Vladimir Harkonnen - in Adaptations

In Adaptations

In David Lynch's 1984 film, Baron Harkonnen was portrayed by Kenneth McMillan. In this characterization, he is grotesquely overweight, dressed in filthy garments and covered in large, black pustules which require constant draining and treatment. This version of the character is more overtly unstable than in the novel, screaming and laughing incoherently at any given moment and even drinking the blood of a servant after removing a "heart plug."

British actor Ian McNeice's interpretation of the Baron in the 2000 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune (and its sequel, 2003's Children of Dune) is, though dramatic, somewhat lighter and more eloquent in comparison to Lynch's version, and therefore more consistent with the novel. Though the Baron still takes sadistic enjoyment in the suffering of others, he is portrayed as somewhat flamboyant, pompous and self-indulgent, with a tendency to speak in iambic pentameter when the mood strikes him.

Though Herbert's novel Dune seems to describe Harkonnen's suspensor belt as simply enabling him to stand and walk upright rather than actually "fly," both the 1984 film and the 2000 miniseries feature the Baron utilizing the suspensors to levitate off the ground and float through the air in a flying-like manner. The later Prelude to Dune prequels also employ this floating ability. Herbert does, however, note Harkonnen floating slightly off the floor after he is killed.