Director Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi films have “always looked incredible,” we wrote in our review of Dune: Part Two, and if you feel quite the same way, you’re definitely going to want to put your eyeballs on The Art and Soul of Dune: Part Two.
Written by Dune: Part Two producer Tanya Lapointe, the new hardcover volume boasts 240 pages of concept art, costume details, production photographs, and interviews with the Dune: Part Two creative team, including Villeneuve and production designer Patrice Vermette.
Polygon can exclusively reveal four page spreads from The Art and Soul of Dune: Part Two, published by Insight Editions. The pages showcase everything from Baron Harkonnen’s arena box, to spice mining concept art, to a sandworm steed. Below, you’ll also find an excerpt from Villeneuve’s own introduction.
Dune: Part Two will be soon finished. We’re in August of 2023, and I am writing these few words as I listen to the final mix with my sound team, Richard King, Ron Bartlett, and Doug Hemphill. I’m still in awe of the privilege I have of working with such a great team of artists.
Bringing Frank Herbert’s masterpiece to the screen is a massive honor for us.
This new movie allowed us to go deeper into the Fremen and Harkonnen cultures. Both of which we only caught brief glimpses of in Part One.
Frank Herbert’s depictions of Arrakis’s ecosystems, Fremen traditions and survival techniques, political systems, and religious powers, are absolutely unique and profoundly inspiring. As for Part One, the book was our bible, offering answers to most of our questions.
Dune’s novel reads like a historical account from the future. It brought us filmmakers closer to being archaeologists than to futurists. We looked for old artifacts from a far-away tomorrow. We dug deep into our own memories to find the roots of the images that emerged in our consciousness as we read the book in our youth. Production designer Patrice Vermette and his team of artists materialized my dreams with stunning accuracy. I’m grateful to all of them for their fantastic work. I know they created something special. I’m happy that Tanya Lapointe and Stefanie Broos brought their accomplishments to light in this beautiful record of our journey in making Dune: Part Two.
The Art and Soul of Dune: Part 2 hits shelves on March 1.
[Disclosure: Insight Editions is currently working with Polygon on a number of projects, but the relationship was not a factor in the editorial decision to feature this preview.]