Dune: Part One Script Reveals What Got Cut From the Movie

Summary

Gom Jabbar: Dune Podcast - Episode Summary

Title: Dune: Part One Script Reveals What Got Cut From the Movie
Release Date: March 28, 2025
Hosts: Abu Zafar and Leo
Guest: Luna, Producer at Gom Jabbar Media

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Introduction

In this episode of Gom Jabbar: A Dune Podcast, hosts Abu Zafar and Leo delve into the intricate details of Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune, specifically focusing on the differences between the original shooting script and the final cut of Dune: Part One. Joined by their producer Luna, the trio explores various scenes and elements that were altered or omitted, discussing the implications of these changes on the film's narrative, character development, and overall tone.

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Housekeeping and Spoiler Warning

[00:00 - 04:02]
Before diving into the main content, Abu and Leo issue a spoiler warning for listeners who haven't read Frank Herbert's Dune or watched Villeneuve's adaptation. They also acknowledge their patrons and briefly discuss the podcast's support channels.

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Overview of the Episode

[04:02 - 06:24]
Leo introduces the episode's focus: comparing the final movie with the original shooting script. Luna, the producer, shares her enthusiasm for dissecting the script changes, highlighting her meticulous notes on what was cut or altered in the transition from script to screen.

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Major Script Changes and Their Impact

1. Party Scene with Duke Leto

[08:25 - 12:41]
One of the notable cuts discussed is the farewell party scene for Duncan Idaho. In the original script, Duke Leto delivers a motivational speech to his lieutenants and a light-hearted moment where Duncan is humorously shaved. This scene was omitted to maintain pacing and focus on the core narrative.

• Leo: "This doesn't feel like a plot critical scene that we absolutely needed to have to understand Paul's journey and the themes of the story." [09:55]

Luna expressed a bittersweet sentiment, wishing for more normal interactions among the Atreides soldiers to showcase their camaraderie.

• Luna: "Maybe this party scene would have been the chance to show just the normalness of being a soldier on this planet." [12:32]

2. The Depraved Baron Harkonnen Scene

[14:03 - 21:00]
Another significant cut involved a dark scene where Duke Leto receives a chest filled with severed fingers from Baron Harkonnen. This scene aimed to portray the Baron's cruelty more explicitly but was removed to preserve the film's subtlety and tone.

• Leo: "I think this feels heavy handed. It doesn't feel in line with the tone of the rest of the movie." [19:52]

Abu appreciated the decision, aligning with previous critiques of over-the-top portrayals of Baron Harkonnen in other adaptations.

• Abu: "This feels tonally very out of place in the movie given the rest of the vibe." [21:00]

3. Paul and Duke Leto's Philosophical Dialogue

[22:51 - 31:16]
The script originally included a profound conversation between Paul and Duke Leto about destiny and free will. This scene was cut to avoid redundancy and maintain narrative flow.

• Luna: "I would, actually. I imagine the dozens of actors who would have used this for their audition, and we were robbed as a society." [26:18]

Leo acknowledged the scene's value but understood its removal due to pacing considerations.

• Leo: "I do think that the first third of it drags. And all of the stuff leading up to the attack on Arrakeen is the place where it's either gonna make or break the movie." [25:08]

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Tone Adjustments: Reducing Exposition and Humor

1. Minimizing Expository Dialogue

[31:16 - 40:19]
The hosts discuss the film's shift away from heavy exposition present in the script. They cite examples like Chani's opening monologue and Gurney's sparring lines, which were streamlined to enhance viewer immersion.

• Abu: "It's just a voiceover you have Zendaya do in the booth later at some point." [32:52]

Leo praised the decision to cut unnecessary exposition, comparing it to avoiding the pitfalls of the 1984 Dune adaptation's narration.

• Leo: "I completely agree. I think this feels heavy handed." [36:02]

2. Reduction of Comedic Elements

[46:49 - 54:14]
Originally, the script featured more light-hearted banter between Duncan Idaho and Paul, which was significantly trimmed to preserve the film's serious tone. The hosts appreciated this restraint, noting that excessive humor could undermine Duncan's character gravitas.

• Abu: "I really appreciated the restraint that we're seeing here to say, yeah, Duncan can be a bit of a goofball." [50:06]

Luna agreed, emphasizing that subtle, unforced humor aligned better with the film's overall ambiance.

• Luna: "Some of the jokes that land the best in Dune are the ones that don't have this sort of intentional joke built in." [53:08]

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Emotional and Sentimental Cuts

1. Gurney Halleck’s Singing Montage

[54:14 - 60:30]
A poignant scene where Gurney sings on the baliset to lull the troops to sleep was cut. The hosts lament that this emotional buildup would have enhanced the subsequent brutality of the attack on Arrakeen.

• Leo: "I think having a scene to your point earlier, Luna, to have this normalcy, to have this, like, this is something that Gurney does sometimes." [58:29]

Abu speculated on possible reasons for the cut, including technical challenges or performance issues.

• Abu: "Maybe Josh Brolin just doesn't have the pipes to sustain a two minute montage sequence of singing non stop." [60:03]

2. Jessica and Paul's Emotional Connection

[60:30 - 67:14]
An additional heartfelt moment between Jessica and Paul, where they share a hug in a foggy scene, was removed. The hosts discussed how this alteration altered the mother-son dynamic, making the scene feel less impactful.

• Leo: "What a crazy difference. That's so wild to me." [62:51]

Luna reflected on the emotional weight omitted by cutting their embrace, questioning the necessity of such a gesture in the film's context.

• Luna: "It begs the question, who am I supposed to feel for in that scene?" [62:57]

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Miscellaneous Notable Cuts

1. Shai Hulud’s Wisdom Lines

[68:03 - 71:28]
The script included additional wisdom delivered by Fremen characters like Shai Hulud, which was excised to prevent the overuse of proverbial statements that could detract from character development.

• Luna: "I think, Luna, your point about like having a whole scene, is not good filmmaking. This felt like a whole scene just so Shadout could deliver this line and so just cut it." [71:28]

2. Piter de Vries and Thufir Hawat’s Interaction

[73:08 - 75:36]
A scene showcasing Piter de Vries gloating over a captured Thufir Hawat was removed, reflecting a broader decision to minimize Hawat's role in both parts of the film.

