There are three film adaptations of Frank Herbert’s Dune and while none of them come close to the brilliance of the novel, they all have at least something to recommend them. Perhaps Alejandro Jodorowsky’s never-to-be-filmed Dune would have come closer but we’ll never know that. If one had to pick which one came the closest, I would have to go with John Harrison’s miniseries made for the Sci Fi Channel in 2000. There were plenty of changes and omissions but it was overall the most faithful to the novel and is still enjoyable today even with the now very dated visual effects. David Lynch’s 1984 film was the only one made while Herbert still lived and that had his direct input but I personally don’t like it. I also don’t think that my opinion would much change if it were given a director’s cut though I would allow that this would improve on the theatrical release’s very truncated third act. Most recently was Denis Villeneuve’s two-film adaptation which had the advantage of an enormous budget and the almost limitless potential found with modern visual effects. Villeneuve’s started very well but was let down in the second part by the unnecessary changes made to novel’s narrative and most egregiously with the characterisation of Paul’s beloved concubine Chani.
Having seen all of these films fairly recently, I got to thinking what these films did well and considering the actors chosen to play the source material’s varied and fascinating characters. One could forgive both the 1984 version and the 2000 miniseries for being limited with regard to visual effects but the characters can still be done justice if nothing else. All three films made very good, acceptable and sometimes bad choices and this post will be devoted to considering the best for each major role.
Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides
Despite being my least favourite of the three adaptations by far, the choice of Kyle MacLachlan to play Paul Atreides was the best casting decision of the film and that is with all the famous names starring in that film. This was MacLachlan’s first feature film and he was quite young at the time. He then had the right combination of youth, regal bearing and was clearly an alpha. Alec Newman was mostly great in the miniseries but especially early on, came across as insolent. This may be due more to the script than the actor but I don’t think this is the correct interpretation of the character. Timothée Chalamet in the most recent films just looks too weak to be a leader of men and I’m tempted to wonder if he could even wield a crysknife. MacLachlan was absolutely the best Paul.
Barbora Kodetová as Chani
Chani required a little more thought and I was initially going to go with Sean Young from the 1984 adaptation. I did defend the choice of Zendaya in the latest film but the direction the character was taken (which is admittedly not the fault of the actress), has rather soured me on her. Sean Young would win outright for beauty but she doesn’t get enough screen time to really develop the character — which again is not her fault. So Barbora Kodetová from the miniseries wins the competition if only because she really shows the love and devotion Chani had to Paul until her death in the second book. Kodetová may not be as slim or have the elven features from the limited description provided by Herbert but she still gets to the heart of the character.
Javier Bardem as Stilgar
This next choice might make it seem like I’m sprinkling choices fairly between all three films but this is not my intention at all. Javier Bardem’s portrayal of Stilgar just captured the character perfectly and I have zero complaints about his performance. The actors in both the miniseries and the 1984 film weren’t bad; Bardem just outdid them. I liked the choice immediately and haven’t had any reason to change my mind.
Ian McNeice as Baron Harkonnen
Baron Vladimir Harkonnen’s major characteristics are so visceral that he is one of the easier characters to adapt. Have the actor be fat, revolting and cruel and you’ve got it. Whether one achieves this by putting one in a fat suit or by choosing among the more corpulent of those auditioning matters little. So it is no surprise that the three actors who have played him, did a very good job. I found Kenneth McMillan in the 1984 film a little too disgusting but this was particularly due to the decision to have him covered in festering sores. Stellan Skarsgård was almost the opposite in his more sterile (though still enormously fat), appearance. Ian McNeice in the miniseries certainly had the revolting size but he went beyond this. He was the only actor to show the more theatrical aspects of the character. While revolting and evil, he was almost likeable at times in the book with how outrageously evil he was. McNeice’s Baron is the only one that really captured this.
Sting as Feyd-Rautha
This leads smoothly to Feyd-Rautha, the Baron’s favourite nephew and intended heir of the Harkonnen Barony. All three actors that have played this character did a respectable job. The character is just as sadistic as his corpulent uncle but unlike the uncle, is physically attractive. The latter is probably what attracts the perverted Baron more than Feyd’s potential for future leadership. He is really only shown to be more intelligent than his brother (not hard) and not much else. I am going to give this one to Sting simply because his portrayal became so iconic. But as I said, all three actors did a great job.
Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica
Lady Jessica is yet another character where all the actresses did the character credit. And as with Stilgar, it was disappointing having the cast change in the Children of Dune adaptation of the miniseries. While I thought both Saskia Reeves in the miniseries and Francesca Annis in the 1984 film were well cast, Rebecca Ferguson wins out overall. Ferguson is one of those actresses that while not strikingly beautiful, has a certain allure about her that fits well with how I would picture Jessica. It only helps that she also matches the physical description given in the novel quite well too.
Julie Cox as Princess Irulan
Since we’re on to the Bene Gesserit, Princess Irulan, wife of Paul in their unconsummated marriage naturally follows. The difficult part of this character is how little Irulan actually appears in the original novel. As much of what we learn of the character is through diary entries included between chapters, it was natural to use her as the narrator as done in the 1984 film. It was equally defensible to have her only appear in a minor role in the most recent adaptation too. Julie Cox played the character in both the Dune and Children of Dune miniseries adaptations and so got more time to develop the character. Her role was also much expanded in the first miniseries. Even with these advantages, I think I would have still chosen her over the other two actresses with Virginia Madsen coming in a respectable second. Florence Pugh wasn’t bad, she just wasn’t as good as the two that came before her. One other aspect of Cox’s portrayal is that she managed to make the character a lot more sympathetic than in the book and without compromising the character’s actual personality and motivations.
Oscar Isaacs as Duke Leto Atreides
Duke Leto is another character that has been played well by all three actors who portrayed him. Admittedly, his role in the film is relatively brief but he is a high important character to the story. His influence lasts beyond his death and it is important that this also be true of the film adaptations. Jürgen Prochnow, William Hurt and Oscar Isaacs all played this role and all are excellent actors. I do however consider Oscar Isaacs to have edged out the other two. This is simply because he most successfully portrays the uneasiness that Leto has throughout the first part of the book. Prochnow and Hurt do this too but Isaacs does it better. Leto senses the danger in his move to Arrakis but still knows he has to do his duty.
I had thought to add more characters but from here it will get rather boring. Duncan Idaho, Beast Raban and Gurney Halleck would all be chosen from the Villeneuve films with Jason Momoa as Idaho, Josh Brolin as Halleck and Dave Bautista as Raban. Of course there are many more characters beyond even these but I believe I have covered the most important for the purposes of the post.
One last thing to add is that this list shouldn’t be taken as a cast list for the “perfect” Dune adaptation. If the above actors were all to come together in a single adaptation at the ages they were at the time, it wouldn’t necessarily work. In many cases their portrayals would differ too much or even clash with the tone each director was going for. I just consider these actors to have done the best job of portraying a particular character overall.