The next chapter in Paul Atreides’ story takes shape in ‘Dune: Part Two’, and is now available on VOD, with the home release coming in May 2024.
Based on Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, the follow-up to the 2021 ‘Dune’ was originally slated to release on October 20, 2023. However, the film was delayed due to the WGA and SAG strike. The film finally premiered on March 1, 2024. ‘Dune: Part Two’ received positive reviews from critics and audiences alike.
With ‘Dune’ taking home five Academy Awards, including Best Visual Effects, Best Cinematography, Best Orignal Score, and Best Production Design, it is very possible to see ‘Dune: Part Two’ snagging nominations for the 2025 awards season.
Did you miss the epic sci-fi sequel on the big screen? You’re in luck. The movie is now available on VOD for rent or purchase, so you can watch it from the comfort of your couch, no sandworms necessary.
‘Dune: Part Two’ has a runtime of 2 hours and 47 minutes. As of April 16, 2024, the movie was made available to rent for $24.99 or purchase for $29.99 on VOD platforms such as Apple TV, Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube, and Vudu. Apple TV includes over 100 minutes of bonus content included in the digital version. Take a deeper look at the character of Dune, the Freman language, sandworm-riding, costumes, music, and more.
With ‘Dune: Part Two’ raking in over $637 million at the global box office, what is next for ‘Dune’? In a conversation with Entertainment Weekly in 2021, Director Denis Villeneuve says he’s “always envisioned three movies.” to fully round out the Paul Atreides story. He has also mentioned that a script for the third movie is in the works.
“I always envisioned three movies. It’s not that I want to do a franchise, but this is ‘Dune,’ and ‘Dune’ is a huge story. In order to honor it, I think you would need at least three movies. That would be the dream. To follow Paul Atreides and his full arc would be nice.”
Filming a sci-fi epic is no easy task, and the director mentions the possibility of taking a break between ‘Dune: Part Two’ and ‘Dune: Messiah’. However, the third film, ‘Dune: Messiah’ is in active development.
‘Dune: Part Two’ will be released on DVD, Blu-Ray, and 4K UHD on May 14th. Collectors can also look forward to a 2-film collection from Target. The home release will feature over an hour of bonus content:
Watch the final trailer for ‘Dune: Part Two’ below:
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The official synopsis for ‘Dune: Part Two’ is below:
Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the universe, he must prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with acclaimed filmmaker Denis Villeneuve about his work on ‘Dune: Part Two,’ the decision to split the book into two movies, pacing challenges, changes he made to the source material, shooting the sandworm scenes, utilizing black and white imagery, and casting Austin Butler and Florence Pugh in their pivotal roles.
Moviefone: To begin with, even after making the decision to split the first book in half and make two different movies, there is a lot of Frank Herbert’s story left to tell. Can you talk about the challenges of finding the right tone and pacing for this sequel, especially with the addition of new characters this time around?
Denis Villeneuve: I think it’s a good question. First, it was important for me that the movie would be kind of autonomous, meaning that someone who has not seen ‘Dune’ could still enjoy ‘Part Two.’ So, we gave enough hints at the beginning of the story to make sure that it was kind of autonomous. Of course, it’s a better journey if you have seen ‘Dune,’ but I tried that. That was one of the first challenges. Then it’s a story that is quite different than the last movie. In ‘Dune,’ we follow a boy that is discovering a world and is getting in contact with a new culture. It’s a boy that will be victim of the events, that will try to survive an attack, but he doesn’t have any control. It’s a much more contemplative, meditative movie. ‘Part Two,’ that boy becomes a man, a leader, a fighter, and he wants to avenge his father. It’s more of an action movie, so it has a different rhythm, a different pacing that I had to find in the screen writing at first. But still, it was very important for me to take the time to put on the screen as much of the Fremen culture as possible. That’s my favorite thing about the book. That is one of the main reasons I insisted making two movies instead of one, because I wanted to have the necessary amount of time to dig a little in the culture to see the rituals, to see the way the people are praying, the way they are eating, the way that they train, the way the people are and their survival techniques in the desert. I’m grateful that I had enough time at the beginning of the film to express that.
MF: Can you talk about some of the changes you made to the source material, particularly expanding the role of the female characters?
