“We consider this adaptation is more faithful to Frank Herbert than to the book,” said Dune: Part 2 director and co-writer Denis Villeneuve during a THR’s Frontrunners panel at the San Vicente Bungalows.
Dune: Part Two picks up where the first Dune film left off, as Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) wrestles with how to avenge his father and family line, lead the Fremen in a war against the Harkonnen, and ensure the fate of the universe. All the while he is battling the conception that he is the Lisan Al-Ghaib, or the supposed savior of Arrakis and the Fremen peoples.
“The book has been unpacked in the press and in Herbert’s remarks about the books, but also in his subsequent work,” explains Jon Spaihts of how Dune had been interpreted over the years. “In Dune Messiah, [Herbert] put his own seminal work under the lens because he intended Dune as a cautionary tale of charismatic leaders, about the intermingling of religion and politics and blind faith. Yet many people see the happy ending of Dune as an endorsement of those things, of the messianic savior.”
The writers saw Herbert’s own critique of Paul Atreides and his actions in his follow-up novel as permission to better show in their film the corrupting influence that religion can have on politics, and vice versa. In order to do so, they made some changes to the original novel, including expanding the role of some of the book’s characters, notably Chani, the Fremen warrior played onscreen by Zendaya.
Explains Villeneuve, “In the book, Chani is a shadow of Paul, she believes him and she trusts him. In the movie, she has her own political views that are different from the choices of what Paul is making.”
The writers note that Paul Atreides’ eventual decision to take up the mantel as the Lisan Al-Ghaiband and forsaking his relationship with Chani in favor of a politically advantageous marriage, he is falling into the trap of corrupting power.
“[Paul] wants justice, he wants revenge, he wants to deliver the Fremen people from oppression and wants to set things right,” says Spaihts. “He claims every principality of power that is colliding at one time and he makes himself the fulcrum of power in the universe. He does this because he sees no other way to save the things he loves, but in the process, he is becoming something terrible.”
Surmises Villeneuve, “He knows by using the Fremen and embracing that religious figure, he will have the power to achieve what he wants to do and that is the tragedy of the movie.”
This edition of THR Frontrunners is sponsored by Warner Brothers.
Read the full article here