• Abu: "He even says, 'checkmate, old friend.'" [74:02]

Leo criticized the plausibility of multiple Sardaukar assassins silently attacking Liet Kynes, favoring a more streamlined approach with a single assassin.

• Leo: "Kyle would never get snuck up on." [80:12]

3. Paul’s Internal Monologues

[75:36 - 78:12]
The inclusion of Paul Atreides' internal thoughts via voiceover in the script was entirely removed. The hosts strongly supported this decision, emphasizing that internal monologues can hinder the visual and performative aspects of filmmaking.

• Abu: "Filmmaking is a visual medium. Say it on the screen. Filmmaking is a performative medium. Have your character perform it, but do not have voiceover thought bubbles happening." [75:49]

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Conclusion and Final Thoughts

[81:37 - 85:41]
Abu and Leo wrap up the episode by appreciating the thoughtful cuts made in Villeneuve's adaptation, which preserved the film's immersive and serious tone. They express gratitude to Luna for her research and insights, and encourage listeners to support the podcast through Patreon and merchandise purchases.

• Leo: "I really appreciate that he puts the thing in the theaters and he goes, that's the artwork. Don't worry about, you know, I really respect his integrity." [60:30]

They also engage in a humorous rapid-fire segment, imagining additional cuts they would apply to other films, showcasing their deep understanding and passion for cinematic storytelling.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Abu Zafar: "It's just the way the actor chose to deliver it in that instance." [00:25]

• Leo: "They're not human. They're brutal. They're brutal." [35:06]

• Luna: "Don't be afraid to see." [37:08]

• Leo: "I think voiceover thought bubbles happening is an utter failure of filmmaking." [75:49]

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Final Remarks

In this insightful episode, Abu, Leo, and Luna meticulously dissect the creative decisions behind Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part One. By examining the scenes and elements that were trimmed or removed, they offer listeners a deeper appreciation for the film's direction and storytelling approach. The discussion underscores the delicate balance between maintaining narrative pace, preserving character depth, and ensuring thematic coherence in large-scale adaptations.

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Support the Podcast:
Become a patron at patreon.com/gomjabarpodcast or visit the Gom Jabbar Merchandise Store to purchase Dune-themed swag.

Contact:
Share your thoughts and feedback at gomjabarpodcastmail.com

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Remember, whoever controls the podcast controls the universe. See you on the golden path!

Transcript

[Abu Zafar]

Today on the show Leo, we're going off script. In fact, we're throwing this script.

[Leo]

Oh. Oh.

[Abu Zafar]

Out the window.

[Leo]

He didn't open it first.

[Abu Zafar]

Oh, no. Out the theoretical window that would be open if it wasn't cold and rainy today in New York City.

[Leo]

Yeah.

[Abu Zafar]

We don't need a script for what we're talking about today, Leo. I trust in us and I trust in our sauce.

[Leo]

We're improvising the entire episod. Welcome to Gom Jabbar, your guide to the iconic world of Dune. We'll be exploring the themes, philosophies and characters found in the sandy depths of this vast universe, from Frank Herbert's groundbreaking novels to the adaptations on film and tv. My name is Leo.

[Abu Zafar]

And my name is Abu.

[Leo]

Oh. And today on the show, we are talking about a movie about Dune and the script, and we are comparing them. Welcome. I am sick and delusional.

[Abu Zafar]

Incredible. That was the most chatgpt explanation of today's episode.

[Leo]

I'm the human podcasting host, Leo, and.

[Abu Zafar]

I am the human companion podcasting host, Abu zafar. It's because ChatGPT is white and can't pronounce my name properly.

[Leo]

Trained on Western Asia.

[Abu Zafar]

Okay, ChatGPT digs aside, today's episode is genuinely going to be a really fun one. We're also going to be joined by a very special guest who we will introduce very shortly. Very quickly, though, let's knock out some quick housekeeping before we dive in. Starting, of course, with the spoiler warning. Folks, today's conversation will contain spoilers for Danny Villeneuve's Dune films and Frank Herbert's Dune book, the first one. So make sure you've watched and read before you continue today.

[Leo]

Indeed. Now, as always, we have a huge shout out to our Kwisatz Haderach level patrons. Daniel Dion, Jonathan Lambert, Brad Hutchins, and Seth Redding. Greer, gentlefolk. If you were in our script, in our movie, even if someone else suggested we cut you from the film, we wouldn't. You must be in. It's one of the only hard and fast rules we have.

[Abu Zafar]

We'd add more of you into scenes where it doesn't make sense. We'd CG more of you in just.

[Leo]

To spite whatever C suite person was like, get them out of there. Were you like, no. No. Six times as much of them?

[Abu Zafar]

No. So Warner Brothers executive is like, now, could we maybe cut Seth out of this scene? We'd be like, fuck you twice as much. 10 more sets in every other scene.

[Leo]

CG VFX 10, Seth 10 Seth Redding Greers. In every scene. You're like, wait a second, I think that crowd is all.

[Abu Zafar]

All Seth Redding Greers. Oh my goodness.

[Leo]

And the other. And the other Kreeser.

[Abu Zafar]

That's true. All of them. Wow. Are we both sick? This feels like a very. We're sick. And a little high on Tylenol.

[Leo]

Too much Tylenol, you know, Tis the season. Tis the season for that vibe, especially here in New York. Well, of course, our thank you extends to all of our patrons. If we could put you on the movie, we would. Anyone who can support us. It makes what we do possible. So thank you.

[Abu Zafar]

And of course, a very quick reminder that if you don't have the means to become a monthly supporter on Patreon right now, that's a. Okay. Check out the buy me a coffee link in the show notes below where you can send us a one time tip as a little thank you for the hard work we put into the show. It's very much appreciated.

[Leo]

It's true. Well, let's talk the overview for today's episode. Let's talk about what we're going to be talking about. And all of this kicks off with something you might not have seen, Dear Listener, which is a PDF of the final shooting draft of the 2021 movie Dune by Denis Villeneuve. And of course this draft, this script was written by Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth. Now, our excellent producer, Luna. Hello. Welcome.

[Abu Zafar]

Oh my gosh, Luna, how are you feeling your first episode with us?

[Luna]

I feel high on spice at the moment. I'm just taking it all in.

[Leo]

Nice.

[Luna]

And yeah, it's been really cool. Been a listener for a long time, so it's excited to be on this side for a change.

