LWLies 90: The Dune issue – On sale now! | Little White Lies

LWLies Magazine

LWLies 90: The Dune issue – On sale now!

26 Aug 2021

Words by David Jenkins

Illustration of a man's face behind chain-link fence, with birds flying in a blue sky background.
Illustration of a man's face behind chain-link fence, with birds flying in a blue sky background.
Pack your still­suits, we’re going to Arrakis for our spe­cial 90th edi­tion ded­i­cat­ed to Denis Villeneuve’s Dune.

Pri­or to embark­ing on this issue, I’d nev­er had the plea­sure of tack­ling Frank Herbert’s vaunt­ed sci-fi doorstop, Dune’, but thought if there was any occa­sion to tick that plan­et-sized box, then the release of a big, new movie adap­ta­tion was it. I was about half-way in when the lure of this sto­ry became crys­tal clear – that is, why peo­ple have obsessed over it for near­ly half a cen­tu­ry, and also why it has been some­thing of an untapped gold­mine when it comes to big screen adaptations.

The sto­ry so far: Chilean cine-sor­cer­er Ale­jan­dro Jodor­owsky dis­cov­ered that his reach exceed­ed his grasp in his wild, eye-water­ing­ly expen­sive attempt to film Herbert’s rich tome, while David Lynch deliv­ered an enjoy­ably gaudy ren­di­tion of this lacon­ic space opera in 1987 that end­ed up being sliced and diced by his pro­duc­ers and led the film­mak­er to all but dis­own his work.

And now we’re back once more, as Dune’ super­fan Denis Vil­leneuve has earned enough tokens in Hol­ly­wood to ful­fil a child­hood fan­ta­sy and make a mod­ern epic that does jus­tice to Herbert’s dense­ly lay­ered and polit­i­cal­ly ripe nar­ra­tive. This new issue of LWLies – our 90th! – jumps into a purring thopter and takes an aer­i­al tour of the god­for­sak­en plains of the desert plan­et Arrakis, with Tim­o­th­ée Chalamet’s spir­i­tu­al mes­si­ah-in-wait­ing, Paul Attre­des, as our guide. It’s a mag­a­zine for both the bat­tle-hard­ened Dune-o-phile, and any new­bies look­ing for an entry point into this enthralling­ly com­plex world.

On the cover

If you hold Lola Bel­tráns extra­or­di­nary cov­er illus­tra­tion up to the light, you’ll get a lit­tle sur­prise, as this issue comes with a bonus twin­kle. The orange glow of the spice mélange – the most valu­able mate­r­i­al in the Dunei­verse – was the inspi­ra­tion for the colour route of this cov­er, and the con­cept draws on Beltrán’s love of mid-cen­tu­ry sci-fi imagery while also keep­ing a foot in the realms of the mod­ern. The duel lay­er effect is a sub­tle hint at the man that this boy is set to become.

Illus­tra­tors in this issue include Alex Fine, Adri­ana Bel­let, Emma Bale­bela, Nick Tay­lor and Rumbidzai Savan­hu.

A stack of vintage book covers featuring a portrait of a young woman with curly hair against an orange and yellow background, with the title "Little White Lies" displayed prominently.

In this issue

Enter the Dunei­verse
Tom Hud­dle­ston offers a whis­tle-stop tour of Arrakis through the ages, and the var­i­ous iter­a­tions of Frank Herbert’s beloved book.

The Sand­man
Anton Bitel talks big screens and small ges­tures with Quebec’s mod­ernist sci-fi mae­stro, Denis Villeneuve.

Farewell My Con­cu­bine
Leila Latif meets one of Hollywood’s most want­ed, Rebec­ca Fer­gu­son, to chat about pro­gres­sive inter­pre­ta­tions of 1960s characters.

Tim­o­th­ée Cha­la­met in Five Acts
Philip­pa Snow decon­structs the image of the acci­den­tal idol across five of his recent star­ring roles.

Arrakis Ris­ing
Dune pro­duc­tion design­er Patrice Ver­mette dis­cuss­es his dream mission.

Desert Movies: A Tax­on­o­my
A short, sharp round-up of the deserts in which film­mak­ers love to make movies.

Go See a Star War
David Jenk­ins explores the alter­no space race to cash in on the sur­prise suc­cess of George Lucas’ Star Wars.

Woman of the Dunes
The authors of a new book on Stu­dio Ghi­b­li ask whether 1984’s Nau­si­caä of the Val­ley of the Wind has any link to Dune’.

They Shoot, He Scores
Lil­lian Craw­ford talks to film com­pos­er extra­or­di­naire Hans Zim­mer about how he draws on the clas­sics of the past.

Threads #19
Christi­na New­land looks at the diverse iconog­ra­phy of the veil in her reg­u­lar col­umn on clothes and movies.

A person lying on a sandy desert landscape, surrounded by yellow hues and a blue sphere. The text above reads "The Sandman".

In the back section

Sparks
Han­nah Strong meets the hard-bop­ping broth­ers who have sup­plied music and lyrics to Leos Carax’s Annette, and who also reveal their for­ma­tive run-ins with the great Jacques Tati.

Ulrike Ottinger
Caitlin Quin­lan pro­files this unique Ger­man film­mak­er in tan­dem with the release of a new doc­u­men­tary about her for­ma­tive years, Paris Calligrammes.

Cary Joji Fuku­na­ga
The direc­tor of Bond 25, No Time To Die, talks Charles Bramesco through the process of how an indus­tri­ous indie direc­tor scores such a pres­ti­gious gig.

Jeymes Samuel
Rōgan Gra­ham meets the direc­tor of the forth­com­ing polit­i­cal­ly-infused action west­ern, The Hard­er They Fall.

Mar­ley Mor­ri­son
Josh Slater-Williams chats to the direc­tor of Sweet­heart, a British gay rom­com with a twist.

Bette Davis
Ahead of a major ret­ro­spec­tive at London’s BFI South­bank, Soma Ghosh decon­structs the queer appeal of one of Hollywood’s grand­est dames.

Jour­neys: The Cannes Film Fes­ti­val
Han­nah Strong reports on a vin­tage crop of films, a great Palme d’Or win­ner, and lots of time spent spit­ting in a test tube.

In review

Leos Carax’s Annette
Wes Anderson’s The French Dis­patch
Liesl Tommy’s Respect
Sean Durkin’s The Nest
Ayten Amin’s Souad
Joe Lawlor and Chris­tine Molloy’s Rose Plays Julie
Dar­ragh Carey and Bertrand Desrochers’ A Brix­ton Tale
Nia DaCosta’s Can­dy­man
Ulri­ka Ottinger’s Paris Cal­ligrammes
Anne Zohra Berrached’s Copi­lot
Sam Hobkinson’s Misha and the Wolves
Mar­ley Morrison’s Sweet­heart
Michael Sarnoski’s Pig
Mark Cousins’ The Sto­ry of Look­ing
Jeanette Nordahl’s Wildland

LWLies 90 is avail­able to order online now from our online shop. Become a Mem­ber or sub­scribe today to make sure you nev­er miss an issue.

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