The world seems focused on something else that happened at last night’s Academy Awards, but I’m just happy that Dune performed about as I predicted a few weeks ago. The Denis Villenueve adaptation of (about half of) Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi epic was nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture. When nominations came out, I dropped some spice and then wrote:
I suspect the defect I identified [presenting only half the story] will keep Dune from some of the awards it deserves, even as it cleans up in technical categories, much as Christopher Nolan films do.
We’re still on the Golden Path: Last night, Dune won six of the ten awards for which it was nominated (again, the most of any film nominated: Best Sound, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects, and Best Cinematography). It did not win Best Picture, though it was nominated, and though Villeneueve’s direction was exquisite, he was not even nominated. But this is a fine result, and bodes well for Dune: Part Two, to be released in 2023. Perhaps at that year’s Oscars, our Paul Atreides will wear a proper stillsuit instead of . . . whatever he had on at this year’s.
Editor’s note: This post originally stated that Dune was nominated for more Oscars than any other film. This was wish-casting on the part of the author.