FRANK HERBERT’S CHILDREN OF DUNEA NEW DIRECTORHarrison, as much as he wanted to, could not coordinate his schedule to return as director for Children of Dune due to conflicting commitments. Instead, Rubinstein selected a very talented but less experienced director, Greg Yaitanes, to take the helm. A television veteran, this young director was relatively new to the Dune universe. "I hadn't read the books. I've never made any secret about that," confesses Yaitanes. "I only had two months to prep for a four-month shoot. I had to decide early on whether I was going to try to get up to speed via Herbert's own words, or rely on the script. In the end, I chose to focus on the script so that I could be objective and create something that would be accessible to everybody. This way, I knew if I was unclear about something in the plot, it might be unclear for other people, as well. Thankfully, John [Harrison] is very much the Dune scholar - he knows everything! Not only was his script a great roadmap, but I was also able to lean heavily on those who've been down this road before on both sides of the camera." He adds, "The biggest thing for me was making sure somebody could come into this show not having seen Frank Herbert's Dune and still be able to enjoy it." Yaitanes' experience in series television proved to be a tremendous asset for the highly complex production. Producer David Kappes notes, "Greg had a fair amount of episodic television under his belt and was accustomed to working under extreme deadlines where speed, time, and pressure played a part. In this case our schedule, coupled with our topnotch crew, allowed us to let Greg go for the small dramatic moments to compliment the action scenes." Yaitanes adds, "It was a great help to have a very experienced producing team around me, as well as being lucky enough to hook up with Arthur Reinhart, our Director of Photography, who is Warsaw based. I also had the benefit of working with Harry Miller, who cut the first mini." "We shot the movie with the new Sony/Panavision 24p High Definition camera instead of traditional 35mm film," Yaitanes continues. "So, it was also an eye opener with respect to what you can achieve creatively with the new digital format. Ultimately, I believe we have given this miniseries a distinct visual style and look that an audience will really enjoy."
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