Movies - TV
Dune: Part Two Actually Captured A Real Eclipse On Film
By JOE ROBERTS
The opening battle scenes in "Dune: Part Two" unfold beneath a solar eclipse, and amazingly enough, cinematographer Greig Fraser managed to capture the astronomical event for real.
According to the book "The Art and Soul of Dune: Part Two," neither Fraser nor any of his team had planned to capture a real eclipse on film, but that’s exactly what transpired.
They were on-location in Jordan on October 25, 2022, when the eclipse happened. The event lasted for around two hours and 25 minutes, and saw 35% of the sun obscured by the moon.
This allowed Fraser and his camera operator to shoot directly into the sun and capture the eclipse in real-time. One of these shots is even featured early in the opening battle.
While it was used as a way of motivating the change from the regular daytime light to a more red-tinged hue, a wider shot was also used in the film’s initial opening sequence.
In this version of the shot, CGI was used to create a second moon, which was added to the eclipse footage to give the aspect of Arrakis' double lunar bodies gliding around the sun.
Since so much of the film was planned out, it's slightly unbelievable that Fraser was tracking lighting conditions so closely and had no idea a solar eclipse was on the cards.