[Abu Zafar]

Luna, we are very excited to have you join us on today's episode in particular, because today's episode was your idea. You pitched this and you went through the script, the shooting script for For Dune Part one, and took meticulous notes of all of the changes, big and small, that were made in the final cut of the film. Obviously, the final cut of the film isn't one for one. What was shot using the script.

[Leo]

Right.

[Abu Zafar]

And so over the course of today's conversation, we're gonna be talking about many of those changes, big and small, and kind of discussing why we think those cuts were made, whether or not we think the scene should have remained or been cut. And in general, just compare and contrast the differences between what was on the page and what we all finally got to enjoy on the screen.

[Luna]

Yeah, I am the perfect level of neurospicy where I repetitively watch movies. In the amount of times I've seen this Dune movie, I almost didn't need to see script.

[Leo]

Yeah.

[Luna]

Incredible. I. I felt like I could visualize the movie in my head the entire time, which was awesome. And I'm really excited to get into a lot of the changes that Denny made from the movie that we know and love to. I'm sure the script in his head that he knew and loved and. And developed. So, yeah, yeah, it's cool to talk about those changes.

[Abu Zafar]

Definitely. Okay, so before we dive in, folks, let's take a quick break. Don't go anywhere though. When we come back, we're diving into Dune part one and comparing the script to the movie.

[Leo]

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[Luna]

Um, I think I just won my taxes.

[Leo]

Yeah, I just switched to H and R Block in about one minute. All I had to do was drag.

[Luna]

And drop last year's return into H and R Block and bam. My information is automatically there so I don't have to go digging around for all my old papers to switch.

[Abu Zafar]

Nope.

[Luna]

Sounds like we just leveled up our tax game.

[Leo]

Switching to H and R Block is easy. Just drag and drop your last return. It's better with Block. Welcome back, everybody. Hope you enjoyed your break. Yeah, let's get into it. Let's talk about the final shooting draft and the movie we know and love to start off. You decided, Woona, that I think the best, better way to kind of structure today's conversation is to group the script changes that we found by character or theme or idea, rather than just doing, like, here's some punctuation missing. You know, that would have been a monotonous episode, but we're going to be focusing on the more impactful edits. There are, of course, a bevy of small, insignificant cuts that were made for pacing or for clarity, but they just don't really affect the overall story that much or the characters or the tone. So we're not gonna spend too much time on those.

[Abu Zafar]

Yeah, I'm sure a lot of it kind of happened just filming as well, like an actor deciding to change up one word in the dialogue. That's a pretty small, insignificant change. That doesn't dramatically make a difference. It's just the way the actor chose to deliver it in that instance. So there's countless little changes, tweaks like that throughout the script. Another example of one of these minor cuts in the film is that there's an early scene in the script where Leto, Gurney, Duncan and a bunch of Atreides troops are having a farewell party for Duncan because he's about to head to Arrakis before the rest of them. And Leto gives his lieutenants. He gives Duncan and Gurney this little pep talk. Specifically in the script, it's written like, the Emperor is no stranger to treachery, nor the Harkonnens. We have to be ready for anything. But this is our time. The Atreides never back down from a challenge. And when we prevail, it will mean a better life for the people of Arrakis, for all of us. Until then, we keep our spirits up for the men. Mm. End quote. Also in this party scene, there's, like, this weird extra bit about, like, Duncan has a beard at the start of the movie and he's clean shaven on Arrakis. And so, like, it's just like, just the boys being boys in this scene. They, like, grab Duncan and they're like, all right, razor blade, we're gonna shave you, buddy. And so that's how this scene kind of wraps up is with the whole, like, razor blade bit, and they're about to shave him, even though he really doesn't want to, blah, blah. And this got cut. Obviously, this scene doesn't exist in the final cut of the film that we all know and love. And ultimately that's something that I'm fine with. This doesn't feel like a plot critical scene that we absolutely needed to have to understand Paul's journey and the themes of the story. And for what it's worth, this takes place before we get to Arrakis. So any additional scene you have before Arrakis does slow the story down. Right? Because Paul's story doesn't really kick off until we get to the planet Dune. And so I can totally understand why a scene like this, somebody would look at an early cut and be like, yeah, you know what? We can trim five minutes here. We don't need to dilly dally on this.

[Leo]

Yeah, it's a great example of this is an Oscar winning film. And I don't think there were that many people sitting in the Theater going, whoa, whoa, whoa. You expect me to believe Duncan's clean shaven now? What's going on? Ruined the movie for me. I don't. So for sure, I get it. It makes sense. I am a huge fan of Oscar Isaac's delivery on basically everything he had in the movie.

[Abu Zafar]

Oh, sure.

[Leo]

So I'm like, I love this little speech. We'll see a couple of moments that he really could have shined. But it makes sense. Yeah. Why they would have cut it.

[Abu Zafar]

Yeah. How do you feel about it, Luna? Is this a small enough party scene for you that you don't wish it was in the movie?

[Leo]

Body shots from the Atreides soldiers.

[Luna]

Honestly, there's a small part of me that wished was left in the mov. Only because I feel like we don't see. Maybe not this scene in particular, but I feel like we don't really see a lot of, like, normal stuff happening. I feel like one of the biggest complaints about the Dune franchise is that, like, it seems a bit sanitized at times when it comes to, like, dealing with normal interactions of. With people. And so I feel like maybe this party scene would have been the chance to show just the normalness of being a soldier on this, like, and knowing that you're about to go off to Arrakis to die, basically. But trying to give this talk, to have them feel alive in the moment, which I think is really cool. Although I probably would cut it simply because reading the script, they give Leto a lot of speeches and to the point where it felt like, no pun intended, Oscar baity.

[Leo]

Yeah. I will say, though, I completely resonate with what you're saying, Luna. I think when it comes to the Atreides soldiers, there is an opportunity to show us more of that they are kind of family and that they're loyal to one another and that they have that kind of bond and. And we barely get that in the movie. Like, we see them kind of sitting around joking with Duncan when he gets back, and they're looking at the sand compactor and they're looking at that. Like, we get a little bit of that. But to see them, like, drinking and partying and, like, hey, we don't know what this planet has in store for us. Let's go out there and give it our all. You know, that could be a really great juxtaposition against the, like, Harkonnen soldiers who are all, like, no fun. They're all bald. They're all just, like, chilling. They've never seen sunlight once in their life. And it would be such a juxtaposition there. But it's also true that when you have the character leto Atreides, if 90% of what he's doing is just giving these acting class monologue speeches that rally people, it starts to feel very one note. So it makes sense to kind of keep the pacing moving. You need to get to Arrakis, because that's where all the shit happens. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Abu Zafar]

Well, since we're on the topic of Duke Leto, let's stick with Duke Leto here because there's another couple of scenes we want to touch on, and these are bigger cuts, I would argue.