DV: Yeah, it’s fundamental. It’s crucial to the success of the movie. The idea here is that it all starts with Frank Herbert being disappointed by the way people perceived the first book. He realized that people thought that the first book was a celebration of a hero, a celebration of Paul Atreides and he wanted to do the opposite. He wanted the first book to be a cautionary tale, a warning against charismatic figures and to correct that, to bring precisions about his intentions, he wrote a tiny book called ‘Dune Messiah’ that is a kind of an epilogue that is like a last chapter of Paul Atreides’ journey. Knowing that fact about Frank Herbert and having read of course ‘Dune Messiah,’ I decided to make my live adaptation. I decided to be more faithful to Frank Herbert than to the book and what I did is I used both the two female characters which are Chani and the mother, Jessica. Both characters in the second part of the book disappear, they go more in the background. They are under the shadow of Paul, and they disappear. I gave both strong lines, a dramatic arc and a precise agenda, making them two eminent characters. That’s one of the big differences. Chani is a very important character. She allows me to have a critical distance with Paul. She allows me to have perspective on Paul’s transformation and from Chani’s perspective. The movie goes in the direction that Frank Herbert wanted his book to.
MF: Can you talk about casting Austin Butler and Florence Pugh in their pivotal roles?
DV: First, Florence, of course I knew Florence from her work and I’m a big fan of Florence. I thought of her first for it and when I met her, it was clear, after a few minutes of our meeting that I was in front of Princess Irulan. I wanted to create a character that will have inner strength and that will never be perceived as a victim. I wanted an actress that could convey only with the way she’s listening. I wanted someone with a strong presence that the audience could see just in the way she was witnessing events or listening to other characters, that they feel her presence on her own journey, but she’s more of a witness in this story. Of course, if there’s a ‘Dune Messiah’ as we plan, she’ll become one of the prominent characters of that whole series. I’m doing a bit of what I did with Zendaya in the first movie. I introduced Chani in ‘Dune’ and then she becomes one of the main characters in ‘Part Two.’ I do the same with Florence, I just introduced her in ‘Part Two’ and if there’s a ‘Dune Messiah,’ she becomes one of the main characters. For Austin, I was very curious about Austin, having seen him in a few movies, specifically the Quentin Tarantino movie, ‘Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,’ and learning more about this actor that I found quite riveting. Baz Luhrmann shared with me some scenes from ‘Elvis’ and was raving about him. I met with Austin, and I was very impressed by him. I knew that someone who could bring Elvis to the screen the way he did could almost do anything and what he did for that movie is incredibly difficult. So, I knew that he could have all the qualities that I was looking for Feyd-Rautha, but it was a gamble. When I saw him, with all the makeup and in costume, I knew I had made the right choice, but casting, it’s all about very strong intuitions. You do a camera test, but no matter how much we are sold on it, it’s always when you start rolling camera on the first take that you know. With both actors, I was floored, like, “Oh, they nailed it.” They had big shoes to fill because I think those characters are iconic characters in the novel, both Princess Irulan and Feyd-Rautha and they had tremendous pressure on their shoulders. I’m very proud of them.
MF: Can you talk about the choice to introduce the Harkonnen home world and in particular Feyed-Rautha in black and white?
DV: The idea came from the book. One of the aspects that I love in the book is the idea that, the book is a study of the impact of the ecosystem on human beings, all from the nature of the ecosystem, the human developed religions, techniques, and ways of survival, all their culture, we are the product of our environment and when you want to know about the Fremen, you just look at the desert and it will inform you about the native people. I love this idea and I tried, for Giedi Prime, the home world of Harkonnen, there’s less information in the book and it’s a world that is disconnected from nature. It’s a plastic world. So, I thought that it could be interesting if the light, the sunlight could give us some insight on their psyche. What if instead of revealing colors, the sunlight was killing them and creating a very eerie black and white world, that will give us information about how these people perceive reality, about their political system, about how that primitive brutalist culture and it was in the screenplay. (Cinematographer) Greig (Fraser) was tremendously inspired by that, and we were making tests. I wanted a black and white that would seem alien and coming from another world, a sunlight that we have not seen in cinema. Greig came up with this idea of infrared which I absolutely loved, and we shot the movie that way. The only thing is that when you film this way, there’s no way back. I said, “You have to know that. Okay, we are doing this and there will be no way back. So, we cannot put color after it’s over.” That’s the thing I love about (producer) Mary Parent is that she’s good, she does not operate by fear, and she supported the idea one hundred percent.
