Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel used Abu Dhabi's landscape for the setting of the desert planet Arrakis.
The 36th edition of the American Society of Cinematographers Awards has awarded its top prize in feature film visual storytelling to Greig Fraser for Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic Dune.
The epic action-adventure movie, from Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, was filmed at the Liwa desert in Abu Dhabi over 11 days with a team of local and international talent. The production services were provided by Epic Films, along with support from a number of UAE production partners, including twofour54, Go Aerials, Filmquip Media, FSTOP Location Services and EMAN Transport.
Legendary Pictures benefited from the 30% rebate through ADFC, which also facilitated logistics for the shoot, such as applications for filming permits and helped with the import of equipment, as well as finding local partners in the UAE.
Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to Arrakis – the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence-a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential-only those who can conquer their fear will survive.
This is the second time that Fraser topped the ASC feature category; he previously won the award in 2017, for Garth Davis’ Lion (for which he was also Oscar-nominated).
The other nominees for the marquee film prize were Ari Wegner for The Power of the Dog, Bruno Delbonnel for The Tragedy of Macbeth, Dan Laustsen for Nightmare Alley, and Haris Zambarloukos for Belfast.
