DREAMS OF THE SANDMAN

With Dune: Part Two, Denis Villeneuve reaffirms his commitment to big-screen artistry

- STEPHANIE ZACHAREK

FOR DENIS VILLENEUVE, ADAPTING ANY BOOKlet alone one that's been adored by readers since 1965 is an act of treason. "When you adapt, you kill. You destroy in the process of transformation. Going from the words to the image, this adaptation is my adaptation, with my sensibility."

The book in question is Dune, Frank Herbert's futuristic midcentury novel about-among many other things a young nobleman named Paul Atreides, who learns to live among a society of desert dwellers known as the Fremen, and who may even be their messiah. The first part of Villeneuve's two-movie epic, Dune, was released in 2021. The second, Dune: Part Two, arriving on March 1, marks the end of a kind of Arthurian quest for Villeneuve, now 56, who has loved the novel since he first read it at age 14. And even though he has interpreted Herbert's work in his own fashion-which is where the treason comes in-preserving the book's spirit was paramount. "I was trying to be, as a filmmaker, as invisible as possible. I tried my best to keep the poetry of the book, the atmosphere, the colors, the smell, everything that I felt when I read the book. I tried."