Since the advent of DVDs and Blu-rays, extended cuts for movies have become pretty unanimous in Hollywood. These versions would often come with deleted scenes that were originally cut from the theatrical experience. However, this wasn’t the case with Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, which was released back in 2021, and unfortunately for fans, similar will be the case for the sequel.
Following Villeneuve’s decision to not incorporate what he gutted out from the theatrical version, fans now will never be able to live scenes of two characters, who didn’t make it to the final cut.
Denis Villeneuve Will Not Incorporate the Deleted Scenes in Dune 2‘s Physical Release
While Dune: Part 2 is turning out to be a huge hit, both critically and commercially, some were upset following the absence of Stephen Henderson’s Thufir Hawat. Although Henderson did film scenes for the film as Thufir Hawat, whom Denis Villeneuve deemed his favorite character from the book, there was no place for him in the 166-minute film. But he wasn’t the lone character, who was cut out from the theatrical release, as The Incredible Hulk Star Tim Blake Nelson’s undisclosed scene also didn’t make it out of the editing room.
And even though Dune: Part Two‘s Blu-ray edition has been made available to pre-order, the physical release won’t feature any of these deleted scenes. Denis Villeneuve explained that while it’s painful to cut scenes out of the film, he has no intentions of reanimating things that he killed, stating that they were cut out for a reason. He said (via Collider),
“Sometimes I remove shots and I say, ‘I cannot believe I’m cutting this out.’ I feel like a samurai opening my gut. It’s painful, so I cannot go back after that and create a Frankenstein and try to reanimate things that I killed. It’s too painful. When it’s dead, it’s dead, and it’s dead for a reason. But yes, it is a painful project, but it is my job. The movie prevails. I’m very, I think, severe in the editing room. I’m not thinking about my ego, I’m thinking about the movie.”
Reasonably, Tim Blake Nelson, who enjoyed his brief time with Denis Villeneuve, was heartbroken after being gutted out of the final cut.
Tim Blake Nelson Doesn’t Hold Any Hard Feelings Against Denis Villeneuve for It
Nelson, who is set to appear in Captain America: Brave New World, expressed that he was heartbroken after his footage didn’t make it out of the editing room. However, he doesn’t hold any hard feelings against Villeneuve and is looking forward to more projects with the director. He said:
“I don’t think I’m at liberty to say what the scene was. I’d leave that to Denis [Villeneuve] if he wants to talk about it. I had a great time over there shooting it. And then he had to cut it because he thought the movie was too long. And I am heartbroken over that, but there’s no hard feelings. I loved it, and I can’t wait to do something else with him and we certainly plan to do that.”
Although it’s unclear what role was assigned to Nelson, many theories suggest that it might have been Count Fenring, who was the only real friend of Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV in the books.
Dune: Part Two is currently running in theatres.
