‘Dune’ May Be Set in a Distant Time and Place, but the Film Has Canadian Roots

The excitement and anticipation had an obvious source.

Several Canadians, of course, have risen to the top of the film industry.

Patrice Vermette, another Montrealer and longtime collaborator with Mr. Villeneuve, was the production designer responsible for creating the look of various planets as well as the vehicles, buildings, furnishings and gadgets used by their inhabitants.

Tanya Lapointe, an executive producer of “Dune,” is a former culture reporter for Radio-Canada and Mr. Villeneuve’s spouse.

In interviews with Helen Macdonald for a profile and article about the making of “Dune” that appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Mr. Villeneuve went into some detail about how growing up in the village of Gentilly, on the south shore of the St.

“Dune,” the novel, has been widely seen as an environmental parable, one perhaps even more relevant today than in 1963 when Mr. Herbert began serializing it.

The evening before I headed off to Quebec’s Eastern Townships, I made my way to a suburban multiplex with my youngest son, Timothy, a recent film studies graduate, to watch “Dune.” A confession: Unlike him, I’ve never read the novel, nor am I particularly a fan of science fiction.

In writing about Hans Zimmer, the film’s composer, Darryn King discovered that the futuristic bagpipe tune was not a hit with Mr. Zimmer’s family as he worked on the soundtrack at home.

An independent investigation released by the team revealed on Tuesday that its executives failed to act promptly in part because they were more concerned about winning the Stanley Cup.

On Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the comedian Mike Ward did not go beyond the limits to free speech laid out in Quebec’s Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms when he repeatedly ridiculed Jérémy Gabriel, a disabled teenage singer, in his standup routine.

A native of Windsor, Ontario, Ian Austen was educated in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has reported about Canada for The New York Times for the past 16 years.

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