A gigantic challenge could only be tackled with an effort to match, and the Worm Unit from ‘Dune 2’ is a good example of this.
There is no doubt that ‘Dune: Part Two’ is one of the most overwhelming shows we have seen – and will see – in a movie theater in a long, long time. This, in addition to its epic sense, is projected onto a formal treatment and production design with a scale as gigantic as a Shai-Huludthe name of the sandworms that crawl under the dunes of Arrakis.
Precisely, some of the most memorable moments in Denis Villeneuve’s film are related to these creatures; especially the scene in which Paul Atreides, played by Timothée Chalamet, rides on the back of one of them to claim himself as the Lisan al-Gaib. Of course, the extraordinary on-screen result of this passage was as difficult to obtain on the set as one might expect.
During an interview on the Toolkit podcast, director He explained in this way what his intentions were with the setpiece.
“What I wanted to bring to the screen required overcoming a lot of challenges because I didn’t want to compromise realism. I wanted my mother to believe that it was technically possible to jump on a sandworm and really feel the danger, feel the speed. The problem is that you can It seemed ridiculous very quickly, and I wanted it to be risky, dangerous, beautiful, poetic, and I had the precise movement in my mind. I had to imagine how a human could jump over a guy, because it’s very elusive in the book. directly”.
The problem? What Villeneuve wanted shoot the scene in the most practical way possible, leaving color casts aside and using the natural light of the desert that had bathed the exteriors of the production. Of course, these requirements got on the nerves of the VFX team, especially after learning that the French-Canadian had no intention of delegating responsibility to a second unit director; And for him, “directing is an act of presence.”
Welcome to the Worm Unit
To solve the drawbacks of good old Denis’ vision, it was decided to create the so-called Worm Unit, a team dedicated solely and exclusively to the “piloting” scenes of the Shai-Hulud which worked parallel to the main unit, but at a very different pace. On ScreenRant, Chalamet explained what the thing was about.
“It was practically a different unit that was separate from the film. We called it the Worm Unit, you would join it for 20 or 30 minutes at a time and they would adjust the availability in relation to the main production schedule. It was impressive. There was a huge wall with a list of shots they were working on. It was like taking three months for what is ultimately a three-minute sequence.”
The actor also explored the importance of the scene in narrative terms and some ins and outs of its implementation.
“It may sound absurd, but it is actually one of the most defining moments for Paul Atreides in his journey. It is a crucial test that he must overcome, one that Stilgar and Chani watch with caution because, at this point, they are not really sure if “He’s fulfilling the prophecy. He could fall off the worm like many before him, so it was exciting to shoot it. They made it as exhilarating as they could, with a scaffold shaking violently without having a real sandworm.”
Chalamet, speaking with Entertainment Weekly, synthesized the process in the following way.
“You go to the Worm Unit and climb a ladder to a platform. You assemble a little piece of worm—I hope this is never taken out of context—that they have built practically, like a model, and then they give you two grip”.
Cables, tubes and sand. A lot of sand.
Paul Lambert, visual effects supervisor of the film and Oscar winner for the first ‘Dune’ delved even further into the gestation of the Worm Unit and the scene in question. For her, they worked for two months in Budapest before moving to the United Arab Emirates to film in the desert with real dunes.
“We rebuilt part of the top of the sand dune in another location, where we could control things and have cranes, and we placed three tubes inside the dune, which would be pulled by industrial tractors. We had a stuntman —Lorenz Hideyoshi — in this case, Timothée’s stunt double — attached to a safety cable and he would run. The sand would collapse, and Lorenz would fall from the top of the dune into the swirling dust below, kicking up sand. I had to get the timing right, the camera had to follow, and so on. It took a few days of practice shots because it took a long time to set it all up again, but it worked really well. Then my team extended it in CG using stills! and aerial photography, making you feel like Paul is much higher up, and then of course adding the CG worm.”
For its part, Denis Villeneuve will always be grateful for the existence of the Worm Unit; a team that allowed the filming of ‘Dune: Part Two’ to follow its natural course without interruptions or drastic changes to the schedule.
“If it weren’t for the Worm Unit I would still be shooting the movie right now. My main unit was shooting at a normal speed, but the Worm Unit was operating at a much slower pace due to the great complexity of the shots. The special effects required hours of preparation, even days to be ready to shoot, which allowed me to jump from one unit to another without affecting the main one.
Now, for ‘Dune: Messiah’.
In Espinof:
