Dune: Part Two is now in theaters and runs an impressive two hours and forty-five minutes. At one point, however, writer-director Denis Villeneuve said the film was four hours long, meaning that several scenes and sequences were left on the cutting room floor.
It looks like we’ll sadly never see those scenes. According to Villeneuve in an interview with Collider (via The Hollywood Reporter), those moments that didn’t make it into the final version of the film will not be released. “I’m a strong believer that when it’s not in the movie, it’s dead,” he said. “I kill darlings, and it’s painful for me.”
He added, “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.”
At least some of those removed shots feature the actor Tim Blake Nelson (Watchmen, Nightmare Alley, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs). In a recent interview with Movieweb for his upcoming movie, Asleep in My Palm, he shared that he filmed scenes for Part Two.
Who he was playing, however, is up to speculation. “I don’t think I’m at liberty to say what the scene was,” he told Movieweb. “I’d leave that to Denis [Villeneuve] if he wants to talk about it. I had a great time over there shooting it. And then he had to cut it because he thought the movie was too long. And I am heartbroken over that, but there’s no hard feelings. I loved it, and I can’t wait to do something else with him and we certainly plan to do that.”
While we don’t know for sure, many on the internet think he might have played Count Hasimir Fenring, the husband of Lady Fenring, who is played in Part Two by Léa Seydoux. The count plays a non-trivial role in Frank Herbert’s book, and while he doesn’t show up in Herbert’s sequel, Dune: Messiah, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Villeneuve won’t incorporate the character if/when the third film gets greenlit.
Dune: Part Two is now playing in theaters.
