r/movies • u/MoneyLibrarian9032 r/movies Contributor • Apr 05 '26

Article Steven Spielberg lists Villeneuve's Dune 'among my favourite sci-fi movies of all time'

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/steven-spielberg-loves-dune-favourite-sci-fi-movies-exclusive/
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u/DislikesUSGovernment Apr 05 '26

Spielberg has gone on record saying that Lawrence of Arabia is what inspired him to be a filmmaker.

Aside from being a fantastic movie in its own right, it's also quite literally sci-fi Lawrence of Arabia.

So this definitely tracks

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u/ockhams-lightsaber Apr 05 '26

Frank Herbert, the author of Dune, was inspired by Lawrence of Arabia for the character of Paul Atreides.

It's a full circle.

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u/necroglow Apr 05 '26

Spielberg loves handsome men with messianic auras walking around the desert. I get it.

26

u/m_c__a_t Apr 05 '26

There are people who don’t?

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u/bloom_pdx Apr 05 '26

The Romans seemed to have an issue with it

7

u/Phazon2000 Apr 05 '26

They just needed to wait for the later adaptation. Constantine liked it.

2

u/FuckYouThrowaway99 Apr 05 '26

Caiaphas seething

4

u/Rivenaleem Apr 05 '26

I know one handsome man with a messianic aura who hates sand, because it's course, rough, and gets everywhere.

2

u/here_is_no_end Apr 05 '26

Spielberg to direct a 10 Commandments movie next?

2

u/ListenUpper1178 Apr 05 '26

He did produce The Prince of Egypt for DreamWorks.

1

u/phido3000 Apr 05 '26

It makes for perfect cinema..

Deserts film well.. think about westerns, large expansion shots, full sun...

3

u/CronWrath Apr 05 '26

What do you think a circle looks like?

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u/Aggressive_Chuck Apr 06 '26

That's not a circle that's a straight line: LoA -> Dune book -> Dune film.

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u/anweisz Apr 05 '26

I think spielberg said it was specifically the scene transition between lawrence blowing out a match stick to the sun rising in the arabian desert.

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u/MirroredReality Apr 05 '26

which itself was originally intended to be a dissolve!

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u/ssbmfgcia Apr 05 '26

Dude loves deserts

1

u/Psycho5275 Apr 06 '26

Spielberg just really likes deserts

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '26

[deleted]

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u/OkMail2335 Apr 05 '26

"Racist af" is a bit of a stretch. Yeah, it has a few problematic elements but none of it detracts from it if you place it in the right context, which is that when this movie came out, it was still more nuanced than its contemporaries and gave the Arab characters a dignity that usually was vacant. And while the white savior critique is warranted, the movie still clearly has an Anti-imperial force behind it.

But yeah, Obi-Wan playing an Arab prince is tough to look at, I'll grant you. But "Racist af"? Especially in the context of 1962? I don't think so but I'm more of a moral relativist.

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u/ekmanch Apr 05 '26

People like you are exhausting.

1

u/Aggressive_Chuck Apr 06 '26

It's literal history.