Hello, I'm Alex Newman,
I'm playing Paul Atreides
in Dune the miniseries, and this behind you is a 'thopter
to give its full and proper name, it's an ornithopter.
Now this 'thopter is the very same 'thopter
that Paul and Jessica use to escape from the Harkonnen
when they're in the sietch with Duncan Idaho, its after
the Atreides Palace has been invaded by those very same evil, nasty, fat, sweaty Harkonnen
and also features a lot of this story
plush leather interior, CD, everything, the works.
It's beautiful isn't it?
It's really a very human story, it has all the elements of
you know, the human world, it's about
as well as this boy and his family and this amazing environment which is really
exciting visually, as well as anything else
it's about religion, it's about politics
about social order, there's a big discussion, there's a debate really in it about morality
and all those kind of things
and they're really well,
you know, discussed,
if you like, in the book and thankfully in John Harrison's script as well.
So you're dealing with, although it's set in 10,191 you're really
dealing with something that, to me, might as well be set
in the past. It does have, to me, it has a of very
religious slant
and which gives it a kind of epic
biblical feel, which I think is why it feels as much history as it is set in the future
Paul Atreides to me,
the number one thing that he is is a human being
there's so much else going on, the fact that he may, or may not be this Kwisatz Haderach thing
the Muad'Dib, the Mahdi, all this great stuff, but actually
he spends a lot of time in the story,
for me, reacting in an extremely human way to all those things.
He reacts with fear, intrepidation, doubt, disbelief,
all those thing that if you or I were told that we were the new messiah
that's what we would react with, and then of course there is a very slow realization,
in terms of what he is, and what his destiny has chosen for him.
But he does realise that very slowly, and again I think that's a very human thing
there's no one pop point in the story, he spends a lot of time resisting his destiny
until he realises that he has to do what he has to do
and he actually is this messiah-like figure.
But even then I'm still convinced that at the end of the story
there is even a tiny little shadow of doubt
and fear because the bottom line is that he's a human being.
The first thing that hit me in a big way with John even from the very first
meeting that I had with him, he really really does have an
enormous passion for this project, both for the book and then
for his... what he knows is a brilliantly faithful adaptation of that novel
and to get through as many stumbling blocks as John has had to go through you've
really really got to want to do it,
you know, and he really has done that, and still,
after however many weeks of shooting,
he's still there on the button everyday creating ideas
because he's really excited about his project
the great thing for him working John on the set is his imagination
you know, I really trust him
So he takes you with him on this kinda...
I'm trying not to say "voyage of discovery", but that always sounds good, no...
He takes you with him on this trip of his imagination
and is just a joy to work with,
to talk with, great for the actors,
very much an actor's director as well as everything else.
Always, always there, he won't let you go if you don't feel comfortable.
But he manages this
extraordinary balance of all the departments and manages to keep everyone happy.
But his imagination and his passion for the story,
and the people in it,
are the two things that I would say are his real great gifts.