[Leo]

Yeah, huge.

[Abu Zafar]

That do perhaps have significance on the storytelling and the themes and ideas and characterizations. The first one is this scene where Leto, once they've arrived on Arrakis, Leto receives this horrific gift from the Baron Harkonnen. And I was thinking the three of us for these scenes, could just pick a role. Maybe Luna, if you want to read the narrator lines, and Leo, if you want to be Leto, to make it extremely confusing and play Gurney in this.

[Leo]

Scene, just a letter away. Yeah, that makes sense. That's great.

[Abu Zafar]

All right.

[Luna]

They're all looking at had an ornate chest sitting on the table. The chest had been sealed closed. An envelope hanging from the latch reads, Leto. Leto, step forwards and opens the chest. It's full of severed human fingers. For a moment, Leto stands, staring, tendons caught in his neck. Then he steps back, tears the envelope from the chest, opens it and wreaths the note within.

[Leo]

My dear cousin Leto. Welcome to Arrakis. There's a lot to learn. I thought I'd give you a few pointers. Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.

[Luna]

Gurney examines one of the fingers, an index finger, its fingertips stained orange.

[Abu Zafar]

Spice workers.

[Leo]

End scene.

[Abu Zafar]

End scene. Wonderful job, everyone.

[Leo]

Good job, team.

[Luna]

I think you delivered that exactly how Josh Brolin will deliver. It's impressive.

[Abu Zafar]

That's very complimentary. I think my impressions are not nearly as good as Leo's. I'm just over here trying to do my best.

[Leo]

Wait, Gurney. Josh Brolin didn't just join the call. I thought for a second we had four. Who was the fourth person?

[Abu Zafar]

That's so cool. Our surprise fourth guest. So this is an interesting scene. Obviously, another one we didn't see in the movie. Right. There were no chest full of fingers in the movie. Obviously. This shows us perhaps a much more depraved and darker side of the Baron. It also throws in a little pun about pointer fingers. Right. And of course, because these are spice workers that have been presumably Killed. It serves another purpose in showing us how the Baron, after leaving the planet, has undercut spice production as much as possible. The Baron is setting the Atreides up to fail. What do we think? What do y'all think of this scene? Do you think it was a good idea to cut this? Would you want it back? What vibes are you getting from this scene in particular? Luna, let's start with you.

[Luna]

I think that this scene was cut for a reason, and I think that that reason is solely to sanitize the Baron. I feel that especially in the book depiction of the Baron. He's not a good dude.

[Leo]

Like, let's just.

[Luna]

It feels like the nicest way to put that. Right, I know, I know, but. But definitely overt with some of the violence. Now, we don't need to take it to the 1984 depiction of the Baron, which was problematic in its own right. And there's definitely depictions of the Baron that Frank Herbert has written. That is definitely problematic. But I feel like Denny did do a great job of balancing those two things. But in my perspective, from a book reader perspective, I just wanted a little bit more of a spicy Baron, you know, I feel like you don't really get a sense in the first movie of how evil of a person the Baron is. And I feel like maybe this chess scene could have been that, you know, there's a bunch of spice workers out there now who don't have their primary digit because of a parting gift.

[Abu Zafar]

Right.

[Leo]

Just as, like a joke, A cheap joke.

[Abu Zafar]

Literally, a cheap joke that didn't even.

[Luna]

Like, land that well. It's kind of like, as someone who bits. He could have done better. He could have done it way better.

[Leo]

It was like a strong 4 out of 10. And he took all those people's hands just for that?

[Abu Zafar]

Yeah, yeah, that's a really great point.

[Luna]

Also, I don't know if anyone is on the Baron side that's telling him, like, hey, don't leave chests of evidence around. That has your signature on it. But.

[Abu Zafar]

Right. Signed the Baron, definitely. This was me. Leo, do you feel the same?

[Leo]

Yeah, I mean, yes, I agree. I think the Baron that we get in the movie is a lot subtler and we don't have as much access to him as we do in the book. In the book, literally, we get full chapters of him explaining, oh, dear nephew, this is what we're going to do and this is the plan. And here we are. Look at my table. It's made of drugs, you know, like, that is the Baron that we're Introduced to by Frank Herbert and you're right, like he's having sex with slave boys and like, ugh, that slave boy had a poison dart inside of him. Like it's, it's weird shit. And that is very much absent from the movies. I think for better or for worse though, like the Baron that is in Villeneuve's films is a subtler Baron. A lot of his violence is happening off screen other than the killing Yui, where he decapitates him with one hand, which is crazy, right? So I think what Denis has opted for is a Baron who is much more the sort of like absent lurking force that we have to be worried about. There are traitors in the walls, literally. There might be threats in every shadow. Ultimately, this is a Baron who has decided it is scarier for people not to know what he's doing behind closed doors than one who's like out here throwing fingers at people as like a half baked, not even landing, committing to the bit joke, you know. So I agree, I think that this feels heavy handed. It doesn't feel in line with the tone of the rest of the movie. But that's also because Villeneuve tended to go toward the subtler, restrained, held back method of giving us this story. And it's all very grounded in kind of the human decision. So generally, I think while this scene would be fun and it does give us a little bit more of the twisted, violent, awful guy that Baron Harkonnen is, I think it is still a strong choice to have left it out because it leaves us with a Baron who knows how to operate within the confines of subtlety, even if it's not always subtle, you know.