MF: Finally, can you talk about executing your vision for the sandworm riding scenes and did the final version end up looking the way you had imagined?
DV: Absolutely. It’s a scene that I didn’t want to make any compromises. I really wanted to bring the images that were in my mind when I was a boy reading the book. I put a lot of pressure on my crew too and we took the time, but it was very challenging. It’s the most difficult scene I’ve ever done technically, but I’m very lucky I was able to find the right tools to first figure out the Fremen technique. How do you jump on the worm actually? Because it’s very basic, the book does not really explain how to do it, so I wanted to find a way that will look plausible. Then once I found the technique, I had to figure out for myself how to bring that to life. I came up with a theory of how to shoot this and that to my great relief it worked out. The thing is that I wanted to shoot everything as much as possible on camera with natural light. So, it meant that it really required a tenuous amount of time, and it required also some technology that we had to design to create different worms. I was very keen to the fact that the studio embraced my ambition.
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What is the plot of ‘Dune: Part Two’?
With the planet Arrakis and its valuable spice now firmly in the grip of Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) and his depraved minions, Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother (Rebecca Ferguson) seek revenge against the Harkonnens for the destruction of the Atreides family. Striking from the hidden depths of the desert alongside the planet’s native people, the Fremen, Paul also begins to realize that he may be the powerful leader foretold in ancient prophecies.
Just when you thought that director Denis Villeneuve couldn’t make a bigger science fiction epic than 2021’s ‘Dune’ (aka ‘Dune: Part One’), he completes his adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic novel in spectacular, often mind-blowing fashion. Everything about ‘Dune: Part Two’ expands the scope of the story, which can be confusing from time to time but still manages to be both rousing and unsettling.
At the end of ‘Dune: Part One,’ the House Atreides – stewards of the planet Arrakis and its valuable, consciousness-altering ‘spice’ – was destroyed and Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) murdered by the grotesque Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) and his evil minions. Only Leto’s son Paul (Timothée Chalamet) and Paul’s mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) have seemingly survived, fleeing into the desert where they fall into the hands of the planet’s Indigenous people, the Fremen.
‘Dune: Part Two’ picks up these story strands immediately, and as a result it might take you a bit of the first act to get up to speed (a quick rewatch of the first movie might help as well). As Paul and his mother learn the ways of the Fremen, and Paul grows close to a Fremen warrior named Chani (Zendaya), the Fremen leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem) grows more and more convinced that Paul is the messiah of the Fremen people foretold by an ancient prophecy.
What Stilgar doesn’t know — or denies — is that the prophecy was seeded on Arrakis by the Bene Gesserit, an all-female religious order that has practiced selective breeding for eons to produce the messiah, known to the Bene Gesserit as the Kwisatz Haderach. Beset by increasingly dire visions thanks to his consumption of spice, Paul does not want to embrace the role seemingly given to him: not only does he know that his mother, a member of the Bene Gesserit, was involved in the order’s machinations, but he sees a future in which his leadership leads to billions of deaths across the universe.
At the same time, as the Fremen under Paul’s leadership strike the Harkonnens’ operations and bring spice production to a standstill, the Emperor of the Universe (Christopher Walken) puts pressure on Baron Harkonnen to find the Fremen leader and destroy him. Frustrated with his nephew Rabban’s (Dave Bautista) failed attempts, Harkonnen enlists his other nephew, Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler), a psychotic human malignancy who intends to destroy Paul and the Fremen with him, with higher ambitions on his diseased mind as well.
The summary above doesn’t even quite scratch the surface of the complexity of the story in ‘Dune: Part Two,’ and if this massively immersive and entertaining film does have a flaw, it’s probably that the movie occasionally suffers from some pacing and editing issues that can make the plot confusing from time to time. But this is a relatively minor issue: ‘Dune: Part Two’ and its mix of far future sci-fi, mysticism, political intrigue, and ecological themes is gripping from the start.
Like the novel itself (a dense, multilayered read), the screen version of ‘Dune’ doesn’t operate on simple levels of good and evil. Chalamet’s Paul Atreides is truly conflicted about the future he sees for himself and the universe, and only a series of shocking revelations toward the end of the film push him to finally accept his destiny – but when he does, there are unsettling hints that the Fremen and the Bene Gesserit should have been careful what they wished for all these centuries.
