‘Dune 2’ Spent a Month Shooting Deep in Abu Dhabi Desert to Provide ‘Tactile’ Visuals, Say Denis Villeneuve and Zendaya in Promotional Video (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comNick Vivarelli International Correspondent For “Dune: Part Two,” Denis Villeneuve delved deep into the Arabian desert and spent almost a month shooting in Abu Dhabi’s Liwa Oasis, which provided a substantial portion of the landscape of the desert planet Arrakis, home to the monstrous sandworms.
Villeneuve praised the location and services provided by the Abu Dhabi Film Commission and UAE-based production services company Epic Films in a promotional behind-the-scenes video, to which Variety has been given exclusive access. “‘Dune’ is about the relationship of humans with nature,” Villeneuve says in the promo that also features testimonials from Zendaya, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Ferguson and cinematographer Greig Fraser, among others. “It was important for me to bring that nature to the screen,” adds the director, so that the audience will believe it “if they feel that there is something that feels real, that feels tactile.” So after shooting for five days in the Abu Dhabi desert for “Dune’s” first installment, Villeneuve and the entire cast and crew returned for “Dune: Part Two” and spent 27 days amid Liwa’s towering rolling dunes, some of which are more than 600 feet tall, on the edge of Rub’ Al Khali, the world’s largest stretch of uninterrupted desert. “We had a network of 18 miles of road leading us to different locations where we had tents, catering, construction cranes, telehandlers and everything,” says executive producer Tanya Lapointe. “It was a huge endeavor, but it was spectacular,” adds Lapointe, who also served as second unit director on “Dune: Part Two.” Legendary Pictures also benefited from the Abu Dhabi Film Commission’s (ADFC) generous 30% cashback rebate on production spend within the Emirate.
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