[Abu Zafar]

Yeah, that was the point I was going to make that while the Baron is quite understated in Villeneuve's movie, in the final cut, I actually quite appreciate that because previous adaptations of the Baron have really leaned into the cackling, villainous, rhyming Baron. And you know, I for one have been very vocal on this podcast about not liking those versions of the Baron, not liking those adaptations of his character. I loved Villeneuve's adaptation of the character because of the minimalist approach, the restrained approach. This guy's evil. Let Stellan Skarsgrd just be imposing on screen. That tells you almost everything you need to know, you know, and so I agree, I think this finger chest scene feels tonally very out of place in the movie given the rest of the vibe of the movie. And I don't think Baron would be leaving incriminating finger evidence lying around with his name on it. So ultimately, I think it was a smart decision to cut this. While it would show us perhaps a bit more of the Baron's depravity, I personally didn't feel like I needed more. I felt like Stellan Skarsgrd's performance and the brutal killing of Yui and what we did get in the film showed me plenty that this is a horrible person. All right, so moving on from the Baron and the chest of fingers, there's another scene that concerns Duke Leto that we also wanted to talk about today. Cause this is a big one and I, spoiler alert strongly feel this should have been in the movie.

[Leo]

Sure.

[Abu Zafar]

So to give context here, to set it up, we are A bit later in the film, we're on Arrakis. The Atreides are settling in, but the attack on Arcane has not happened yet. Paul and Leto are out on the balconies of the palace and they are discussing why the locals keep calling Paul the Lisan al Gaib. So here's the scene.

[Luna]

Exterior Arakeen Residency BALCONY DAY Paul looks out over the city and to the dunes beyond.

[Leo]

Beyond Lisan al Gaib.

[Luna]

Paul turns to see his father join him.

[Leo]

That's what they call you, isn't it? Voice from the outer world.

[Luna]

He sees something in Paul's face. His jaunty tone sobers.

[Leo]

It troubles you.

[Abu Zafar]

Legend is a pretty word for a lie.

[Leo]

I think you're afraid it might be true.

[Luna]

Paul lowers his eyes, startled by how much Leto sees. But this is his father, and he trusts him more than he trusts anyone. He bares his heart.

[Abu Zafar]

How can I make my way if my destiny was written before I was born?

[Luna]

Leto joins him at the railing to look out over Arrakis.

[Leo]

If I tell you one day you'll find yourself on a mountaintop, what does that change? You still have to climb the mountain. Destiny grants us nothing and takes nothing away. We have to fight and bleed for the future we want. Because when all's said and done, there's only one way to find out if a prophecy is true. We earn it.

[Luna]

Paul nods like a weight has been lifted and their formality gives way to a hug because Paul is scared. And Leto knows and loves him, no matter what, who he's meant to be. Prophecies be damned.

[Abu Zafar]

END SCENE yeah, Leo and I were virtually hugging on the cameras here. Wow. Be still my beating heart. What do y'all think of this scene? LEO let's start with you this time.

[Leo]

First I'll say. I mean, I love it. I Think what a great scene. It shows how perceptive Leto is. It shows the relationship that Leto and Paul have. I think Oscar and Timothy Chalamet would have, like, fucking decimated this scene in the best way possible. I think they would have been so good. I understand why it's cut. Again, I love this movie desperately. But I do think that the first third of it drags. And all of the stuff leading up to the attack on Arrakeen is. That's the place where it's either gonna make or break the movie if it's too slow going into all of that stuff. So I get it. But, man, for how good this scene is, for how good the writing is, for how good that little speech is, I do think it could have made a good. I don't know. I feel like it could have been good in the movie.

[Abu Zafar]

What about you, Luna? Would you want this scene back in the movie?

[Luna]

I would, actually. I imagine the dozens of actors who would have used this for their audition, and we were robbed as a society.

[Leo]

I think, and a lot of these.

[Luna]

Monologues actually just absolutely robbed. But the scene was actually omitted in lieu of the Jessica and Leto scene, which is not in the script at all.

[Leo]

Oh, interesting.

[Luna]

I find that fascinating because we got some really spicy dialogue in that scene. In particular, the. I'm not asking his mother. I'm asking the Bene Gesserit, will you protect him? And I think.

[Abu Zafar]

Right, yeah.

[Luna]

I think this. This script makes me wonder if there was a conversation beforehand about how involved the. The Duniverse, as I. As I will call it, the. The Denny Duniverse of the movie being more Bene Gesserit focused. Because in this scene, you don't really have any of that. You don't have that additional context of Jessica has that duality between protecting her son and protecting Paul as a Bene Gesserit, you know, acolyte or Reverend Mother, eventually. So it's like. It feels like that scene was needed in order to tie the Bene Gesserit into everything. Versus in this scene, it's strictly more about Paul and what Paul wants, which I don't think is really Denny's focus of these movies.

[Leo]

Yeah. Or at least he already kind of accomplished when they have that conversation by the grave earlier on Arrakis, where he's going, what do I do if I don't feel like I can take over House Atreides? It has very similar vibes to that. Versus the Jessica Leto scene, as you're pointing out, brings something wholly new to the dynamic of this Family and to Jessica's role and the Bene Gesserit. And I think that's a great. That's a great call out. The other thought I had was this feels very like the chapter in the book where Leto and Paul are talking, they're alone, and Paul is recognizing how tired his father is and how just drained Leto is by all of the stuff that's happening.

[Abu Zafar]

Right. One of the best chapters.

[Leo]

One of my favorite chapters, for sure. And it is interesting how this version of that quiet moment between them is still focused on Paul and his. How he can kind of claim destiny and what the visions mean and kind of Leto's advice as his father and how perceptive he is and all of that. But it's still kind of doing the same thing that they did together on the hill. So maybe then we have this scene. In my ideal cut of the movie, we have this scene, but we refocus it on Oscar Isaac being tired and being exhausted after everything. The fatigue pills, the anti fatigue pills, and Paul loving his father and seeing him in this trap that he can't escape and how poignant that could be. That's a really hard chapter to adapt, I think, because it's so internal. But still, I think that's like the thing that this scene could have brought to the movie. Yeah, that would have been unique. And not just, oh, here's Leto giving Paul another Paul oriented, rousing speech.

