The Big Picture

Dune: Part Two is highly anticipated, but there is no nervousness due to Denis Villeneuve leading the charge again.
Villeneuve packed the lore of Herbert’s sci-fi universe into a single film to prepare audiences for the upcoming adventure.
The sequel promises more action, emotion, complexity, and a love story, with returning and new cast members.

Expectations are high for Dune: Part Two, premiering next month, but no one’s really nervous with Denis Villeneuve leading the charge again. The auteur took audiences to the furthest reaches of the galaxy in 2021’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi saga, Dune, and in Part Two, we get to see the culmination of Paul Atreides’ (Timothée Chalamet) travels into the deserts of Arrakis where he united with the Fremen.

In Dune, Villeneuve was tasked with packing the lore of Herbert’s sci-fi universe into a single film in order to prepare moviegoing audiences for the adventure to come. At last year’s CCXP in São Paulo​, Brazil, the director told the audience, “I used to say when I did Part One that it was the appetizer and that Part Two would be the main course. It’s a movie that is much more action. It’s a much more emotional, complex, muscular movie, and with a love story.” The sequel brings back Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, and introduces Christopher Walken, Florence Pugh, and Austin Butler.

Ahead of Dune: Part Two’s premiere, Collider’s Steve Weintraub had the opportunity to watch an early screening and sit down with Villeneuve to discuss. In the interview, which you can watch in the video above or read in the transcript below, the director opens up about his thoughts on releasing deleted scenes and why neither Dune movies went the route of films like Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon with extended runtimes. He also shares the status of Dune: Messiah, why we won’t be getting as quick a turnaround, and which scene in Part Two was the most important for Villeneuve to pin down.

Dune: Part Two Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family.Release Date March 1, 2024 Director Denis Villeneuve Runtime 166 minutes Main Genre Sci-Fi Writers Frank Herbert , Jon Spaihts , Denis Villeneuve

COLLIDER: I’m gonna go with the most important question upfront if you don’t mind. What is it like walking into the studio at Warner Brothers and Legendary and saying, “Listen, I wanna make these Dune movies, but we’re gonna need to fly to the other side of the galaxy,” because I am convinced you flew there to make these movies?

DENIS VILLENEUVE: [Laughs] That feeling comes from the fact that I think we went into the real environments. We spent so much time in the real desert with my crew. I’m really grateful that boTh studios agreed to that strategy and that my crew had the patience and the generosity to endure the harsh heat and harsh conditions because physically it was very demanding for the crew to be there. We went for the real deal here.

Those locations really make you believe.

This Is Why We Aren’t Getting Three-Hour ‘Dune’ Epics

Image via Warner Bros

Being serious, I actually have one complaint about the movie and I want to address it with you, which is that I wanted the four-hour version. This two hours and 35-minutes bullshit is not acceptable. It needs to be longer. Everyone can laugh but I’m not joking around. I know you must have deleted scenes. But before I get into that, what was it like at the studio, because there’s been a lot of recent movies that are three hours, three-and-a-half hours. Did you guys ever consider a longer version? How did you get to the runtime that you got to?

VILLENEUVE: For me, the length of the movie is based on what the story needs. Sometimes I’ve made movies in my life that were 75 minutes, and this one is two hours, 45 [minutes], I think, something like that. It’s not, for me, the runtime, it’s about the storytelling, and I felt that I wanted to create a momentum. I wanted an energy in the movie that I was looking for that excited me, and I thought that was the perfect runtime. [Laughs]

Related ‘Dune: Part Two’s Runtime Revealed, Denis Villeneuve’s Longest Film Yet We’ll be spending a long time on Arrakis.

For a lot of people, though, they want a two-hour movie. A lot of people want a shorter movie, but for people like me, I loved living in this world and I wanna see more.