In the end, even though it’s set more than 8,000 years in the future (when humankind now lives among the stars), ‘Dune’ can depressingly remind us that even millennia from now, the human race could still be subject to the same weaknesses and actions that seemingly doom us now: insatiable greed, lust for power, hedonistic impulses that border on the depraved, and our apparently indefatigable urge to subjugate not just other humans but the very world we share and live on (some sequences chillingly echo events happening in the world today).
But don’t get us wrong: this is a sober, grandiose film, but not a somber meditation on the evils of men. ‘Dune: Part Two’ is at its heart a space opera, and a magnificent one. The viewer is completely drawn into the world of Arrakis and the other planets from the first frame. There has perhaps never been a science fiction film that so completely transports the viewer across time and space like this one (and its predecessor) does.
Villeneuve’s direction is assured throughout – even if certain plots strands aren’t quite as fleshed out as they should be – aided by Greig Fraser’s cinematography, the sound and production design, and Hans Zimmer’s powerful score. The battles are staged on a massive scale, and if you enjoyed your glimpse of the sandworms in the first movie, you’ll get your money’s worth here. This is a film that demands to be seen on the big screen, even in its most surreal, intimate moments.
Much of the cast of ‘Dune: Part One’ returns for the sequel, with the notable exceptions of Oscar Isaac and Jason Momoa, both of whose characters died in the first film. As Paul, Timothée Chalamet truly comes into his own just as the character does; the scenes in which Paul accepts that he is the ’Lisan al-Gaib’ (the Fremen terms for ‘offworld messiah’) are absolutely electric. Chalamet sells both Paul’s physical prowess and expanding mental abilities with gravitas and strength.
Just as electrifying is Rebecca Ferguson, who excels in film after film (see her in ‘Doctor Sleep’ sometime) and yet doesn’t seem to get the recognition she constantly deserves. Her Lady Jessica also undergoes a transformation of her own here, although on a different level than that of her son, and Ferguson portrays this powerful woman with nuance and subtlety.
Javier Bardem’s Stilgar is considerably fleshed out in this film, both as a passionate follower in the grip of religious fervor and as a surprisingly and welcome harbinger of some sly comic relief. Zendaya’s Chani also gets more to do this time, with the character both softening as she slowly falls for Paul and yet hardening at the same time as she realizes what his ascent could portend for Arrakis.
The new addition to the cast who will undoubtedly get quite a lot of ink is Austin Butler, fresh off his Oscar win for ‘Elvis’ and going in a completely different direction here, with his pale, corpse-like pallor, completely hairless head, and black, soulless eyes. Feyd-Rautha is so vicious that his brother Rabban and his uncle Baron Harkonnen – not to mention Emperor Shaddam IV (played as an exhausted yet still merciless tyrant by Christopher Walken) – are rightly afraid of him, and Butler projects a reptilian cold-bloodedness that is unnerving.
All the other returning and new players in the star-studded ensemble – Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Florence Pugh, Léa Seydoux, Josh Brolin, and more – have smaller roles but all bring their A-game. Long gone are the days when science fiction movies didn’t demand top-notch acting all around.
As directors like Denis Villeneuve, Christopher Nolan, Alex Garland, and others push both original sci-fi projects and adaptations of landmark genre works to the screen, we may be living in a mini-Golden Age for science fiction cinema. And with ‘Arrival,’ ‘Blade Runner 2049,’ and now both parts of ‘Dune’ taking up much of his last decade of work, Villeneuve is unquestionably leading the charge with more to come (‘Dune: Part Two’ ends on a note that all but confirms that he will complete the tale with ‘Dune Messiah’).
With ‘Dune’ especially, not only does he respect the source material and is largely faithful to it, but he understands why the story itself has hung around for decades: it has a mythological potency and universal themes even as it expands our view of what the far future could look like. The entire ‘Dune’ project is serious filmmaking that embraces the scale and depth of a genre that wasn’t taken very seriously by Hollywood for years. ‘Dune: Part Two’ will challenge you intellectually and emotionally — even as its colossal and often genuinely weird imagery blows your mind clear out of your skull.
