IN 'DUNE: PART TWO,' FILMMAKER DENIS VILLENEUVE REALIZES A LIFETIME DREAM

Denis Villeneuve doesn’t feel like he came back to Arrakis for “Dune: Part Two.” In his mind, he never left.

The sequel, which opens in theaters on March 1, is the culmination of a six-year filmmaking journey, preceded by 40 years of dreaming about it. And it’s one that Christopher Nolan has already compared to “The Empire Strikes Back.”

Realizing Frank Herbert’s novel for the big screen is a feat that has bested and befuddled some of the greats, including David Lean, Alejandro Jodorowsky and David Lynch, the only one who actually got to make a film. But his 1984 film was such a flop that its two sequels were quickly abandoned.

Villeneuve finally got his chance at one of the more turbulent times in Hollywood history, facing two delayed releases (one because of the pandemic, the other because of the Hollywood strikes ), an historic shift to streaming and zero guarantee that he would get a “Part Two” at all.

“The conditions could not have been worse to release ( Part One ),” Villeneuve said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “And still the movie did a decent box office.”

Even in that limbo time, he never stopped working on the script for “Part Two” knowing that if they got the greenlight, he wanted to be ready to go. By the time his cinematographer Greig Fraser was picking up the best cinematography Oscar for “Dune,” they were deep into pre-production for the second. And everyone was soon back in Budapest with cameras rolling by July. But though they’d conquered the desert in “Part One,” new challenges awaited.