Visionary Villeneuve takes over the ‘Dune’ helm

Above: "Dune," directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring Timothée Chalamet, opens wide on Friday. (Photo/Warner Bros.)

When Frank Herbert saw the publication of his novel "Dune" in August 1965, it wasn’t the first time his story about the desert world Arrakis had seen print. Versions of what would become the novel had already been published in the science-fiction magazine Analog.

Some 20 publishing houses rejected the novel before it was accepted by Chilton Books, the company long known for producing automotive repair manuals.

Herbert returned the favor well enough. Not only did “Dune” share the 1966 Hugo Award for best novel with Roger Zelazny’s novel “This Immortal” but it also snagged the inaugural Nebula Award for best novel.

And that was just the beginning. Over the years, “Dune” has emerged as one of the best sci-fi novels ever written, spawning book sequels, games, comic books, a 2000 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries and David Lynch’s lamentable 1984 film adaptation.

Why do I say “lamentable”? Well, let Roger Ebert explain: “This movie is a real mess, an incomprehensible, ugly, unstructured, pointless excursion into the murkier realms of one of the most confusing screenplays of all time.”

All that, of course, was before Denis Villeneuve got involved. The director of such films as “Sicario,” “Arrival” and “Blade Runner 2049,” Villeneuve seems like a good bet to make something watchable from Herbert’s massive, sprawling novel.

Most critics seem to agree:

Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service: “Villeneuve approaches Herbert's text with a sense of almost religious reverence, carefully creating an intoxicatingly mysterious and undeniably immersive world."

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: “The movie's length is, at times, a challenge, but ‘Dune’ is so original and contains so many strong scenes that the length mostly isn't a problem.”

Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times: “Villeneuve draws you into an astonishingly vivid, sometimes plausibly unnerving vision of the future.”

Beginning Friday, all you movie fans will have your say. Villeneuve's “Dune” will be opening in virtually every movie house in the nation – including, in Spokane, the Magic Lantern Theatre. Look for a cast that includes Timothée Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, Jason Moma, Zendaya, Rebeca Ferguson, Josh Brolin and even Javier Bardem.

I’ll leave you with this Herbert quote: “It is impossible to live in the past, difficult to live in the present and a waste to live in the future.”

Ruminate on that as you munch on your popcorn.