Dune director Denis Villeneuve says the brand new LEGO Icons 10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter blew his mind, but he was disappointed with the LEGO Group’s release strategy.
The LEGO Group’s first (and possibly only) set inspired by the latest adaptation of the Dune series flew on to shelves earlier this month, just ahead of the second instalment arriving in cinemas in March. And for director Denis Villeneuve – who describes himself as a ‘hardcore LEGO player’ – the 1,369-piece set brought everything full circle.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Villeneuve told io9. “Probably I’m making movies because first I was a hardcore LEGO player. I’m from that first generation where it was just bricks, right? I went to a lot of places with those LEGO spaceships, boats, or whatever. And when I learned that LEGO was doing an Ornithopter, I was like, ‘Wow.’ That blew my mind.”
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. 10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter was originally announced all the way back in October, months ahead of its actual release date. And that meant it missed the crucial Christmas window.
“They sent me a message saying that it was finished and it will be ready for the opening of the movie,” Villeneuve explained. “I said, ‘What are you talking about? It’s not ready for Christmas?’ And they said, ‘No, Mr. Villeneuve, you understand, there is a strategy and it’ll be ready for 2024.’ I was super disappointed because my kids and I [love LEGO].”
If there’s any franchise partner worth keeping happy when you’re coming up with a licensed product, it’s the writer and director of the movie. The LEGO Group was clearly cognisant of this, and granted Villeneuve the rare honour of piecing together a very early copy of 10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter… just in time for the festive season.
“At Christmas, I got a box and they’d sent me a prototype,” he added. “I would say I had a blast doing the Ornithopter. It’s amazing.”
The part of 10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter everyone’s really talking about, though – the one that’s gobbled up the LEGO Group’s entire cloth budget for 2024 – is the ludicrously big Baron Harkonnen minifigure. And there was only one man to ask about that: Stellan Skarsgård, the actor who portrays the Baron in Dune: Part One. His reaction? A belly laugh.
“I like him very much,” Skarsgård told io9. “He stands out.”
10327 Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter is available now at LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores. You can check out our review of the new LEGO Icons set here.
Featured image backdrop: Gage Skidmore, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED
Support the work that Brick Fanatics does by purchasing your LEGO using our affiliate links.
Comments
Be the first to comment!