‘Dune: Part Two’ receives 8.5 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Dune: Part Two’?
With the planet Arrakis and its valuable spice now firmly in the grip of Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) and his depraved minions, Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother (Rebecca Ferguson) seek revenge against the Harkonnens for the destruction of the Atreides family. Striking from the hidden depths of the desert alongside the planet’s native people, the Fremen, Paul also begins to realize that he may be the powerful leader foretold in ancient prophecies.
(L to R) Léa Seydoux and Viggo Mortensen in David Cronenberg’s ‘Crimes of the Future.’ Photo courtesy of Neon.
‘Dune: Part 2’ is still one of the most anticipated movies, following the huge success of Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic of last year. He’s preparing to adapt the second half of Frank Herbert’s weighty tome and is adding more and more new cast members as he heads towards a potential summer shoot in Budapest.
The latest name to join the sprawling ensemble is Léa Seydoux, who will play a character called Lady Margot.
To use her full title, Lady Margot Fenring is the Bene Gesserit wife of the Mentat Count Hasimir Fenring, who leads House Fenring. Though considered a “minor” House (not as powerful or in control of a planet as, say, House Harkonnen), it is allied to House Corrino the Emperor’s House.
While Margot is a loyal member of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, helping to guide the bloodlines of powerful families, Margot and her husband dedicated themselves to serving their own ends after the order became much less influential later in the story.
The first ‘Dune’ movie delved into the huge universe of Herbert’s book (the start of a series) that chronicles warring houses vying for power and control of a planet called Arrakis, AKA Dune. The source of a “spice” that is valuable for space travel, it’s a rich prize and one that that Emperor used to entrap House Atreides (led by Oscar Isaac’s ill-fated) Duke Leto.
Timothée Chalamet in Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune.’
Working with the evil House Harkonnen, the Emperor attacked the Atreides once they’d landed on the planet and slaughtered much of the family and their forces.
‘Dune: Part Two’ continues the story of Leto’s son and heir Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) as they regroup and earn the trust of the native Fremen (including leader Stilgar, played by Javier Bardem) and warrior Chani (Zendaya). They’ll survive while plotting a reprisal, as Paul becomes a spiritual and military leader among the Fremen.
The new movie already boasts the likes of fellow new recruits Christopher Walken as Emperor Shaddam, who essentially rules the galaxy of the story, Florence Pugh, playing the Emperor’s daughter, Princess Irulan and ‘Elvis’ star Austin Butler, who will take the role of Feyd-Rautha, the cunning nephew of the pitiless baron who heads House Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård), and who is being groomed to rule Arrakis.
Returning cast for ‘Part Two’ – which Villeneuve again co-wrote alongside Jon Spaihts – also includes Josh Brolin as loyal Atreides military man Gurney Halleck, who survives the attack.
Villeneuve’s movie racked up 10 Oscar nominations this year, and won six of them, including Editing, Cinematography, Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture. While there was surprise that the director didn’t feature in his own category, there’s already chatter that if ‘Part Two’ turns out as well as the first, it’ll be a major player come awards season 2024.
‘Dune: Part Two’ is currently aiming for an October 20th, 2023 release date.
The result is a very David Cronenberg movie that feels like a cross between ‘eXistenZ‘ and ‘Crash,’ and features strong performances from its leads and some fascinating themes that ultimately get lost by the strangeness of the world Cronenberg has created.
‘Crimes of the Future’ takes place in a world where “Accelerated Evolution” is possible, physical pain has become a thing of the past, and “surgery is the new sex.” Saul Tanner (Mortensen) and Caprice (Seydoux) are performance artists that become famous for repeatedly removing Saul’s new organs. They soon meet Wippet (McKellar), from the National Organ Registry, and his assistant Timlin (Stewart), who becomes obsessed with Saul and his abilities.
(L to R) Léa Seydoux, Viggo Mortensen, and Kristen Stewart in David Cronenberg’s ‘Crimes of the Future.’ Photo courtesy of Neon.
Meanwhile, an 8-year-old boy that eats plastic is murdered by his mother. His father (Speedman) takes drastic measures by begging Saul and Caprice to use the body in their act and reveal the truth about his death through an on-stage autopsy. Saul has become weak from his surgeries and the boy’s autopsy might hold the secrets to his own existence.
