Dune‘s Epic Sandworm Shots Are Thanks to a Simple, Yet Effective Twist on Existing Tech

In every iteration ofDune — including directorDenis Villeneuve’s — the political conflicts that fuelthe war between House Atreides and House Harkonnen , and push the Fremen of Arrakis to fight their colonizers , become insignificant rethink whenever the movie ’s sandworms are on - television camera , or even about to show up . Curiously , how Villeneuve ’s translation came to living was but by turning the industry ’s traditional greenscreens a different color .

Mind - grampus that fright may be , Paul Atreides and Dune ’s other player vying for power ca n’t help but be swept up in overwhelming terror whenever Arrakis ’ desert landscape begins to grumble rhythmically , as it ’s one of the sure signs that a gargantuan sandworm is on its way to immerse whole whatever proceed ( presumably living ) thing it ’s sensed on the surface . The fistful of sandworm - focused scenes that punctuate Villeneuve ’s Dune are some of the film ’s most thrilling because of the acuate danger it lay various characters in as they battle for control of the world ’s spice production .

While the creatures play a slightly poetically monstrous use in Dune ’s story , they ’re also intend to embody the natural power and stateliness of Arrakis , something the movie ’s originative squad ended up incorporating into how they bring the beast to life story . In a recent interview withWired , Dune production designer Patrice Vermette utter about how , because so many elements of the picture ’s lore have popped up in other sci - fi classics inspired by Frank Herbert ’s original novel , conceiving of a new spin on the worms was something of a challenge . “ plainly , there ’s such a big sports fan bag on Dune that if you go on the internet — Google , like , ‘ Dune sandworm’—there ’s so many different rendering , ” Vermette says . “ And Dune has been such an inspiration for a lot of science fiction lovers and picture show that have been made . In Star Wars there ’s a sandworm . So , we wanted to do something quite original , and terrific . ”

Gurney Halleck and Paul witnessing a sandworm devour a spice-mining carrier.

Gurney Halleck and Paul witnessing a sandworm devour a spice-mining carrier.Screenshot: HBO/Warner Bros.

Unlike Star Wars ’ sarlaccs , which become stationary and produce to the size of it of massive pits after reaching maturity , Dune ’s sandworms retain their mobility throughout their lifespans and are known to move beneath the airfoil of Arrakis ’ huge deserts the way marine life history swims through water supply . At multiple peak throughout the story , Paul and other characters see sandworms racing through the desert and breaching the upmost layer whenever they detect other creatures moving about . Creating these shots wholly on a soundstage would have been a likely selection , but because it was important to Lambert to emphasize the natural beaut of the locations in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates where the motion-picture show was shoot , he develop a bent of “ sandscreens”—basically a chocolate-brown backcloth — to apply as an option to traditional greenscreens . “ I ’m never a executive program who is going to say to Denis , ‘ reckon , if we just make this all dismal concealment , ’ ” Lambert said . “ I do n’t exploit in that particular way . ”

Wired explicate how it work : “ Sandscreen imply Villeneuve could get all his dish shots out in the desert and Lambert could well add whatever he ask to in post - production . All he had to do was swap out the sand colour for whatever construction , background , or beast he require . It allowed every shot to reckon as natural as possible — and also lease them create one of sci - fi ’s most iconic fauna … Sandscreen meant Lambert could film an actor on placement ‘ riding ’ a sandworm — essentially a platform on a transferrable gimbal address in beige — and then add together the insect below him with CGI . It give Lambert the ability to create a unseamed VFX shot ( there were more than 2,000 of those on Dune ) , and Villeneuve the power to have a picture show that looked as instinctive as possible . ”

There ’s a lot more about the sandworms ’ creation — including their mouth and unique sound — atWired . Dune is now in dramatics and cyclosis on HBO Max .

Image: HBO/Warner Bros.