John Schoenherr’s Cover For The First Edition Of Frank Herbert’s Dune, 1965

Dune (1984)

Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides and Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica in “Dune” (2021)

“Memory never recaptures reality. Memory reconstructs. All reconstructions change the original, becoming external frames of reference that inevitably fall short.”

— Frank Herbert, Heretics of Dune

DUNE (2021) DIR. DENIS VILLENEUVE

Irulan - Children of Dune

Have you seen Moebius’ take on Feyd-Rautha?? I love the 2024 film but the femboy appreciators were robbed in this way. They really said ‘one mountain cannot contain two twinks*

You know what? you're kinda cool. *twinks your Feyd-Rautha*

something funny and highly specific to consider about feyd-rautha from a meta perspective is that all of the actors who have played him either are musicians or have played a musician.

in lynch's dune, feyd is played by Sting, lead vocalist and songwriter for The Police.

in jodorowsky's planned adaptation of dune, feyd was planned to be played by (and his design highly based on) Mick Jagger.

in villeneuve's dune, feyd is played by Austin Butler, who shot to fame for his portrayal of Elvis.

also worth noting: all three of these musicians have — to a certain degree — an element of rebelliousness and sex appeal that characterises their 'on-stage' persona.

i mean, just take a look at this quote about Mick Jagger from Philip Norman's symphony for the devil: the rolling stones story:

"[...] his conflicting and colliding sexuality: the swan's neck and smeared harlot eyes allied to an overstuffed and straining codpiece."

“They’re not mad. They’re trained to believe, not to know. Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is dangerous.”

— Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah

I'm rereading Dune in honour of the movie, and I had genuinely forgotten how absolutely vicious Leto's wit can be. Two examples:

Halleck stirred, said: "I think what rankles, Sire, is that we've had no volunteers from the other Great Houses. They address you as "Leto the Just" and promise eternal friendship, but only as long as it doesn't cost them anything."

"They don't yet know who's going to win this exchange," the Duke said. "Most of the Houses have grown fat by taking few risks. One cannot truly blame them for this; one can only despise them."

Pretty sure some of the heads of other houses just woke up several planetary systems away in a cold sweat, with the vague feeling of just having been verbally flayed.

"This is a carryall," Hawat said. "It's essentially a large 'thopter, whose sole function is to deliver a factory to spice-rich sands, then to rescue the factory when a sand-worm appears. They always appear. Harvesting the spice is a process of getting in and getting out with as much as possible."

"Admirably suited to Harkonnen morality," the Duke said.

I think the Baron is beyond feeling someone else roasting him from a system away, as it happens far too often, but still.

Finally, a gentler example:

"Gurney, take care of that smuggler situation first."

" 'I shall go unto the rebellious that dwell in the dry land,' " Halleck intoned.

"Someday I'll catch that man without a quotation and he'll look undressed," the Duke said.

I wish we'd had time to see this in the movie, because even though a fair amount of this is him putting on a bit of a show for his men, it's still hilarious.