DUNE: First Photo of Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides

Finally! We get the first look at Denis Villeneuve‘s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune. In part one of Vanity Fair‘s preview, the first released photo features Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides on beaches of the planet Caladan. Check out the full photo below.

Dune centers on the story of young Paul Atreides, son of a Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) and the Bene Gesserit mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson). Their assignment to the planet Arrakis sets off a political struggle that will have serious repercussions for all involved. The photo takes place at the beginning of Paul’s journey as he and his family prepare to leave their home world of Caladan for the deserts of Arrakis. Here is the synopsis:

A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, “Dune” tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

In the Vanity Fair article, Chalamet gives some thoughts about his character. “The immediately appealing thing about Paul was the fact that in a story of such detail and scale and world-building, the protagonist is on an anti-hero’s-journey of sorts,” he says. “He thinks he’s going to be sort of a young general studying his father and his leadership of a fighting force before he comes of age, hopefully a decade later, or something like that.” Vanity Fair will feature more from the film later in the week.

This photo looks great! We didn’t get to see much of Caladan in David Lynch‘s adaptation. So, I assume Villeneuve is expanding the first part of the story to feature the amazing landscapes of Budapest, Hungary and Jordan. Villeneuve is making two films for the first book. I hope this film will release on time!

Dune also stars Zendaya, Stellan Skarsgård, Josh Brolin, Jason Momoa, Dave Bautista, Charlotte Rampling, Stephen Henderson, Javier Bardem and Chang Chen.

Dune is still on track to premiere in theaters on December 18, 2020!