Expanding the View for Dune: Part Two

Unit photography by Niko Tavernise. All images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.

Returning to planet Arrakis presented the Dune: Part Two filmmakers with the opportunity to envision the vast, arid landscape they had created for Part One (AC Dec. ’21) from a more seasoned perspective — and with a wider range of tools at the ready. Nevertheless, Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS called the sequel “the hardest film I’ve ever done, from a practical standpoint” thanks to “all the spinning plates and units going at the same time.”

Director Denis Villeneuve adds that for this second chapter, “the visual vocabulary that we designed for Part Two had to have some continuity with Part One, so you can watch them back-to-back and be in the same world — but Greig and I also wanted to challenge ourselves and make sure we expanded our language and brought a feeling of novelty.

“Especially in the beginning, we wanted to show the technique of the Fremen, [who use] the light of an eclipse to battle their enemies and bring violence with the darkness,” the director adds. “I wanted a bit of a shock at the opening of the film — what [editor] Joe Walker called ‘putting a cold, wet swimsuit back on’ — that kind of shock and energy.

Set shortly after the events depicted in Part One, Part Two establishes that the intergalactic battle for Spice continues, and war has returned to Arrakis. Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his pregnant mother, Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) — the lone survivors of the Harkonnens’ attack on House Atreides — take refuge on the desert planet. There, Paul begins to understand that his destiny is to lead the indigenous Fremen in their battle against the Harkonnen for control of their planet.

One notable variation in the visual strategy for the sequel was the decision to shoot only spherical lenses, while Part One was shot with a mix of anamorphic and spherical. “It’s strange — maybe I’ve been ‘Deakinized,’” Villeneuve muses, referring to his multiple collaborations with spherical-format adherent Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC. “But the more I use anamorphic, the more I’m convinced I’m a spherical guy. I adore the spherical look and found that I was trying to play with that language in the anamorphic world, and it wasn’t quite right.”

Another significant change was that while just more than half of the Part One material was composed for Imax, the filmmakers shot Part Two entirely for Imax 1.43:1 (while protecting 1.90:1 for digital Imax exhibition and 2.39:1 for traditional theatrical exhibition and home release). Fraser notes that this decision maintains consistency with the first film’s shifting to Imax aspect ratio when Paul is on Arrakis — as the second film takes place almost entirely on that planet.

Fraser decided to turn again to the Arri Rental Alexa 65 as his main camera, supplementing it with Arri Alexa LF and Mini LF cameras when more — or more compact — bodies were required. During his typically ambitious testing of optics, he happened on the Arri Rental Moviecam lenses, a series of rehoused Olympus OM still-photography lenses that was introduced by Moviecam in the 1980s and was subsequently acquired by Arri Rental. Fraser determined that the Moviecams delivered the feel he was looking for — and decided to team them, when needed, with his own set of Optica Elite primes.

As shooting commenced, he also began incorporating the IronGlass Adapter rehoused Soviet-era lenses that he had used on The Batman (AC June ’22) and liked the look he was getting, but the mechanics weren’t yet up to the demands of being a primary set for a major production. He contacted Alan Besedin of Vintage Lenses for Video, an IronGlass partner. “I said, ‘I want more of these, but they need to have better mechanics,’” Fraser says. “It turned out IronGlass was just releasing their MKII mechanical design, and it was substantially better than the previous one, so I ordered three 85mm [Jupiter-9], three 58mm [Helios 44-2] and three 37mm [Mir-1V], which were rushed to me.”

As principal photography progressed, he continues, “We became bolder and more focused on choosing lenses [based on which aspect of the story] we wanted to tell. The Moviecams worked really well for the sandworm ride, for instance; they’re generally a bit sharper than some other lenses we carried and were great for all that texture — with the wind and sand and haze. We also used the Moviecams for the arena fight and the infrared sequences, because their ability to resolve was important.

“For the desert and more of Paul’s story, we used more of the IronGlass and Optica Elite lenses, which are softer and have more character.

“There is a democratization of lens-building right now. Several companies are doing fantastic work in rehousing stills glass. In today’s world, we’re also able to work with mounts that are not just PL or PV, but LPL, L, E and M. That’s opening up quite an exciting world that goes far beyond what we’ve been used to in the past. I feel these companies that are rehousing, including Zero Optik in L.A., need to be encouraged and supported to do more of it.”

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You'll find much more detail on the production design and lighting of Dune: Part Two in this special web-exclusive “Afterfilming” document, provided by Fraser, including an introductory video with the cinematographer.