It’s worth noting that David Cronenberg made a film in 1970 also called ‘Crimes of the Future,’ which has no connection to this movie. The new film is neither a sequel or a remake to the original, they just share the same title.
Cronenberg has built a reputation of creating weird worlds in films such as ‘Scanners,’ ‘Naked Lunch,’ and ‘eXistenZ’ but in recent years has made more realistic movies like ‘Crash,’ ‘A History of Violence,’ ‘Eastern Promises,’ ‘A Dangerous Method,’ and ‘Maps to the Stars.’ With ‘Crimes of the Future,’ the director returns to his earlier work with a film filled with weird characters and visuals that examines our own world. However, the movie feels buried by the weight of its oddness, and often loses the idea of the themes that it is trying to express.
(L to R) Léa Seydoux and Viggo Mortensen in David Cronenberg’s ‘Crimes of the Future.’ Photo courtesy of Neon.
What Cronenberg does well is create a creepy and disturbing world for his characters to exist in and his themes to be explored. However, exactly what themes is he trying to explore becomes the question. He’s established a fascinating world where pain is obsolete, and surgery and body manipulation has replaced sex as pleasure. I’d like to think this is commentary on our own world where face tattoos and body piercings have become the norm, but it’s hard to say since that idea is eventually muddied by the intricate plot.
There is also an environmental theme, which involves the boy who eats plastic, a sub-plot that becomes the main-plot by the film’s end. But again, if Cronenberg is trying to say something about protecting the environment, it is lost amongst the colorful world and bizarre characters that he includes in the film.
But the film is worth watching for Viggo Mortensen and Lea Seydoux’s performances, which are both layered and completely unique. Mortensen, who is a constant Cronenberg collaborator, physically transforms himself with this role. You never for a moment doubt the believability of his performance, while the deep emotion of his circumstance comes shining through.
Seydoux plays Caprice as a damaged soul trying to find her purpose in this world, and the actress makes her character’s feelings for Saul very clear. Yes, there is love between the two, but more importantly, a mutual respect.
(L to R) Kristen Stewart and Léa Seydoux in David Cronenberg’s ‘Crimes of the Future.’ Photo courtesy of Neon.
While Mortensen and Seydoux give strong lead performances, the supporting cast stumbles, especially Kristen Stewart, who plays against type as the awkward Timlin. Stewart’s character seems out of place, even in this world, and never quite fits within the tone of the film.
Actor Scott Speedman, who plays a father who’s lost his son, fails to reach any level of recognizable emotion that you would expect from a character dealing with the loss of a child. The role does nothing more than service the plot, and the actor’s performance does nothing to elevate the role.
In the end, David Cronenberg has gone “Full-Cronenberg” with this film, and fans of the director’s classic movies will enjoy the weirdness that the filmmaker has created. But, the average audience member will be confused by the unique world and characters, and the film’s obtuse and confusing plot.
‘Crimes of the Future’ receives 2.5 out of 5 stars.
(L to R) Kristen Stewart and Léa Seydoux in David Cronenberg’s ‘Crimes of the Future.’ Photo courtesy of Neon.
“Surgery is the new sex.” If anything would alert you to the fact that ‘Crimes of the Future’ is the latest film from Canadian body horror icon David Cronenberg, it might be that line from the movie’s new trailer.
Yet it would be impossible to think anyone else made this new movie, which has Cronenberg’s stamp all over it. Honestly, where else are you going to see Léa Seydoux slicing open someone’s chest and licking a wound? Not in the deleted scenes for ‘No Time to Die’, that’s for sure (unless Cary Fukunaga took the Bond franchise in some truly odd directions before the producers intervened).
Cronenberg’s latest stars Seydoux, Viggo Mortensen (a regular Cronenberg collaborator who seems to have found something of a kindred spirit in the director), Kristen Stewart, Scott Speedman and Don McKellar, in a startling story of body modification and human evolution.
Here’s the basics: in a not-so-distant future, humankind is learning to adapt to its synthetic surroundings. Their biological makeup changed, many humans have adapted to life with “Accelerated Evolution Syndrome” thanks partly to specialized equipment that aids in everything from eating to sleeping.
Beloved performance artist Saul Tenser (Mortensen) sleeps in a womb-like bed suspended in mid-air. The OrchidBed, as it’s called, comes complete with software to anticipate, and adjust his every bodily need.
