Dune: Part Two was released on Digital earlier this week, and filmmaker Denis Villeneuve recently sat down with The New York Times (via SFFGazette.com) to delve into spoilers. If you've read Frank Herbert's novels, you'll know the movies have taken some major liberties with those and made decisions that, in the eyes of most, have improved the story.
The site started by asking if Paul Atreides truly considers himself the Messiah after deciding in the sequel's closing moments to start a war which will end with billions dying.
"I don’t think he believes that he is the Messiah," Villeneuve reveals. "I think he feels the burden of the heritage that the Bene Gesserit [the mystical sisterhood that Jessica belongs to] have laid among the Fremen, and he sees the potential to use that religious power to survive."
Talking of Jessica, one big change from the book is that she's pregnant at the beginning and end of this story. That means everything takes place over the course of months instead of years, and Villeneuve explained why he chose to play around with the timeline.
"The idea was to compress the book so that Paul will feel the pressure to get the Fremens’ trust, to start gearing up — but not to succeed, not to have the time to create a real war. Time is against him."
"And usually when you see a pregnant woman onscreen, she’s always giving birth. To avoid that moment, to stay in the state of being pregnant, I thought was very Frank Herbert-like," he adds. "I was going away from the killer toddler, but I thought that was more fresh and original. Honestly, it’s one of the things that I’m proudest of in the adaptation."
The movie ends with Paul revealing his intention to marry Princess Irulan, a shocking betrayal for Chani. However, the director made a case for why that wasn't the worst thing he did to the Freman at that moment.
"The big thing for Chani is that it’s not about love. It’s about the fact that he becomes the figure that will keep the Fremen in their mental jail. A leader that is not there to free the Fremen, but to control them," Villeneuve says. "That’s the tragedy of all tragedies. Like the Michael Corleone of sci-fi, he becomes what he wanted to avoid. And he will try to find a way to save his soul in the third part."
Dune Messiah is already in the works and, on the page, it picks up 12 years after the events of Dune: Part Two with Paul and Chani now reunited. Asked if he considered dialling back her anger to better set the stage for that, the filmmaker strongly hinted at plans to make further changes to where their story takes us.
"That anger is tremendous. I don’t want to reveal what I’m going to do with the third movie. I know exactly what to do. I’m writing it right now. But there’s a lot of firepower there and I’m very excited about that decision."
Dune Messiah doesn't currently have a confirmed release date.