#Dune Director Says His Sandworm Is ‘Godlike’ and Has a Soul

The biggest highlight of the recently released trailer for filmmaker Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming movie Dune occurs near the very end when the sands of the planet Arrakis open up to reveal the undulating, towering figure of a Sandworm, the native species of the desert planet, and the source of the mysterious ‘spice’ that the most powerful houses in the universe are fighting over. In an interview with EW, Villeneuve revealed that the gigantic worm creatures, far from being mindless monsters, are almost “God-like” in their importance to the storyline.

“I think that as soon as you say, ‘okay, let’s make Dune,’ you go back home and the first thing you ask is, ‘okay, what about the worm?’ It’s a fantastic central figure of Dune’s story, that massive creature that lives in the deep desert, so when we were creating the worm I tried to create a lifeform that you will totally believe can go and survive in this land.”

“So of course it has to have some prehistoric quality to it, because it’s living in the most rough environment. It was a lot of dreaming. We took our time with it. I deeply love the worm we came up with. It was important for me to understand that this huge creature has a soul, to understand that it is revered as a god-like figure.”

Villeneuve’s description of the sandworm is quite similar to another iconic movie beast Godzilla, who in the latest movies by Legendary Entertainment is also described as “God-like” and an ancient guardian of the planet, living in a symbiotic relationship with humanity and the other kaiju.

Much like Godzilla, the Sandworm in the Dune trailer is presented as a majestic being, despite its immense size and terrifying appearance. The look of the creature was something that Denis Villeneuve had previously revealed that it took a lot of hard work to get right.

“We talked about every little detail that would make such a beast possible, from the texture of the skin, to the way the mouth opens, to the system to eat its food in the sand. It was a year of work to design and to find the perfect shape that looked prehistoric enough.”

Directed by Denis Villeneuve from a script he co-wrote with Eric Roth and Jon Spaihts, Legendary Pictures’ Dune features Timothée Chalamet in the lead role as Paul Atreides, scion of House Atreides, and a young hero tasked with saving his people and the universe. Zendaya plays Paul’s love interest Chani, a member of the Fremen tribe native to the planet Arrakis that House Atreides are sent to rule over.

The rest of the cast consists of Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides, Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Chang Chen as Dr. Wellington Yueh, Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Dr. Liet Kynes, Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, Dave Bautista Glossu Rabban, David Dastmalchian as Piter De Vries, Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, Stephen Henderson as Thufir Hawat, and Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck. The film is expected to arrive in theaters on December 18. This news comes from Entertainment Weekly.

Topics: Dune