The machine even detects the growth of new organs, which Saul’s creative partner Caprice (Seydoux) can observe and tattoo in his personal operating theatre. Together, Saul and Caprice have turned the discovery and removal of these new body organs into performance art, via sold-out voyeuristic surgical shows using a sarcophagus-like machine where the surgeries take place.
These human evolutionary changes do not receive universal positivity. Before long, a new secret government entity is established – the National Organ Registry, led by bureaucrats Wippet (McKellar) and Timlin (Stewart) – to discreetly track new organ growths, with particular enthusiasm for Saul’s artistic anomalies.
With increased scrutiny on the syndrome and therefore his art, Saul is forced to consider what would be his most shocking performance of all.
Cronenberg has had quite the history with this one… “I wrote this script for ‘Crimes of the Future’ in around 1998, 99, so it’s over twenty years old and there were a couple of attempts to get it made and for various reasons it didn’t get financed.,” he explains. “That happens, that’s not unusual, but it was only when the producer Robert Lantos phoned me and said, ‘You know, have you looked at your old scripts,’ and I said, ‘Because of its science-fiction technology core, I’m sure it’s completely irrelevant now.’ And he said ‘No, you should re-read it, it’s more relevant than ever.’ I thought that’s a good line, and I read it and I thought he was right.”
Cannes audiences will see the movie this month when it premieres as part of the Film Festival’s Official Selection. It’ll arrive in theaters on June 3rd.
Viggo Mortensen in David Cronenberg’s ‘Crimes of the Future.’ Photo courtesy of Neon.(L to R) Viggo Mortensen and Léa Seydoux in David Cronenberg’s ‘Crimes of the Future.’ Photo courtesy of Neon.(L to R) Léa Seydoux and Viggo Mortensen in David Cronenberg’s ‘Crimes of the Future.’ Photo courtesy of Neon.Scott Speedman in David Cronenberg’s ‘Crimes of the Future.’ Photo courtesy of Neon.(L to R) Léa Seydoux, Viggo Mortensen, and Kristen Stewart in David Cronenberg’s ‘Crimes of the Future.’ Photo courtesy of Neon.
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(L to R) Léa Seydoux, Viggo Mortensen, and Kristen Stewart in David Cronenberg’s ‘Crimes of the Future.’ Photo courtesy of Neon.
When you know that a movie is “from the mind of David Cronenberg”, that’s a giant sign to expect, usually, at least, a whole lot of weirdness.
Because while he has made the gritty likes of ‘Eastern Promises’ and ‘A History of Violence’, his more regular stock-in-trade is body horror, striking visions, and unique characters. So, the teaser for ‘Crimes of the Future’ offers plenty of that.
Cronenberg’s latest, which is part of this year’s Cannes official selection, stars Viggo Mortensen (a regular Cronenberg collaborator who seems to have found something of a kindred spirit in the director), Kristen Stewart, Léa Seydoux, Scott Speedman and Don McKellar, in a startling story of body modification and human evolution.
Though this brief teaser is more focused on tone than plot, the official synopsis does at least offer some illumination…
“In a not-so-distant future, humankind is learning to adapt to its synthetic surroundings. Their biological makeup changed; many humans have adapted to life with ‘Accelerated Evolution Syndrome’ thanks partly to specialized equipment that aids in everything from eating to sleeping.
Beloved performance artist Saul Tenser (Mortensen) sleeps in a womb-like bed suspended in mid-air. The OrchidBed, as it’s called, comes complete with software to anticipate, and adjust his every bodily need. The machine even detects the growth of new organs, which Saul’s creative partner Caprice (Seydoux) can observe and tattoo in his personal operating theatre.
Together, Saul and Caprice have turned the discovery and removal of these new body organs into performance art, via sold-out voyeuristic surgical shows using a sarcophagus-like machine where the surgeries take place.
These human evolutionary changes do not receive universal positivity. Before long, a new secret government entity is established – the National Organ Registry – to discreetly track new organ growths, with particular enthusiasm for Saul’s artistic anomalies. With increased scrutiny on the syndrome and therefore his art, Saul is forced to consider what would be his most shocking performance of all…”
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And that’s just the tip of a very weird iceberg, which also promises a group looking to push the boundaries of what human bodies can do.
