The Dune franchise, consisting of Dune and Dune: Part Two, features one of the best casts of today’s films with stars like Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, and Dave Bautista. But even this dream team had to leave some unfortunate bits on the editing table with at least ‘one’ actor ‘heartbroken’.
The Count of Extended Cuts
Fans of the Coen Brothers would know Tim Blake Nelson. He was stated to be on the roster of Dune: Part Two, but he was ultimately cut out in the attempt to reduce the running time of the film. In a conversation with Movieweb, Nelson said: “I don’t think I have the liberty to explain the nature of the scene. If Denis wants to get into it, it’s up to him. I really enjoyed it over there. And then he had that cut because he felt it was too much already. That was heartbreaking, but no hard feelings. I enjoyed it, and I expect to do another project with him, and it is certainly in our plans”.
Dune fans have only had a hard time connecting the dots. With some of the speculations suggesting that Nelson might have filmed a scene as Count Hasimir Fenring who is Lady Margot Fenring’s husband (Léa Seydoux), a character serving as advisor to the Emperor (Christopher Walken). This possible role is in relation to the void created by another character Thufir Hawat who was to be played by Stephen McKinley Henderson who would have been Fenring’s arch enemy.
Denis Villeneuve, the director of the movie Dune, spoke to Entertainment Weekly, explaining how painful it was to not bring on Thufir Hawat for the movie: “One of the most painful decisions for me was the fact that I was cutting Thufir Hawat. She is a character that I like and I shall emphasize that since the beginning, it was known to me that I would be making a Bene Gesserit adaptation. That meant that the Hattiracing Masters don’t appear but as they should, but such is the nature of adaptation”
Hotshots Welcome A No Director’s Cut
There is bad news for the ones who had been waiting for a director’s cut for the Dune movies, however, this came as a surprise to many when it did. Villeneuve has been speaking against the making of extended versions of the movies in interviews explaining that the cut is for a reason. In an interview with Collider before the actual festival of Dune: Part Two began, the Director said, “I quite firmly believe that if it’s not in the movie, it’s dead — when the ultimate shot from the raw footage has been created and then some shots are cut and you have to listen to a dialogue with the one wand as well it’s of a samurai sword.”
When it comes to the editing room, however, I am quite ruthless. I don’t care about myself; I focus on the film first. Meaning, I destroy those that I care about the most, and I hate myself for it.”
As spawned followers remember with pleasure the released work in Dune and in ”Dune: Part Two”, sacrifices made in the editing room remind us again about the harsh reality of cutting room decisions that narrative storytellers usually have to deal with.