The Hail Mary Email That Landed Oscar Isaac His Role In Dune

When Denis Villeneuve's "Dune" was first announced, it already had a stellar cast in place. With Timothée Chalamet in the lead role of Paul Atreides, Zendaya playing Fremen warrior Chani, and Stellan Skarsgård portraying Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, the movie didn't necessarily need any more star power. But Villeneuve wasn't going to hold back. After all, he was finally giving Frank Herbert's supposedly "unfilmable" 1965 novel the big screen treatment it had long deserved, and such a momentous occasion demanded one of the finest casts assembled in recent decades.

So, as the casting news kept coming, we soon learned that none other than Oscar Isaac had joined "Dune" as Duke Leto Atreides, father to Paul and leader of House Atreides. It was a decision that made so much sense. Not only did Isaac come with some serious sci-fi bonafides following his work in 2014's "Ex Machina" and 2018's "Annihilation," he was and is a brilliant actor — as anyone who saw his understated but intense performance in the Coen brothers' 2013 effort "Inside Llewyn Davis" will know.

One such person who appreciated Isaac's talent was Villeneuve himself. The French Canadian filmmaker had seen "Inside Llewyn Davis" and was evidently a fan of Isaac, which came in handy when the actor decided to reach out to Villeneuve about a potential role in "Dune."

One look at a list of Oscar Isaac's best movies will tell you how versatile an actor he is. His world-weary yet hopeful performance in the aforementioned "Inside Llewyn Davis" is miles removed from his confident portrayal of the cocksure Poe Dameron in the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy. The man can do it all — something of which Denis Villeneuve was no doubt aware when Isaac emailed him about a role in "Dune."

In the book "The Art and Soul of Dune," the actor, who it turns out is a big fan of Frank Herbert's "Dune" books, recalls reaching out to Villeneuve after learning the director was working on the movie. "I actually wrote Denis when I first heard he was directing Dune," Isaac tells author Tanya Lapointe. "I said, 'I love 'Dune.' I love this book. Just throwing it out there.' He replied, 'You love Dune. Interesting...'"

According to Lapointe, Villeneuve had followed Isaac's career and was specifically a fan of his performances in "Inside Llewyn Davis" and "Ex Machina." The director even claimed that he had been "wanting to work with Oscar for a very long time," and that the actor just happened to "fit the exact description of Duke Leto in the book." In the book, the Duke is described as "tall, olive-skinned," and with a "thin face" that "held harsh angles" and was "warmed only by deep gray eyes." Herbert also writes that Leto's face was "predatory: thin, full of sharp angles and planes." With that in mind, I'm not sure Villeneuve's comment about Isaac matching the description of the Duke from the books is the most flattering, but the actor was surely too excited about being a part of the project to care.

Prior to the release of "Dune," Oscar Isaac was clearly excited to be a part of the project, teasing "Dune" as nightmarish and visceral, and telling Entertainment Weekly, "I'm beyond myself with excitement. I think it's good to feel cool, unique, and special."

Unsurprisingly, the actor fully delivered when it came down to it. Though it's tough to stand out amid such a packed cast and in a film so dense with lore and story, Isaac did an admirable job as Duke Leto, remaining stately and commanding while conveying a sense of compassion and wisdom. Isaac clearly took the whole thing seriously, too, developing a comprehensive understanding of his character. As he told "The Art and Soul of Dune" author Tanya Lapointe, "Leto believes it is the people that make the leader, not the power," adding, "I didn't want to make him someone who stares off into the middle distance and says profound things."

Is Duke Leto the most memorable Oscar Isaac performance? Probably not, but the actor delivers exactly what's required for the job, once again demonstrating his appreciation for the source material and his talent for serving the project as a whole.