Cronenberg described the new movie in his own words:
“It’s a meditation on human evolution. Specifically – the ways in which we have had to take control of the process because we have created such powerful environments that did not exist previously.
This is an evolution of things I have done before. Fans will see key references to other scenes and moments from my other films. That’s a continuity of my understanding of technology as connected to the human body.
Technology is always an extension of the human body, even when it seems to be very mechanical and non–human. A fist becomes enhanced by a club or a stone that you throw – but ultimately, that club or stone is an extension of some potency that the human body already has.
At this critical junction in human history, one wonders – can the human body evolve to solve problems we have created? Can the human body evolve a process to digest plastics and artificial materials not only as part of a solution to the climate crisis, but also, to grow, thrive, and survive?”
So now you know. As mentioned, ‘Crimes of the Future’ will have its world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, ahead of a June release in theaters.
One of the hallmarks of the James Bond franchise is that he has a different leading lady each movie out. But rules were meant to be broken, and The Daily Mail confirms that French actress Lea Seydoux will return for the still-untitled 25th 007 outing. Seydoux played Dr. Madeline Swann in 2015’s “Spectre,” and will be back for the new film, which is scheduled to start shooting in spring 2019.
Bond 25 director Cary Joji Fukunaga confirmed the casting to the Daily Mail, saying, “Lea will be returning.” Apparently Bond himself Daniel Craig wanted her back, and Fukunaga agreed. The director added: “You have some of the best actors in the world here. Why wouldn’t I have the best coming back?!” Amongst the actors also expected to return are Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw and Naomie Harris.
It’s been a bumpy ride for this Bond outing. After Sam Mendes, who helmed the billion-dollar grossing “Skyfall” and the much more disappointing (both critically and commercially) “Spectre,” stepped away from the franchise, Eon hired visionary filmmaker Danny Boyle, who was said to have had an incredibly fresh take, complemented by an outside-the-box screenplay by frequent collaborator John Hodge. Filming was expected to begin this fall for a Christmas 2019 release date. But apparently Boyle clashed with the series overlords over the direction of the film’s villain and Hodge’s screenplay, and in August it was announced that he had left over “creative differences.” This sent the movie (and the franchise at large) into “chaos,” as they scrambled to get the movie back on track.
Now, with Cary Joji Fukunaga in place and a readjusted release date of February 2020, all seems right in the James Bond world. For now, at least. If anybody knows that danger can strike at any moment, it’s James Bond.
Entertainment Weekly just shared the international trailer, which features Léa Seydoux as Belle and Vincent Cassel as the Beast, in advance of the movie’s U.S. release in September. It looks more like the new “Alice in Wonderland” films than the “Beauty and the Beast” we’ve gotten used to, but there’s room in the world for more than one adaptation. And it’s good to see this strong, self-assured Belle standing up to the Beast.
Beast: “If you’d let me, I’d fulfill all your desires.”
Belle: “A beast, fulfill a woman like me?”
You tell him, sister.
This film was actually first released in France in 2014, and picked up a Cesar Awards for production design in 2015. It has now slooowwwly made its way to the U.S., about a year before the highly anticipated live-action Disney movie. Good timing? Bad timing?
Watch the trailer:
“Beauty and the Beast,” directed by Christophe Gans, is scheduled to open in the U.S. on September 29.
The marketers behind the James Bond franchise must have been reading the recent headlinespredictingwho will take over the 007 title once Daniel Craig hangs up his keys to the Aston Martin, as a new TV spot promoting “Spectre” prominently asks the question: Is Bond finished?
Of course, he’s “just getting started,” as Craig-as-Bond proceeds to put on a master class in snapping necks, throwing punches, firing guns, and felling helicopters, proving that he’s still got what it takes to lead this series for years to come if he’s so inclined. The flashy promo also features some cheeky dialogue between Bond and Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux), who asks him, pointedly, “Why does a man choose the life of an assassin?”
Again, she could be speaking to Craig himself, though of course, the answer he delivers is pure Bond.
“It was either that or the priesthood,” 007 replies, oozing suaveness.
Oh, James. Whether you’re Craig, Elba, Hardy, Lewis, or Jackman in the future: never change.
Check out the spot below. “Spectre” is due in theaters in the U.S. on November 6.
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