[Abu Zafar]

Right, right. That's a great point. Gosh. I agree completely, Leo. Like, if we were to introduce this scene back in, it would require some writing edits and some additional writing to make it more closely match the chapter from the book where we see Leto and the fatigue pills. And you're so right that I imagine a part of why this was cut is to cut down on the redundancy. We've already gotten a Paul Leto touching father son moment. Do we need another? Do we absolutely need another? So, yes, I agree that this feels redundant to the hilltop scene, but I love that it also touches on these ideas about destiny and free will and choice. And a lot of Dune themes are present in this scene, particularly that final bit that Duke Leto says, you know, if I tell you you're going to end up on the mountaintop, what does that actually change? You still have to climb the mountain. And I think reframing that Leo from your lens, reframing it as Duke Leto is trapped, you're going to end up on Arrakis. But you still have to earn your future. That's what Duke Leto is doing. He is Trapped in the politics of the Imperium. Paul is trapped in the politics of the Bene Gesserit. Both of these men have to earn their futures and fight for them. A really interesting scene, and I think one that could work if rewritten back in the film. You've convinced me, Leah.

[Leo]

Well, moving on from there, we wanted to now focus on this kind of broad pattern we saw in the cuts, which is lessening the amount of exposition, basically because a lot of the small changes throughout the script, especially in the first 30 minutes, are kind of balancing that you need to inform the viewer, you need to tell them the universe they're now being introduced to, maybe for the first time. But also you have to keep the story moving. And man, oh man, some heavy handed exposition has never once made anyone feel fully immersed in a beautiful, exotic world. It's like.

[Abu Zafar]

Exactly.

[Leo]

It really is the worst in a script when you have characters just dropping expositional bombs. So clearly there were many discussions around when, how and who delivers these sort of like important lore exposition moments. And one of the examples that really stands out to us is this opening monologue from Chani, who, you know, she's going, my planet's so beautiful in the sun. And we've been suffering under the Harkonnens brutal rule. That opening monologue in the script is only listed as, quote, prologue about spice, tbd, end quote. Truly the final shooting draft.

[Abu Zafar]

Let's fucking go.

[Leo]

But again, they know they don't need any additional footage for that. They're going to have all of the stuff, the establishing shots, all of that's done. They have that planned. But they don't know. They're like, she's going to talk about something. We'll figure out what she. What she says later.

[Abu Zafar]

It's just a voiceover you have Zendaya do in the booth later at some point.

[Leo]

Yeah, easy now. Other examples that are easy to bring up quickly. Paul, reading the film book about Arrakis, was moved up earlier than originally scripted. So originally it happens a little bit later in the story. And then scenes like the herald of the change ceremony or even Paul sparring with Gurney were trimmed down really heavily, basically to simplify the lore and avoid the kind of confusion for people new to the Dune universe in particular. I'll just shout out this gurney one because I thought this was a really good example of the type of exposition that would tear me from an immersive viewing experience, personally. Yes, I think this is like. This is. I'm so glad this is not in the movie. This is Gurney to Paul during their sparring scene. They're not human. In the slave pits of Gidi Prime, Rabban Harkonnen himself killed my family. And he gave me this scar to remember him by, end quote. And Paul's like, okay, okay.

[Abu Zafar]

Why'd you say that like that, Gurney?

[Leo]

I didn't ask. And also, I've known you for my entire life. You've mentioned it, like, three times.

[Luna]

Like, yeah, isn't that line in part two?

[Leo]

You're right. It said more or less in part two. Chani tells Gurney, this is none of your business. And Gurney says to her, unprompted, he, Rabban gave me this scar to remember him by. This is all my business.

[Luna]

Denny wanted to keep the line in. He stood by that line and was like, it's going in one way or another.

[Leo]

Which is also rough. Cause then you have Gurney, who's like, I have a personal feud with that one fucking guy. And Chani's going, hey, this Fremen shit that you're getting yourself involved in is not your business. And he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Abu Zafar]

Hold on a second.

[Leo]

Hold on a second. I don't like that fucking guy. So I belong here.

[Abu Zafar]

This is all of my business, right?

[Leo]

Oh, yeah, all of it. Yeah. The whole, like, name ceremony. This is your business, dude. All right.

[Abu Zafar]

But again, for what it's worth, that line had no business being in the first 20 minutes of Dune Part 1 early on. Like, why confuse people by mentioning a character we don't know yet? Who the fuck is Rabban Harkonnen? And what is Giddy Prime? You know, Again, this is early in the movie. Think back to how early the sparring scene between Paul and Gurney happens.

[Leo]

True. Yeah.

[Abu Zafar]

You can't be name dropping stuff on people that early. That's why the first hundred pages of the book are so confusing and turn so many people off so quickly. And I think they were very smart in trimming down extra bits of, like, lore dumping like this in order to move the first 30 or so minutes of the movie along much more quickly. Also, like Josh Brolin's delivery of they're not human. They're brutal. They're brutal. Yeah, man. Just end, end on that. No word spoken after that will have the impact that ending on.

[Leo]

They're brutal. And also, it makes sense from a character standpoint. He is saying to Paul, you understand who House Harkonnen is. You might even know some of the shit they've done. You've never met them. They're brutal. Like, I need you to understand, for your own safety how dangerous all of this is. And you're not taking this training seriously enough. And because they are brutal.

[Abu Zafar]

Absolutely. I think, actually, this next scene that we have that we wanted to chat about kind of speaks to this exact point we're touching on. So, speaking of exposition and some of the changes made, there's a lot of Chani voiceover in the script that never makes it into the final cut of the film. There's two examples we want to share. Both of these examples are CHANI voiceover during PAUL visions. So this first one here is that first, not the first one of the earlier visions Paul has of Chani where she kisses him and then dramatically stabs him with a crysknife. So here's the scene.

[Luna]

Exterior, Arrakis Desert, morning. Chani is silhouetted by this rising sun behind her, creating a beatific halo. The young woman looks right at us with her otherworldly blue eyes. She smiles.

[Abu Zafar]

Some of my people thought a savior might never come.

[Luna]

She leans in close as if to kiss us. Paul.

[Abu Zafar]

But not me.

[Luna]

But then Chani darkens.

[Abu Zafar]

I knew Shinc. I knew you couldn't stay the hell away.

[Luna]

And now we, Paul, look down to find the hilt of a Krisnife sticking out of our own chest. Paul falls on his knees like he did in the desert.

[Abu Zafar]

End scene.

[Leo]

End scene. Yeah. So sure.

[Abu Zafar]

Yeah.

[Leo]

Like, yeah.

[Abu Zafar]

Would that have added a ton to that vision? I don't know. I don't think so. Chani having that voiceover.

