DENIS VILLENEUVE'S DREAMS OF ‘DUNE' REACH THE BIG SCREEN

It was the eyes that drew Denis Villeneuve to “Dune.”

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Long before he’d decided to become a filmmaker, he was just a teenager browsing a bookstore when he spotted the cover of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel. But it wasn’t a hard sell for the biology-obsessed 14-year-old who had already learned that science fiction was a way to dream on a grand scale.

Then he read it and was mesmerized by the poetic, atmospheric story of a young man’s heroic journey that dealt with religion, politics, destiny, heritage, the environment, colonialism and giant space worms.

“It became an obsession,” Villeneuve, 54, said.