‘Dune: Part Two’: Foreshadowing a savior

In photographing Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two,” cinematographer Greig Fraser says it was “important to create iconic images” for the sequel that sees Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) embrace his role as savior of the Arrakis people. “What it felt like we were going for was creating a dream, creating a memory of something … like an inbuilt memory into the collective consciousness of the entire population on Arrakis,” says Fraser, who took inspiration from “Lawrence of Arabia” to punctuate grand, sweeping visuals with intimate character moments. Alluding to Paul’s rise in power is imagery steeped in religious undertones. One such portrait illustrates him as a shadowy figure filling a monochromatic, milky frame, which Fraser shot on location in Jordan as a way to contrast the northern golden hues of the spice planet with its murky southern counterpart. “We didn’t want it too sharp, and we wanted to give it a bit of that heat wave. It was about the kind of surface he was on that’s almost like black glass to show him traveling to the south to fulfill his destiny,” he explains. “I’m a firm believer and very attuned to iconography in society. And I think being able to create those images instantly tells you of that power.”