DUNE Casting Enters Character Actor Phase, Adds David Dastmalchian

Dune appears to be entering the really interesting part of its casting process. Based on last night's announcement in Deadline of David Dastmalchian joining the cast, we've moved beyond the "name" actors and entered the realm of interesting character actors who'll fill out the supporting roles.

Dastmalchian will play Piter De Vries, the character portrayed by Brad Dourif in David Lynch's version. De Vries is an underling to Baron Harkonnen, and trained as a Mentat, giving him computer-level brain function so powerful it's outlawed. He's also a sadistic, villainous bastard, inventor of an incurable poison, and one of Harkonnen's most effective agents. Perfect role for the guy.

You probably know Dastmalchian as Kurt, the Russian hacker who's a part of Scott Lang's X-Con security consultancy in the Ant-Man movies. Or maybe you know him from The Dark Knight, where he gave a memorable turn as Schiff, the Joker lackey who nearly becomes the first heads/tails victim of Harvey Dent. He's also worked for Dune director Denis Villeneuve twice, in Prisoners and Blade Runner 2049. Or maybe, if you were on the festival circuit last year, you know him from his spectacularly cruel and amusing role in Joel Potrykus' Relaxer. Anyway, he's really good, popping up all over the place since his Dark Knight role, and he's got a hell of a backstory himself.

The cast now includes Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Stellan Skarsgård, Charlotte Rampling, Josh Brolin, Sam Saathoff or Dan Wampler, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem, making it Villeneuve's most insanely stacked cast yet.

Dune releases November 20th, 2020.