'Dune: Part Two': Tim Blake Nelson joins Villeneuve's sci-fi flick

WASHINGTON: Captain America star Tim Blake Nelson has joined the high-flying cast of 'Dune: Part 2', the expansive Frank Herbert science fiction classic adaption helmed by Denis Villeneuve.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a US-based news outlet, the actor, who becomes a first-time author when his debut novel, City of Blows, hits in February, joins Dune newcomers Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Lea Seydoux and Christopher Walken on the project that officially wrapped shooting in mid-December.

The newcomers join returning actors Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, and Javier Bardem. Nelson's character's specific traits are kept a secret. The sequel picks off where Herbert left off in his 1965 novel, with Paul Atreides (Chalamet) joining forces with the nomadic Fremen to free the planet of Arrakis from the evil House Harkonnen.

The release date for 'Dune: Part 2' is November 3. The first film, Dune, premiered simultaneously on October 22, 2021, in domestic theatres and on HBO Max. It earned $400.6 million at the global box office and had 10 Academy Award nominations, including one for best picture. It also won six of them. Using a screenplay he co-wrote with Jon Spaihts, Villeneuve is directing 'Dune: Part 2'.

The film's producers are Tanya Lapointe, Mary Parent, Villeneuve, Cale Boyter, and Patrick McCormick. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Nelson most recently voiced the character of Black Rabbit in Guillermo del Toro's Netflix series Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities and reteamed with the director for Netflix's stop-motion picture Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio.

The film made its streaming debut on December 9 and has been nominated for the 2023 Critics' Choice Awards' best-animated feature.

As per a report by The Hollywood Reporter, in 2021, Nelson stepped into leading man territory when he starred in Potsy Ponciroli's action-Western Old Henry, receiving universal praise for his commanding performance. City of Blows, from Unnamed Press, aims to tell the sordidness and absurdity of the movie industry through a story that juggles multiple characters, an ageing and legendary producer, a hustling young upstart, ruthless agents, ambitious actors, and pressured directors, in a story that involves the adaptation of a best-selling novel and a producer bent on revenge.