[Leo]

Yeah. I also think. And again, it's hard to judge this without thinking about the second movie and what we got in the second movie, but the huge conversation about the kind of younger Fremen and what they think the savior is all kind of bullshit to control you. And that whole dialogue would have been casted very differently if our introduction to Chani as a character is her going. Some of my people thought a savior might never come because, like, that just feels like you're acknowledging. I don't know, it doesn't have the same brand of cynicism that she has in the second movie. And I think her cynicism in the second movie is fucking excellent. So, yeah, I'm glad for this change for sure. What about you, Luna? What do you think?

[Luna]

Yeah, I don't think this was necessary, especially when we are comparing it to the scene we'll talk about next. It just. It feels more of a throwaway. I get that they're trying to ramp up Chani's distaste of Fremen beliefs. And I think a few of these scenes might have helped it not be as jarring when we hit Part two for some. For some people. But there's. I don't feel like the dialogue for this particular voiceover is refined as I think I would have liked it to be. The I knew you couldn't stay the hell away feels.

[Abu Zafar]

Yeah, that line kind of.

[Luna]

Kind of cheesy. I don't think it would have fit the tone of the movie very well.

[Abu Zafar]

I agree. I completely agree. Plus, I think when it comes to the visions, they made a very smart choice in just having no explanation of what the visions are. Because we, like Paul, are confused by them. We have to interpret what the hell we're seeing. And sometimes what we're seeing is wrong, is not what actually happens. And so to have this voiceover that kind of hand holds us through that is probably like too much, you know?

[Leo]

Yeah. And along those lines, too much, you say, here's some more. Because actually in the still tent, when Paul is realizing there's spice in the air, he's coughing, he's starting to see glimpses of the future. You know, we see this vision of Chani in a white linen dress and then the golden armored warrior. Originally in the script, there was Chani voiceover during all of it.

[Abu Zafar]

All of it.

[Leo]

So here is that scene that we didn't get.

[Luna]

She seems more mature than in previous visions. And now dressed in a long linen.

[Abu Zafar]

Dress, Lisa N al Gaib.

[Luna]

Chani lovingly motions for us to join her.

[Abu Zafar]

Bless your coming and going.

[Luna]

As we approach this overlook, we hear what sounds like roaring.

[Abu Zafar]

May your passage cleanse the world.

[Luna]

Chani points down at what's happening below, asks us a question.

[Abu Zafar]

Will you keep it for your people?

[Luna]

Rather than finding and adoring crowd. What we see is nothing short of hell. A ferocious battle to the death between thousands of Fremen fighters and even more Sardaukar warriors. The scene is one of endless blood and screaming and fire and terror. A warrior kills everything in his path without any mercy. We finally see his face. It's Paul.

[Leo]

End scene. It's Paul. Bum, bum, bum.

[Luna]

Just various.

[Leo]

Paul whispers, yeah, there's two hours of Chani in the booth. Just Paul.

[Luna]

Paul would have been a great day for her on her throat, you know?

[Leo]

Yeah, just all whispering. A lot of throat coat. Yeah. Why do we think all of this was cut? Would we put this back in the film?

[Abu Zafar]

I certainly wouldn't put this back in the film. I don't think the visions, particularly this vision of Paul as The Golden Warrior, him witnessing the jihad, needed Chani kind of sort of reciting like, religious stuff about the Lisan al Gaib, but then questioning it. Again, I think, to your point earlier, we're planting the seeds of a doubtful Chani. And Luna, you said, like, that might help us to the transition to part two, but it doesn't do much for us now in part one for this movie. Right. If anything, it confuses us more, because if you as a viewer don't have the context for Paul's prescience, you're like, what is this vision? Because the voiceover is telling me something else, and what I'm seeing is almost something else. What am I supposed to be? Who am I believing here? The voiceover or what I'm seeing on screen? I think having the voiceover kind of battles the visual part of the vision itself. So I'm very happy this ended up on the cutting room floor. I'm very happy we didn't use the Chani voiceover here and we let the visions just play out. Interpret them as you will, dear viewer, because in part two, it's all gonna come around and it's all gonna make sense for you. And it makes a rewatch of the movie even more amazing, because now, once you understand what the visions are, it's so fun to go back and watch them. I think the VO would've been confusing. I appreciate the restraint and the minimalist approach to the storytelling here from Villeneuve and the team. Although I will say, very interesting to get a sense that Spates and Villeneuve and the other writers were maybe already planning on a dramatically different Chani. Obviously, the skeptical Chani we got in part two seems like that plan was already in place even as early as here in Part one.

[Leo]

Yeah. Yeah, it's cool. It's cool to see. What about you, Luna? What do you think?

[Luna]

Definitely, I'm happy the voiceover is not there. I think the scene works really well into the movie as itself, with just kind of incoherent whispers and. And the beautiful soundtrack behind it. I feel like it works really well already, and I wouldn't want to hear more voiceover over it. I do, though, really love the line, Will you keep it for your people? Yeah, I. I do wish we could have. That could have been worked in somehow. Maybe not in the voiceover, but. I don't know. I just. I. I really love that change, and I think it implies so much and. And so little, and it's unfortunate that it had to go away with the removal of the entire voiceover yeah, it.

[Abu Zafar]

Could have been transplanted like, Jamis could have delivered some version of that. Will you keep it for your people? Perhaps, you know, yeah, it could have been. It still could have made its way into the movie, even if it wasn't a Johnny.

[Leo]

Voiceover yeah, I broadly agree with everything that y'all are saying. I think generally, like, I do feel weird being a voice actor being like, ew, voiceover get that out of here. But ultimately, I agree. ABU I like the idea of Paul's visions being these sort of, like, wordless things that we are writing along with him witnessing and trying to interpret. I think if you add voiceover to these shots, it starts to feel like I'm watching a movie because are her whispers, are her words part of his visions? What do those mean for him as the, you know, I just don't feel like it's a strong piece of the puzzle, ultimately, having these wordless visions and the pah, you know, that wakes him up and all of those moments. It's so it does feel like we're in the seat with him, which I appreciate. And, yeah, broadly pretty happy that it's not in the movie. I do think that you're right, like some of that. Will you keep it for yourself, for your people? That is something that could have been brought over. But I agree, Apu, I think maybe something like in the Jamis scenes in the Coriolis storm could have been good.

