{"id":2034341,"date":"2026-07-08T21:30:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T18:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2034341"},"modified":"2026-07-08T21:30:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T18:30:33","slug":"dune-part-three-had-its-very-own-psychedelic-film-unit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2034341","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Dune: Part Three\u2019 Had Its Very Own Psychedelic Film Unit"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Dune-Part-3-Denis-Villeneuve-desert-1200×675.jpg”]<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Lots of major film productions shoot with multiple units. Usually, there\u2019s the first unit, where the director and lead actors capture the bulk of the film. Then there\u2019s also often a second unit that gets footage that doesn\u2019t need those actors\u2014things like establishing shots or action scenes. And, on a film the size of Dune Part Three,<\/em> you can be sure it not only had both of those but probably more. In fact, director Denis Villeneuve revealed he also had a third unit that he called \u201cthe psychedelic unit.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Villeneuve and Paul Atreides himself, Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, attended an event to launch the new trailer for Dune: Part Three<\/em> (watch it here), and during the Q&A, Villeneuve was asked about what from his French Canadian heritage he was bringing to the film. Here\u2019s where he brought up this unique group.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was raised watching movies, experimental movies from the National Film Board. That\u2019s where my cinematic education started, watching National Film Board of Canada, short films, and I wanted to bring that kind of experimental feeling to Dune: Part Three<\/em>,\u201d Villeneuve said. \u201cSo to do so, I created a special small unit, very tiny unit, of a few filmmakers. And their task was to do experiments in front of the camera to bring some crazy, insane footage that I would use for the movie. And that unit was called the psychedelic unit. And the psychedelic unit was led by two young French Canadians, Kristof Brandl and Salom\u00e9 Villeneuve, and their task was to bring some crazy images that you will see in the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t know what, specifically, from the \u201cpsychedelic unit\u201d made it into Dune: Part Three,<\/em> but we do know that Paul, his sister, Alia, and probably Paul and Chani\u2019s kids all have visions. So what better way to make those visions as cinematic as possible than to just hire some young, talented filmmakers to only do that?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see what the first unit, second unit, psychedelic unit, and lord knows how many other units have cooked up when Dune: Part Three<\/em> opens on December 18.<\/p>\n

Note: We reached out to Warner Bros. to confirm the second \u201cpsychedelic unit\u201d filmmaker\u2019s name, which was Salom\u00e9 Villeneuve, Denis\u2019 daughter. That has been added.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

\n

Lots of major film productions shoot with multiple units. Usually, there\u2019s the first unit, where the director and lead actors capture the bulk of the film. Then there\u2019s also often a second unit that gets footage that doesn\u2019t need those actors\u2014things like establishing shots or action scenes. And, on a film the size of Dune Part Three,<\/em> you can be sure it not only had both of those but probably more. In fact, director Denis Villeneuve revealed he also had a third unit that he called \u201cthe psychedelic unit.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Villeneuve and Paul Atreides himself, Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, attended an event to launch the new trailer for Dune: Part Three<\/em> (watch it here), and during the Q&A, Villeneuve was asked about what from his French Canadian heritage he was bringing to the film. Here\u2019s where he brought up this unique group.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was raised watching movies, experimental movies from the National Film Board. That\u2019s where my cinematic education started, watching National Film Board of Canada, short films, and I wanted to bring that kind of experimental feeling to Dune: Part Three<\/em>,\u201d Villeneuve said. \u201cSo to do so, I created a special small unit, very tiny unit, of a few filmmakers. And their task was to do experiments in front of the camera to bring some crazy, insane footage that I would use for the movie. And that unit was called the psychedelic unit. And the psychedelic unit was led by two young French Canadians, Kristof Brandl and Salom\u00e9 Villeneuve, and their task was to bring some crazy images that you will see in the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t know what, specifically, from the \u201cpsychedelic unit\u201d made it into Dune: Part Three,<\/em> but we do know that Paul, his sister, Alia, and probably Paul and Chani\u2019s kids all have visions. So what better way to make those visions as cinematic as possible than to just hire some young, talented filmmakers to only do that?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see what the first unit, second unit, psychedelic unit, and lord knows how many other units have cooked up when Dune: Part Three<\/em> opens on December 18.<\/p>\n

Note: We reached out to Warner Bros. to confirm the second \u201cpsychedelic unit\u201d filmmaker\u2019s name, which was Salom\u00e9 Villeneuve, Denis\u2019 daughter. That has been added.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/dune-part-three-had-its-very-own-psychedelic-film-unit-2000783142″]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Dune-Part-3-Denis-Villeneuve-desert-1200×675.jpg”] Lots of major film productions shoot with multiple units. Usually, there\u2019s the first unit, where the director and lead actors capture the bulk of the film. Then there\u2019s also often a second unit that gets footage that doesn\u2019t need those actors\u2014things like establishing shots or action scenes. And, on a film the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,53],"class_list":["post-2034341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-gizmodo-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2034341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2034341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2034341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2034341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}