Frank Herbert's seminal science-fiction novel "Dune" had seen several attempts at adaptations before, including the failed Jodorowsky attempt in the 70's, David Lynch's 1984 film, and a 2000 SyFy channel mini-series. This marked the return of Arrakis to the big screen, directed and co-written by Denis Villeneuve, and produced by Legendary Pictures. The release was slated for a year earlier, but was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and ultimately was released in theaters simultaneously with a streaming debut on HBOMax. The film adapts only the first half of the novel, with a somewhat risky gamble that the film would do well enough in an unstable box-office economy to return to finish the story. The story follows Paul Atreides, the son of a duke, whose family is summoned by the emperor to help run a distant spice-mining planet. Trouble arises on the desert planet with the Fremen, the native inhabitants who have mostly fled into hiding while under the dictatorship of the previous ruling family, the cruel Harkonnens. Ultimately, the film was a critical and popular success, with the director a true fan of the source material, dreaming of adapting it since he was a child. Villeneuve brings a stunning sense of scale and weight (though a sad lack of color) to this massive universe, and spawned two sequels.
Returning to collaborate with Villeneuve (after "Blade Runner 2049") was German composer Hans Zimmer, himself a massive fan of the books, having turned down another collaboration with Christopher Nolan to devote himself to this film instead. Zimmer's vision was to have the score feel other-worldly, not based on a traditional Hollywood orchestral sound, presuming that standard Western orchestras might no longer be common in the distant future. Instead his approach was much more atmospheric, with warped solo instrumental colors, various invented instruments, pounding percussion, distorted synthetic sounds, and a signature female vocal that served as the war cry of the Fremen warriors. Although there are a number of themes or melodic ideas present, they often are not scored in traditional leitmotific ways, rather the score often feels somewhat independent of the picture, sometimes blurring the line between sound design and music, and often setting mood and tone for long stretches of time, rather than clear to-picture accompaniment. The score was quite controversial among film music fans, with hard-core Zimmer fans heaping endless praise for him as per usual (along with Zimmer's own typical grand-standing about his sonic experimentation), though left many traditional scoring fans quite aggravated by his cold approach to the narrative.
The film's score saw a number of different releases. WaterTower Music produced three different albums--the regular soundtrack album, a Sketchbook album (mostly of demos or expanded thematic and sonic development by Zimmer), and a third album that accompanied the "Art and Soul of..." book, which included further development of some ideas, but was largely even more atmospheric and understated than the previous releases. The following year Mondo also releases a deluxe edition vinyl. I present a total of thirty-six new covers, though I chose to keep all the text credits consistent, and not present different versions for the alternate album presentations.
The first ten covers all feature original marketing poster artwork. Most edited or tweaked in small ways, including a fair amount of color correction to the first three pieces, to try to bring some extra life and more natural color to the pieces (as well as have some of the covers pair a bit closer with the set from the sequel).
Covers 11 - 16 features artwork used for various print or magazine publications, in order: the first two sets are from Empire Magazine, SFX, Den of Geek, Total Film, and finally the sandworm wall art used for the "Art and Soul" book (edited a little here to fit the crop).
Covers 16 and 17 are from two different tabletop games adapted from the film: "House Secrets", and "Dune: A Game of Conquest and Diplomacy". These just required some minor tweaks to remove text, erase logos, and insert the new credits.
The next three covers, 19 - 21, were all created for Mondo, with the first two being pieces created by artist Greg Ruth for various vinyl editions of the score, and the third a poster by Rory Kurtz.
The next three, Covers 22 - 24 offer various commissioned pieces. A piece by Matt Ferguson, a piece of art from Displate, and finally an illustration by Polish artist Grzegorz Domaradzki, know as "Gabz", created for Bottleneck Gallery.
The final twelve covers are a collection of fan-created pieces. I shall briefly list the creators, and any needed changed.
Cover 25 uses three solo portraits by illustrator Brian Taylor, which I combined into a single family piece.
Cover 26 is an evocative piece by Romanian artist Bartos Gyorgy, which has a fun liturgical quality.
Cover 27 uses stunning art by Fraser Gillespie, sadly the landscape at the bottom needed to be cropped out.
Cover 28 features an elegant composite by Marius from JIVOStudio.
Cover 29 is another stunning design, with artwork by French designer Hubert Pelerin, emphasizing the messianic nature of the story.
Cover 30 is a creation by illustrator Danny Schlitz, quite different in style, but a strong style. I simply matted out and moved the bottom row of characters up a little in the image.
Cover 31 features a nice digital illustration by Chris Smith.
Cover 32 uses a more minimal, yet evocative portrait of Paul by UK illustrator Francesca Resta.
Cover 33 features an elegant composition by Irish illustrator Matt Griffin.
Cover 34 features a minimal but bold illustration by UK architect and illustrator Nada Maktari.
Finally, Cover 35 and 36 utilize powerful portraits by Spanish illustrator Juan Carlos Ruiz Burgos, featuring the Atreides crest, to which I simply cloned out the sides to allow for a more comfortable crop.
Hope you enjoy the collection. Are you excited for "Dune: Messiah"? Let me know your favorites!
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