Unusual Rigging on set with Dune in Dubai
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The epic science fiction film, produced by Legendary Pictures, directed by Denis Villenueve and distributed by Warner Bros Pictures, is the sequel to Dune (2021). It follows Paul Atriedes as he unites with the Fremen people of the desert planet Arrakis to wage war against House Harkonnen. So far this year it has grossed over $197m making it the fifth highest grossing film of 2024.
The UR&E team was asked to supply a rental of almost 2000rm of truss in 30cm, 40cm and 52cm, that required delivery as far as the Liwa Area of Abu Dhabi. Unlike other projects in theatres or arena shows where the requirements are known well in advance, the movie set experience couldn’t have been more different.
Denis Bramhall, managing owner together with Joie Salar, project coordinator at UR&E said: “The greatest challenge on this job was the increasing and changing requirements day by day with the rental period overlapping from one LX Rigging Truss requirement to another Grip Truss, and having to make sure that all truss requirements were supplied on time. This was all happening between October to December – our busiest season of the year. Fortunately, we have a warehouse resembling Aladdin’s Cave and so their wish was our command – but it really stretched us to the limit.”
Ian Mussell, key rigging grip for Dune: Part 2, Abu Dhabi unit added: “Our project involved some very complex three-dimensional structures that would not have been possible without the large variety of truss and motors that Unusual Rigging made available to us.
“We used a huge quantity of truss in different grades and everything we asked for was available and supplied perfectly. URE were an extremely valuable resource to the grip and lighting departments during the production of the movie. They were very quick to react to our ever-growing requirements and always extremely well spirited and helpful. I can’t recommend Unusual Rigging & Engineering enough.”
