Dune works as standalone story

'Dune' will be a satisfying standalone movie, despite being the first of a two-parter.

Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel is set to be released in December and will cover the first half of the book, but cinematographer Greig Fraser insisted the film is still a "fully formed" story in its own right.

In an interview with Collider, he said: "It's a fully formed story in itself with places to go.

"It's a fully standalone epic film that people will get a lot out of when they see it... It was quite an adventure visually. It was a beautiful experience making it.

"The people involved with it, I was overwhelmed. Some of the actors, as well as being insanely talented actors, are just lovely, lovely people who I've become very close to since then."

Fraser has also worked on 'Star Wars' spin-offs 'Rogue One' and 'The Mandalorian' and admits that it was exciting to work on a different sci-fi project, which stars Timothee Chalamet and Rebecca Ferguson.

The 44-year-old cinematographer explained: "It was quite fun because I had to forget a lot of 'Star Wars' when I was making 'Dune'. It wasn't hard though.

"Denis and I spoke clearly about how the film should look and should feel, and the formats and this and that, so it was not hard to swerve and change lanes. There were some similarities like the deserts."

Greig also believes that George Lucas was influenced by the 'Dune' novel when he created 'Star Wars'.

He said: "I mean listen, ultimately I'm positive George Lucas was inspired by 'Dune' when he made 'Star Wars'. I don't know if that's sacrilegious to talk about, but there are a lot of similarities in some areas, so you could tell he was definitely influenced by that.

"So I had to be careful doing both ('Dune' and 'The Mandalorian') and not to repeat myself. Also not just for the sake of the movie, but for fun. I hate to do the same thing twice."