The highly anticipated sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s Oscar-winning sci-fi epic was released on March 1st. Warner Bros.’ Dune: Part Two dominated the domestic box office this weekend, earning $81.5 million. According to estimates from Comscore, it marks the biggest opening of 2024.
The film debuted with nearly a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes. A major compliment it received is for the outstanding performances of its A-list cast. The cast includes Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, and others.
Despite all the smooth sailing, Villeneuve dropped the bombshell about the toughest call he made in the sequel. Surprisingly, it wasn’t about giving Florence Pugh a blink-and-you-miss-it part.
Denis Villeneuve Reveals Toughest Decision in Dune Sequel
Despite having two movies—each over two hours long—director Denis Villeneuve – couldn’t include every detail from Frank Herbert’s Dune. In a recent interview with EW for their cover story on Dune: Part Two, which has the biggest box-office opening of 2024, Villeneuve shared the toughest cut he had to make from the source material. He first went on to say:
“When you adapt, there’s always some kind of violence toward the original material. You have to change things, you have to bend, you have to make painful choices.”
The French-Canadian director admitted that removing Stephen McKinley Henderson’s character Thurif from Dune 2 was one of the most difficult decisions he had to make while making the film. He added:
“One of the most painful choices for me on this one was Thufir Hawat. He’s a character I absolutely love, but I decided right at the beginning that I was making a Bene Gesserit adaptation. That meant that Mentats are not as present as they should be, but it’s the nature of the adaptation.”
Thurif is one of Paul’s companion-teachers on Caladan. Dune: Part Two didn’t hesitate to shake things up from Herbert’s original story. For instance, Chani (Zendaya) is more independent in the film.
She openly opposes Paul’s (Timothée Chalamet) rise as the Fremen messiah, unlike in the book where she’s more loyal. Paul’s sister, Alia (Anya Taylor-Joy), only appears as a fetus and briefly as her older self in a dream.
Denis Villeneuve Apologizes to Florence Pugh for Small Role in Dune 2
In Dune 2, Florence Pugh‘s role and the involvement of Irulan surprised many viewers. In the book, Irulan isn’t a major character but contributes through chapter excerpts.
Splitting Dune into two movies allowed Denis Villeneuve to expand the story and characters. Even Pugh’s casting hinted at a potentially larger role for Irulan. But that wasn’t the case.
Though the Oscar-nominated actress herself confirmed that her role was intentionally small, Villeneuve kept apologizing to her for it. She said:
“It didn’t matter how big my role was…When I chatted to Denis, he kept apologizing and saying ‘In this one, it’s really not a big part. I won’t be offended [if you say no].’ I was like ‘I don’t care! I just want to come and watch you work. This is a dream.’”
The franchise is set to avoid repeating the mistake of giving the actress a small role in Dune 3. The third movie will adapt Dune: Messiah, where Irulan has a larger role compared to the first novel.
Dune Part: Two is currently screening in theatres.
