Dune: Part Two
Short description
Dune: Part Two continues the story of Paul Atreides, who joins the Fremen and fights alongside Chani after the destruction of his family. As he takes on the role of Muad'Dib among the desert people, he pursues those responsible for the conspiracy against House Atreides, while a war spreads around him. Paul is pulled between his feelings for Chani and the larger destiny that has been laid out for him, and he alone can see a future he hopes to prevent.
Denis Villeneuve directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Jon Spaihts, working from Frank Herbert's novel. The film is the eleventh of thirteen he has directed in chronological order, arriving after Dune (2021) and before An Ensemble for the Ages (2024). Timothée Chalamet leads as Paul, with Zendaya as Chani, Rebecca Ferguson as Jessica, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck and Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha. The production, mounted by Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures and Villeneuve Films, cost about 190 million USD and returned roughly 715 million USD worldwide.
Audiences rate the film at 8.4 out of 10 on IMDb across more than 723,000 votes, and at 8.1 out of 10 on TMDB from a smaller pool of around 8,600. A film critics' rating of 8.4 out of 10 from 466 reviews places it level with the IMDb figure and slightly above the TMDB score.
What's left behind the scenes
- Director Denis Villeneuve and cinematographer Greig Fraser often chose filming locations in the desert because a specific dune caught Villeneuve's attention with its shape, or the sun shone exactly as needed for a particular scene. Strict discipline reigned among the filming crew to preserve the dunes untouched. During filming, it was only possible to walk along specially laid routes, and after filming, special personnel erased the traces of the film crew's presence from the dunes.
- Lady Jessica, played by Rebecca Ferguson, has a litany of the Bene Gesserit against fear tattooed on her face.
- Having drunk the Water of Life and survived, Jessica and Paul Atreides (played by Rebecca Ferguson and Timothée Chalamet, respectively) learn they are the daughter and grandson of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, played by Stellan Skarsgård. The film does not offer an explanation for this, but the prequel novels to 'Dune' reveal that their mother and grandmother is Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam of the Bene Gesserit, portrayed by Charlotte Rampling in Denis Villeneuve's film. She once had to bear a child by Vladimir Harkonnen for the purposes of a selective genetic program to produce the Kwisatz Haderach super-mind. The Baron raped her, and Mohiam cursed him with a terrible illness.
- It took 44 days to film the scene of riding on the back of a sandworm, and it was shot on a set measuring 27 and a half by just over 7 meters.
- Tufir Hawat and Count Casimir Fenring were played by Stephen Henderson and Tim Blake Nelson, respectively, but all scenes with these characters were cut during editing, and the actors received only special thanks in the end credits.
- Anya Taylor-Joy appeared on screen in an episodic role as Alia, Paul Atreides’ younger sister, in one of his visions (the actress’s surname is not even in the credits). Alia is a beloved character among fans of the original 'Dune' novel; she was born during Jessica and Paul's two-year stay among the Fremen. She was a telepathic infant with the mind of an adult woman, because Jessica drank the Water of Life. Denis Villeneuve shortened the two-year period from the source novel to several months in the film, so Alia is almost always just a voice from Jessica’s womb, communicating with her, and the actual birth of the child only occurs at the end of the film.
- Austin Butler (who played Feyd-Rautha) specifically trained to make his voice more similar to that of Stellan Skarsgård, who played Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.
- It took 8 hours to apply makeup to Stellan Skarsgård before filming, and another 2 hours to remove it at the end of the shooting day. On shooting days, the actor did not drink liquids and took Imodium to avoid needing to use the restroom.
- The Chakobsa language, spoken by the Fremen in Frank Herbert's books, is derived from Arabic, but includes elements of French and Greek, Romani, Slavic languages, as well as Hebrew and Sanskrit.
- Denis Villeneuve's films, released in 2021 ("Dune") and 2024 ("Dune: Part Two"), were not shot simultaneously, as is usually done, and the studio's approval for the second film largely depended on the success of the first, whose release on screens was significantly complicated by a fixed release date and the coronavirus pandemic. Either way, according to Denis Villeneuve, the film was liked by the production company Legendary Pictures, so the chances of a sequel were high. The official green light for filming the sequel was given on October 26, 2021, four days after the release of "Dune" in the American box office.
- The sets from the first film were not used. All sets and decorations were built from scratch.
- Greig Fraser, the cinematographer for both parts of Denis Villeneuve's film, suggested filming scenes on the Harkonnen homeworld with infrared cameras to make the characters' skin appear translucent.
- Austin Butler drank coffee with Denis Villeneuve, who offered the actor the role of Feyd-Rautha without an audition. Butler trained in Budapest for four months under a physical training program developed by a former Marine.
- For the role of Feyd-Rautha, actor Austin Butler gained over 11 kg of muscle mass.
- The film was shot in the Jordanian desert. To transport all the necessary equipment, the filmmakers had to build nearly 29 km of roads and establish base camps.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
