visual effects experience in film, television, commercials, spec-ial projects, and the new world of computer graphics. Their credits include work on HBO's From the Earth to the Moon, True Lies, Terminator II, Near Dark, Fright Night II, Super Mario Bros., The Abyss, Coneheads, Star Trek-The Next Generation, Dracula, and The Last Action Hero. AI is also one of the leading companies involved in stereoscopic imaging.

"Ernie Farino and I go back all the way to Roger Corman's studio out in Venice back in 1979 when we were working on Galaxy of Terror," recalled Frank Isaacs. "That's where we met, and in 1983 I supervised my first feature and Ernie came on to assist in doing a lot of the roto-scoping. Since then we've been on quite a number of shows together."

Two views of a deadly Hunter Seeker

The primary big sequences AI Effects worked on were the hunter-seeker, the defensive shields, and the "weirding way" sequences. Their other effects work on "Frank Herbert’s Dune" included a holovid shot of Dr. Yueh, all the muzzle blasts, and all the gunfire because they didn't have real working weapons on set. They also did the bulk of the split-screen shots where they take multiple elements that were shot on set and then assemble them into a shot.

The weirding way shots are unusual. "There are three shots, two of Paul and one of Jessica. They have this capability of, in a sense, jumping ahead of real time. Then after they get to where they want to, and turn off the weirding way move, we see multiple images of themselves catch up and get ‘absorbed’ into them. It's kind of a stutter effect," Isaacs explains, "and it's a very cool effect."

Another effects shot they did involved the Hunter-Seeker, which is the miniature weapon left to try to kill Paul Atreides in his bedroom of the Arrakeen Palace.

"We developed a head for the Hunter-Seeker, and then a segmented body behind it and the whole thing is roughly three inches long" says Isaacs. "The assassin sends this weapon out and it moves on its own propulsion and floats towards its target. Once it is in the room, it senses any movement in the room and it moves to whatever it's tracking. Its mouth opens up. But instead of like our jaw, which only opens with a top and bottom, it opens up in four pieces. Then a needle comes out of the mouth."

The personal defensive shields used by the Atreides and the Harkonnen were also done by AI Effects.

"Ernie wanted the shields to be form-fitting. Almost like a little bubble. It's only up there briefly—just for the time that the mechanism feels that the body is threatened. One of the cool shots is near the end of the sequence when Paul is fighting Gurney. Paul gets an advantage on Gurney and he's slowly putting the knife towards Gurney's throat. When the knife approaches his throat, the bubble forms around Gurney's head and face, but because the knife is moving so slowly, the defensive shield mechanism feels that it's not threatening, and so the shield collapses on itself, and fades away.

"One of the things that is our strength is that we do shots that really become seamless. What Ernie likes is that we make shots look like they're not effects shots."

Lady Jessica in front of a table, note that the table is blank

Dr. Yeuh (Robert Russell) in front of a green screen

the Dr. Yeuh hologram image on the table.

A full scale Thopter

AREA 51: TIM CHUGH

Sandworms, Thopters

Area 51 is the company responsible for the shots involving the sandworms and the Thopters. Visual Effects Supervisor and Producer Tim McHugh is the founder of Area 51. Tim's company was brought on to "Frank Herbert’s Dune" because he'd worked with Ernie Farino before. "We did From The Earth To The Moon together a couple years ago, and that was a great project. That was easy because every-thing had to look real. There weren't a lot of opinions on what a Mercury capsule has to look like. You just build a Mercury capsule. But with Thopters, sandworms, strange creatures and beasts there's a little interpretation involved. This one has a lot more detail work that we have to go fishing for."

The sandworms and Thopters Area 51 did for Dune were all done in Computer Generated Imaging (CGI).

Lady Jessica in front of a wrecked Thopter

"The crew in Prague built a full scale Thopter which they dragged around on the set for a number of shots," Tim stated. "They built an interior and exterior, and that works for all the live action surrounding shots, but any time you see it fly, or if you see more than one of them on the screen, that would be us."

The Thopter is an unusual aircraft. Short for Ornithopter, Frank Herbert defined it as an aircraft capable of flight by flapping its wings like a bird.

In describing the version seen in the mini-series, Tim McHugh is more detailed in his description of what it is and isn't, and what it can and can't do on screen.

production sketch of Thopters

"The Thopter is almost like a giant housefly. We went around and around on the propulsion system. I believe in the book that they actual-ly flap their wings. We did a few tests on that which unfortunately tended to look rather silly, so we modified the design a little bit. What we came up with is something kind of like a vertical take off and landing craft. There's a large spinning propulsion unit in each wing. The two wings tilt up and down independently and reorient themselves in flight as if they are a steering mechanism. So you do see the wings essentially moving, but they do not flap like a bird."

Area 51 also built the Harvester, which is the giant machine that goes out to harvest Spice in the desert.

production sketch of Thopters

"We had interesting problems because the difference in scale of the sandworm to the Harvester, to the Thopter and to a human being was so enormous. I told the director John Harrison that it's like trying to put Bambi and Godzilla in the same frame—you tend to shortchange one or the other. So we've had to bring them a little closer to, I hate to call it reality, but so that you could get the same scale. For instance, if we had a worm that was a mile long, which is in the book, just the wake it would create in the sand—you'd see the guys disappear under the sand long before they got anywhere near the worm. So we had to work on that a little bit, and I think we've been successful."

With the sandworms themselves Area 51 tried to come up with something that really looked like a gigantic alien worm, but not like an oversize snake.

"John very much wanted to avoid any kind of snake-like movements on the part of the sandworms," McHugh said.

