Jackson, Arrakis – President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on movies filmed in other countries has forced Dune producers to relocate to Jackson, Mississippi.
“It doesn’t quite match the desert fans have come to know,” mused Mary Parent, a head producer for the film. “But Jackson presents its own sort of danger to Paul and his followers. Like water quality in the area, and of course, Alligators. These themes will be key in the next entry of the franchise…not by choice.”
While the previous installments of the franchise are well-known for their arid settings and the threat of native, colossal sand worms, the new shooting location has forced writers to be creative with what species will help or harm the film’s characters.
The producers got a quote from the props department how much it would cost to transform a swamp into Arrakis, and the cost has forced the team to change the script in creative ways.
“They never said Arrakis was a desert in the books,” mused Jon Spaihts, screenwriter for the upcoming film. “Maybe it was a swamp…a lot of people die crashing into deer in Jackson. Maybe there’s like, flying deer and freeman piloting ornithopters keep blinding them with their headlights and crashing. Just gotta make this new shooting location work somehow…books be damned.”
Dune is not the only large franchise to be feeling creative restraints due to Trump’s tariffs as several other franchises shooting on location have been forced to find American alternatives. DreamWorks’ upcoming How To Train Your Dragon live-action remake will now be shooting in Tulsa, Avatar 4 in Mesa, Arizona, and confusingly the live-action Moana will be shooting in North Dakota, as Trump believes Hawaii is, “too far from Mar-A-Lago to be American.”
“Films are not about transporting us to new exciting worlds,” stated US press secretary Karoline Leavitt, defending the proposed tariffs. “Every film ever made is about how the military is good and anything else is nonsense so shut up, next question.”
