There are some key scenes in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune Part One that we know were shot, but did not make it into the final scene. These scenes include Jessica giving Paul more instruction in “The Voice”, Thuffir and Paul talking about Arrakis, Gurney playing the baliset, and a dinner scene where Paul’s wisdom beyond his years is highlighted.
So you would have thought there was plenty of scope for an epic, huge Director’s Cut of Dune. But apparently not. Director Denis Villeneuve says he has no plans to include deleted scenes in any future editions.
Getting ready for Dune Part Two landing on March 1st, the director has been out on the publicity rounds. He gave an interview to Collider where he confirmed this won’t be happening, and explained in some detail why.
It is all about pacing and story, rather than runtime. When talking about deleted scenes in general, he had this to say:
“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.”
He continues in his traditional, colorful way:
“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.
The runtime of a movie, 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.”
Dune Part Two is very close to three hours long, which makes it even longer than the first part. March 1st is already marked in our diaries.
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