I think I first read it not long after it came out
late sixties, early seventies
and it grabbed me like... what grabs you, sometimes you just open it up and
you can't put it down and that's the way this was with me, I was a science-fiction
junkie for a long time
I had loved Asimov
and this was a whole new bag and I
loved about it that it was so much talking about
human politics now
and the human search
for something better
I remember when that first came out, when I first heard that it was being made
I really wanted to be part of it
and I think I put in the call saying, you know, if there's something for me
I would enjoy it
and I didn't get a call back, I was really upset about that
for a short time, 'cause I don't think it's worth being too upset
about things for very long
and then when I saw the movie I was relieved
actually, 'cause I didn't think it was particularly true to the book
I mean, I'm not trying to denigrate someone else's work
it just wasn't to my taste.
In this situation, from what I see and feel
and experience in the making of it, it feels more
you know I suppose, responsible, although I think
the film was responsible,
those artists were responsible to their vision
This seems to me a more
accurate depiction of those
archetypes
and how they live together
in human way rather than being startling
not just startling images of
innovative special effects
the special effects, although they are excellent, I think here, especially
for television by far
are more directed around this theme
about the search in a
feudal paradigm for a transcended figure
When I'm looking at something I'm really
much more interested in it as a whole
So the first question is
would I accept any job
in this project
not a particular job
Once you've made the decision
that you would accept any job because it is the material that you like
then you make your next decision
you know, how can I
serve in this particular role
As far as Duke Leto is concerned
he comes from a princely tradition
a monarchial, sort of, post-feudal
traditions that we are aware off
historically
He's the head of a house
in a time, Herbert's projected time, where
great feudal houses intermingle with corporate structures
a strange
and wonderful reflection of our current age where the nation states
are competing with the new
global economy and its corporate element
So it was not only excellent at the time
but down right prophetic,
and Leto is caught
knowing as a
player of Chess
that things don't look good
but he has
availed himself all his life of a skill,
a skill that comes from his courage
his courage is based on a kind of...
its his notion of honor
its a chivalric code
it may be out moded, but its his
and what the gives him his capacity to feel things and that
feeling is what gives him
I think his great instincts
I'm really enjoying it, I think we're very very lucky to have this director
John Harrison is a decent guy
and
gives actors..
He has chosen some wonderful actors
who are more from the school that I adhere to
and gives them room
which I'm amazed by
I'm amazed by the generosity of the producers and the director
to let us find the scenes this way
Every scene is an inspiration
I mean the Vittorio's presence
in light and frame is...
there's no way you can measure his input
there's a sense - we were talking about this before
you're actually experiencing light changes during the take
and how he has organized that and shaped that so he can match when
you're coming round for coverage after shooting a moving master
with those changes
and still be true to a lighting scheme which not only is diverse
and changing throughout individual scenes, but juxtaposed
with, you know, in a wonderfully understood away,
to other scenes where you don't experience that, so he's not just throwing
this wild coloration
willy nilly around the room, it's not like
you know, a guy with wonderful paint cans flinging paint on the walls
it's not like that at all
it's extraordinary to feel and sense spontaneously when you are doing the scene
his understanding of the scene, and you feel that
you feel painted on and you react and it helps you to feel because you feel
engaged, you feel communicated with
and it's such a relief
it is so invigorating, it brings you into the scene
it's also the contrast he uses the color schemes he uses, which are all explained
if you care to read it, its all very carefully worked out in this
wonderful, amazing, eloquent three page
essay that he wrote before the production, about
the use of light and color, and what the themes are, of that, in this piece
and so that you can understand that it, it's just
but as you're going through it on a sensorial level,
on a visceral level it is extraordinary
it is like being bathed in light and the light teaches you, as you go
much of his sensitivity about the scene and the piece is
and its like having a friend, it's a character
in the scene with you
It is just amazing, its amazing.