Vittorio Storaro

WRITING WITH LIGHT AND MOVEMENT

The Cinematography of Vittorio Storaro

Vittorio Storaro was born in Italy in June 1940, and his work as a cinematographer is as legendary as the movies he's shot. They include Apocalypse Now (1979), Reds (1981), One From The Heart (1982), Ladyhawke (1985), The Last Emperor (1987), Tucker: The Man And His Dream (1988), Dick Tracy (1990), The Sheltering Sky (1990), Little Buddha (1993), Bulworth (1998) and many others.

In describing what it was like working with Vittorio Storaro, director John Harrison said, "It's been a phenomenal experience because Vittorio has been able to take what I created on paper and turn it into a visual feast. The reason I wanted to work with Vittorio was because I've always loved his application of light and color as story elements. Vittorio has made it his career to understand the psychology of color and light, and there's no better project for that than ‘Frank Herbert’s Dune’."

While some films credit the kind of work he does to the Director of Photography, Vittorio has very specific reasons why he prefers the designation of "Cinematographer."

"I say cinematographer, not director of photography, because to me the meaning of the word is very important. Cinematographer, in my opinion, means writing with light and movement. I'm trying to write with light in each movie that I've been called to."

This was not the first time Vittorio had been approached to work on a motion picture adaptation of Dune. In the late 1970s the European director Jodorowski was mounting a production of the film and he approached Vittorio to be the cinematographer. Although he really liked the book, Vittorio chose instead to answer Francis Ford Coppola’s call to film Apocalypse Now.

Left to right: Vittorio Storaro, John Harrison, and (far right) Ernest Farino

The decision proved fortuitous as Jodorowski's movie collapsed when the backers decided that science fiction films were not a profitable investment.

Years later, Vittorio crossed paths again with Dune. "I was in Los Angeles shooting Picking Up The Pieces with First A. D. Matthew Clark," he said. "One day Matthew said, 'Vittorio I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine. His name is John Harrison. He just wrote a script that came from a book that maybe you know. The book is called Dune.' I said, ‘What?!’ I met with John, and we had a wonderful meeting. We talked about the love that we have for this incredible story, and I showed him what I was doing with Carlos Sara, what I called a revolutionary way to mix the art department and cinematography in order to achieve a new dimension in visual art."

Vittorio and his son Fabrizio create gigantic canvas backdrops called "Translites" that are stretched across the back of a sound stage and are lit from behind to achieve a more realistic effect than one could achieve with a painted backdrop.

Stilgar and Paul Atreides

"These Translites are huge," said John Harrison. "They are designed on the computer using photographs and drawings that we had created. The images are then manipulated, changed, reconfigured, re-colored, put together in numerous different ways and then printed on this huge can-vas material which can be lit in a lot of different ways to signify different times of day and different locations.

scene from the production

"By integrating these Translites with Kreka’s sets, Vittorio was able to design a lighting scheme for each sequence that was never dependent on natural or available light. Color and intensity could change within each scene to enhance the emotional drama, to indicate character change and development, to increase suspense or intensify passion. In short, the production scheme enabled Vittorio to shoot the film in his own, inimitable style.

scene from the production

"Because he was such a knowledgeable fan of the book, we were able to communicate about the storytelling visually in a more profound manner than is usually the case. Every day of pre-production Vittorio and I would meet in my apartment with Matt Clark and Visual Effects Supervisor Ernie Farino and literally read through the script scene by scene, to design the movie visually from moment to moment. The result is, I believe, unlike any television event before."

Vittorio Storaro

"The Translite backdrop that's been given to us is very exciting," said Saskia Reeves who plays Lady Jessica. "It can be overwhelming some-times because the sets are so fantastic. Will I be able to be as fantastic as that? It's beautiful what's been done."

In photographing the mini-series, Vittorio conceived an entire thematic program for the use and representation of color. Each major group would be identified and defined by a distinct color—the warm, earth-tone of ocher for the Atreides, violent red for the Harkonnen, blue for the Emperor, green for the Fremen, black for the Bene Gesserit and white for Paul. Color Timer Lou Levinson at Post Logic had the difficult task of color correcting all the richly saturated film that Vittorio shot.

Count Fenring and Emperor Shaddam IV

Actor Alec Newman found Vittorio’s thematic approach to be a particularly amazing and satisfying one. "Vittorio doesn't just stick a light in and roll the camera. No cinematographer ever does, of course, but he came up with this huge theory for ‘Frank Herbert’s Dune’ and worked with John [Harrison] on a lighting plan for the whole thing. His idea is that Dune is basically the journey of Paul Atreides, from the boy who begins the story to enlightenment and the fulfillment of the human soul."

William Hurt found Vittorio’s approach particularly rewarding for him in his role of Duke Leto.

"Every scene was an inspiration," Hurt stated enthusiastically. "Vittorio's presence—there's no way you can measure his input. The color schemes he used were all very carefully worked out. He wrote a wonderful amazingly eloquent essay about the use of light and color, and the themes for ‘Frank Herbert’s Dune’."

Lady Jessica

While Vittorio has strong views about his work, he recognizes and appreciates the cooperative effort inherent in filmmaking. "Film is not a single expression," he said. "It is a common expression between the writer, the producer, the actor, the cinematographer, the production designer, the costume designer, the editor, musician; all together, linked and directed by the director, of course. Each one of us is giving some kind of energy into it. And each movie is different because the chemistry is different."

Reflecting on what appealed to him most about the story of "Frank Herbert’s Dune," Vittorio said, "The journey of the main character, Paul Atreides, is a symbol. A symbol of the journey for all of us."

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