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‘Dune’ Cinematographer Still Finds Sand in His Luggage 2 Years Later

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'Dune' Cinematographer Still Finds Sand in His Luggage 2 Years Later

This story about Greig Fraser and “Dune” first appeared within the Under-the-Line concern of TheWrap’s awards journal.

Because the cinematographer on “Rogue One,” “Snow White and the Huntsman” and the upcoming “The Batman,” Greig Fraser is aware of huge. That’s why he was so impressed when he first spoke to Denis Villeneuve about “Dune” and the director didn’t even discuss concerning the dimension of the film.

“There’s lots of people and quite a lot of studios making movies of scale — the world’s exploding, buildings falling, the world’s going to die,” he mentioned. “And, , I’ve been lucky sufficient to be a part of that world, and I’ve cherished each minute of it. However what drew me to this story and appealed to me about Denis’ take is that he didn’t discuss scale. There’s world-building, nevertheless it’s one thing that occurs within the background — what’s main the cost are the characters, so Denis first talked to me concerning the individuals he was considering of casting.”

They did, after all, talk about Villeneuve’s imaginative and prescient for the look of the movie, which he’d been occupied with for a few years. “I wanted to listen to how he noticed the movie as a result of I didn’t have that very same historical past with the fabric,” he mentioned. “So for the primary few conferences, I simply let Denis discuss what he felt concerning the story, how he noticed the world, how he noticed the colours.” 

Photographing that world introduced a selected set of challenges, amongst them the truth that the huge desert landscapes of the planet Arrakis (filmed in Jordan, with interiors on a stage in Budapest) baked beneath a searing solar within the daytime and had been immersed in darkness when the solar set.

“It was essential that it didn’t really feel prefer it was artificially illuminated,” he mentioned. “So we tried to make use of pure mild the place potential, and that even prolonged to the evening scenes.”

Indoors, in the meantime, the motion typically passed off in monumental, dimly lit rooms. “The areas wanted to be past huge, and that meant I wanted to mild past huge as properly,” he mentioned. “It was an enormous conundrum as a result of (manufacturing designer) Patrice (Vermette) and Denis had determined there have been no direct home windows. That was the entire level of the constructing: It was a bunker, and also you wouldn’t put huge home windows in a bunker. They designed slits of sunshine, which pushed us out on the limb to create some fascinating options to the issues.”

Solely just lately, Fraser was reminded once more of the “Dune” expertise. “Once you go to the desert, sand will get into each single factor you personal,” he mentioned. “I went to do a industrial in Spain 4 or 5 months in the past, and so they requested me to open my bag as I used to be coming into the nation. I opened it and out poured sand. I knew it was from the Jordanian desert the place we shot, however I don’t know the place it was in my bag and why it hadn’t appeared for the final two years.”

Learn extra from TheWrap’s “Dune” bundle right here:

Making ‘Dune’ – Right here’s How Denis Villeneuve and His Crew Pulled Off Sci-Fi Epic (Video)

Why ‘Dune’ Manufacturing Designers Constructed a ‘Visible Bible’ Earlier than Day One in every of Taking pictures

‘Dune’ Costume Designers Had been Impressed by Every part From Balenciaga to Tarot Playing cards to Bugs

The Sound of ‘Dune’: The Big Worm Was Arduous, however the Magical Voice Was Tougher

Why ‘Dune’ Editor Traveled to Budapest However Wouldn’t Go on the Set

Why ‘Dune’s’ Greatest Visible Results Problem Wasn’t the Worms However the Sand

‘Dune’ Composer Hans Zimmer Reveals the Be aware That ‘Tore the Enamel Off My Tooth’

Learn extra from the Under-the-Line Problem right here.

Wrap Below-the-Line issue - Dune