First look at Timothée Chalamet in Dune

Vanity Fair has released the first enigmatic photo from director Denis Villeneuve's (Blade Runner 2049) highly-anticipated Dune remake depicting Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides. The role was previously played by Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks) in David Lynch's movie adaptation of Frank Herbert's novels.

Chalamet instantly reminded me of Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) from the Star Wars sequels. The Dune novels influenced George Lucas' space opera.

“The immediately appealing thing about Paul was the fact that in a story of such detail and scale and world-building, the protagonist is on an anti-hero’s-journey of sorts,” Chalamet told Vanity Fair.

“He thinks he’s going to be sort of a young general studying his father and his leadership of a fighting force before he comes of age, hopefully a decade later, or something like that.”

In the movie, Oscar Isaac (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) and Rebecca Ferguson play Paul's parents Duke Leto and Lady Jessica Atreides respectively, whilst Josh Brolin (Avengers: Endgame) is Gurney Halleck, a veteran soldier mentoring Paul in the ways of war.

“Dune was made by people from all over the world. Many of these people are like family to me, and they’re very much in my thoughts,” Villeneuve said. “I’m so proud to showcase their hard work. I look forward to a time when we can all get together again as Dune was made to be seen on the big screen.”

Dune, part one of two instalments, is in cinemas 18th December. Hopefully, it will fill the void vacated by Star Wars more successfully than Lynch's film in 1984. Infamously, Dune merchandise piled up in toy store bargain bins as kids (myself included) had no interest following the conclusion of the Star Wars saga the year before with Return of the Jedi.