Javier Bardem Just Wants To Ride A Sandworm In Dune 2, If It's Not Too Much To Ask
The Blu-ray for Denis Villeneuve's "Dune" is out, and one of the special features it has is "Designing the Sandworm." They were the most impressive thing in the Frank Herbert novels, and they're spectacular in the film. It's no wonder that Javier Bardem who plays Stilgar in the film wants to ride one. How could you not want to ride one?
Bardem has just been nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama for playing Desi Arnaz opposite Nicole Kidman's Lucille Ball in Amazon's "Being the Ricardos." In honor of the nomination, Bardem spoke to Deadline. In the interview, he also speaks about "Dune," and the upcoming sequel. He reportedly hasn't seen a script yet, but he's excited, saying, "I cannot wait to put myself into the hands of Denis Villeneuve again. I love that guy."
Riding the Shai-Hulud
When someone like Javier Bardem says he wants to ride a sandworm, you let him ride a sandworm. He said:
"The only thing I'm asking is that I get to ride a sandworm ... Denis told me he's going to try to make that happen. That does happen in the book, by the way. Stilgar teaches Paul [Atreides] how to take the desert power, which is to domesticate those huge animals in order to use their force, their strength, and their huge size against the Harkonnen. Hopefully, that will happen."
I second that desire. The sandworm, also known as the Shai-Hulud to the Fremen of Arrakis, lives in the desert, and movement (rhythmic, we're led to understand) is what attracts it. They create the spice, the product that allows interstellar travel in the "Dune" universe. They can grow up to 450 feet long, which is insanely large. The Fremen do ride these creatures using hooks and a whole lot of practice — something we got a glimpse of at the end of the first "Dune." It's one of the things fans are most looking forward to in the sequel to the film.
It still baffles me that the second part of this story didn't get a green light until after the first one was done. This is a huge franchise, and I'm waiting for the next one with bated breath. The date listed for the sequel is currently October of 2023, but with the pandemic rearing its ugly head in the way it currently is, let's mark that as tentative for now.