The cinematographer behind Dune: Part Two has revealed how he modeled the film’s sandworm ride scene on surf and avalanche videos.
Denis Villeneuve’s sequel to 2021’s Dune follows Paul Atreides, played by Timothée Chalamet, as he unites with the Fremen people of the desert planet to take back their land.
In one of the most epic scenes of Dune: Part Two, Atreides ride his first sandworm across the desert — proving that he is capable of leading the Fremen against the forces of House Harkonnen and the Emperor.
In an interview with Variety, Dune: Part Two cinematographer Greg Fraser has revealed how the sandworm riding sequence took a staggering 44 days to shoot.
Fraser also explained that he drew inspiration from surf videos to capture the intense, dynamic feel of the pivotal scene where Atreides earns acceptance from the Fremen.
The cinematographer says that natural lighting was important to him and Dune: Part Two director Villeneuve as it made the sandworm riding scene feel real.
“In the film world, we can cheat where the director of daylight comes from on actors,” Fraser tells Variety.
“You’ll watch a film, and you’ll rarely see somebody front-lit. You’ll mostly see people backlight, which is a little bit magical, but we do it and we get away with it.
“For this, it was important that the sun came from one direction, and it’s very clear where the sun comes from because you have a lit side of the sand dune and a shadow side which means that we could not cheat this placement.”
So, Fraser shot the entire worm riding scene in natural daylight.
“It removes one of the pieces of artifice. Making movies is artificial,” Fraser explains. “So if you can remove one or two of those factors, then it means that we have that ability to become immersed and suspend disbelief for 10 minutes or two hours.”
Fraser shared that, in planning the scene’s visuals, he and Villeneuve studied avalanche footage, surf videos, and clips of wave wipeouts for inspiration.
“It was very, very hard to find a reference for how it [the sandworm riding scene] should look,” the cinematographer tells Variety.
“We looked quite extensively at avalanche videos, surf videos [and] we tried to see what it would be like when Paul was literally under the water, but in this case, sand.”