VILLENEUVE: I see that as a compliment, but I will say this: For me, no matter what the physical length is, it’s always the experience as you’re watching the movie and how you feel. You can be bored by a five-minute movie, and there are some movies, we know some of them, that are three or four hours that you could live there forever. So, you just have to find the perfect running time, and that’s what I tried to do.

Denis Villeneuve Isn’t Going to Create a “Frankenstein” of Deleted Scenes

Image via Warner Bros.

I know you have deleted scenes in the first, and I’m sure in the second. Will I ever see them? Will you put them on a Blu-ray? Is there an ultimate box set coming at some point?

VILLENEUVE: I’m a strong believer that when it’s not in the movie, it’s dead. I kill darlings, and it’s painful for me. 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.

Sure. If you ever wanna show any deleted scenes to someone named Steve, you let me know.

VILLENEUVE: [Laughs] I promise you.

Fans Will Have to Wait for ‘Dune: Messiah’ – But Not Long

Image via Warner Bros.

Before I run out of time, I love these movies so much and I know you’ve talked about doing a third. I have to ask you, Warner Brothers and Legendary, they’re gonna say they want you to make another because this is gonna be a huge hit. Do you wanna go right back into this world the way you’ve just done it with Dune: Part Two? Do you want to take a break? What are you thinking?

VILLENEUVE: The thing is that Part One and Part Two were designed and meant to be back-to-back. It was important for me that it was like the adaptation of that book. So, I wanted to make them as soon as we decided to make Part Two, which honestly was very early as I was finishing Part One. I knew the studio was in love with the movie. Then, I heard from some people, directly in my ear, “You’re gonna make Part Two. Don’t worry. No matter what happens, we’re going forward. We love it too much.” So it’s like I was working on Part Two very early, and I had to make them back-to-back.

Now that there’s a Part Two, I just want to make sure that if we do Dune Messiah, that we have the best screenplay on the table. And for that, I want to take the time to do it. And I think it would be healthy that I don’t go back necessarily in the desert right away, that I make a little detour, maybe. But honestly, I don’t know what my future is right now, which I love because I worked the past six years nonstop. It’s a blessing, but I need that. It would be nice to make sure that if we do Dune Messiah, I want to make the best movie ever, so I want to just take my time.

So you haven’t even started writing the script?

VILLENEUVE: No, we are working on it right now.

This Was the Most Important ‘Dune: Part Two’ Scene for Denis Villeneuve to Get Right

These two movies have such incredible stuff in them. What was the sequence or scene that really kept you up at night before filming, maybe it’s the sandworms? I’m just curious, what’s the shot?

VILLENEUVE: It’s a kind of movie where it’s every day. Both movies had that in common. Part One and Part Two, they both had in common that on a daily basis there was a challenge. There were no days where it was easy because there was always something about the set, about the acting, so it’s a difficult question to answer.

Image via Warner Bros.

Paul on the sandworm is such an iconic scene in the movie, and it’s something that people have been so excited to see. It’s one thing to read it on the page, it’s another thing to put it on the screen. Can you sort of take me through putting that together and what really went on? Because it looks so fantastic.

VILLENEUVE: It was a journey. It’s still one of my favorite scenes. It was one of my most important. If you said to me, “Which scene would you have done if there was no movie?” I would have done that scene. It’s such a cinematic idea. On the page as you read, it’s “Paul rides the worm,” and you’re like, “Okay.” There’s not really a description in the book of how Paul can get onto a worm, so I had to figure out, to invent, to create the technique that the Freman used to get onto a worm. I remember drawings to explain to my crew the strategy of the Fremen and the technique and how to get onto a worm, to ride a worm. Once I did that, I had also all done the storyboards to tell the story, of course, and then I explained to them how technically we will achieve that. And I wanted it to look as real, as dangerous as possible. I wanted to feel the speed and I wanted to feel the danger, and the technical approach I wanted to take was very complex and required a lot of time. So, it was quite a challenge to bring that to the screen.

Dune: Part Two is in theaters on March 1.

Get Tickets