[Abu Zafar]

Right? Right. For sure. Okay, well, let's take a quick break, folks. There's still a couple more interesting cuts and changes from the script to discuss, in particular about our boy Duncan motherfucking Idaho. So stick around. We'll be right back after this break. To continue comparing and contrasting the film with its original script.

[Luna]

Make your next.

[Leo]

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[Abu Zafar]

Hi, this is Debbie, your blinds.com design consultant.

[Luna]

Oh, wow, a real person.

[Leo]

Yep. I am here to help you with everything from selecting the perfect window treatments to. Well, I've got a complicated project.

[Abu Zafar]

Oh, not a problem. I can even schedule a professional measure and install. We can also send you samples fast and free.

[Leo]

Hmm.

[Luna]

I just might have to do more. Oh, okay, so the first room we're looking at is for guests.

[Leo]

Shopblinds.com now and save up to 40% site wide blinds.com, rules and restrictions may apply. Welcome back, everybody. Hope you enjoyed the break. Well, we're going to talk now about the tone of the movie and some of the changes this did to make the movie maybe a little bit more serious and less humorous. So it is really interesting looking through the script to see all of these tiny little changes made in the edit to nail the kind of tone of Denis Villeneuve's films, I think also, you know, Abu, before we started recording, we were talking about Arrival. Like, Villeneuve's films have these, like, really solid feelings. Like, the ambiance of the films are very clear. And I wonder how much of that's done in the editing room versus the scripting process. But there are a surprising number. In this case, there are a surprising number of small but emotional moments that got cut. And the first example we have for you is there's a lot more kind of jokey, jokey, kind of making fun of one another stuff between Duncan and Paul in the script than we got in the movie, right? And when Paul is telling Duncan, bro, you're gonna die. If you go to Arrakis, I saw you dead. If you go to a rarefish, take me with you, take me with you so that we can maybe prevent you dying. He also mentions, well, I also saw visions of, like, a girl or whatever. And Duncan, in response to that, has a whole, like, a girl.

[Abu Zafar]

Whoa, is she pretty?

[Leo]

Oh, my God, you a girl. Oh, that's. That could never happen. Loser. You know, whatever. But more of like a. I hope that. Oh, I hope that part comes true. Me dying. Yeah, whatever. That's just a dream. But, hey, hope you find a girl in Arrakis. That'd be fun.

[Abu Zafar]

Yeah.

[Leo]

So there is that kind of bit. Well, it's just, like, kind of fine, I guess. And then on Arrakis, when they reunite, right, Duncan comes in from the ornithopter and they embrace. There are a few additional lines of dialogue in the script where Duncan is kind of teasing Paul about his height. And Paul claps back and he's like, oh, man, you fucking smell dog. You are not. Let's get you some deodorant. Whatever. You know, there's like. There's like, there's a bit of joking between them.

[Abu Zafar]

Yeah, there's banter. There's like all this additional banter between Duncan and Paul in the script like this. And I, for one AM actually glad these comedic moments got cut that in fact, a majority of these comedic moments around Duncan were trimmed down quite significantly and we got just the one or two bits throughout the film to keep these. I feel like it would have detracted from the importance of Duncan's character, the gravitas of Duncan's character, and also the abilities of Duncan Idaho. Right. If you kind of play him as the comedic guy, it's tough to then take him seriously when he's, for example, reporting about the Fremen to Duke Leto if he's just been like a joke the whole movie. And so I really appreciated, again, the restraint that we're seeing here to say, yeah, Duncan can be a bit of a goofball and maybe have some cute banter with Paul to show their relationship, but we don't need him cracking jokes in, like, every scene he's in. It would have started to feel like the, like, Marvel movie quippiness, you know, that has become a bit cliche at this point, that Tony Stark quip, quip, quip, quip in every scene. I'm glad we kept that at a minimum. When it comes to Duncan in particular, I'm especially glad that Paul did not comment on Duncan being smelly when he comes back from the Fremen. That's not a great look to comment about how smelly he is after visiting the indigenous people of this planet.

[Leo]

Right. Yeah. That feels like it's a very played out and problematic bit of humor, for sure.

[Abu Zafar]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Leo]

I also do think. Yeah, I mean, listen, I agree. I think we managed to get some of that joking relationship, like, we get some of their. That feeling from them already. And even just them walking on the tarmac together, you know, arms thrown around each other. Like, we see the camaraderie. We don't necessarily need as much of it. And so while I think Timothy's shown himself, especially on snl, to be like a really excellent comedic actor, and I think he could have had a lot of fun with some more comedic moments in this. Yeah, it just, it throws off the vibe of the movie and generally I'm. I agree. I think we got what we needed and we didn't need that much more.

[Abu Zafar]

Right.

[Luna]

I think some of the jokes that land the best and Dune are the ones that don't have this sort of intentional joke built in. It's just the deadpan delivery. The. I, I'm almost certain, if I remember correctly, the, the I am smiling joke got huge laughter in my, in my theater or even, or even when in this scene in particular, where Duncan just cuts off and just says, no, no, that's like. That's hilarious.

[Leo]

Yeah, yeah.

[Luna]

Like, we don't need the, like, forced joke. It almost feels like improv when you just kind of take that joke a little too long. And you should have just switched scenes already, but you're still going because you don't know when to stop. Like, I'm rambling right now. Kind of similar.

[Abu Zafar]

But yeah, that was funny, though. You saved it, you know, you saved it at the end with a little bit of meta humor. That's a classic technique.

[Leo]

Classic. Guess also. You know.

[Abu Zafar]

That's right.

[Leo]

Yeah. It's a great point, I think. Agreed. The funny moments are that much funnier because you don't expect them because the tone is so serious and then being delivered deadpan is so funny. And I think that what Marvel's lost recently is everything has to be Guardians of the Galaxy. And that's. And I mean, again, it's something that we didn't get a lot of in action blockbusters, but now we get too much of it. So having a balance and having your own kind of original tone is great. And I think Villeneuve treaded that line pretty well.

[Abu Zafar]

Yeah, I agree. Well, besides the comedic cuts, there were a couple of quite emotional, like, sentimental moments in the script also that ended up getting cut from the final version of the film, for example. And I know this one's gonna make Leo real sad.

[Leo]

Yeah.

[Abu Zafar]

On that last fateful night in Arrakeen when all of House Atreides is settling down, Dr. Yui is giving everyone their sleeping pills or whatever. In the script, as Jessica and Leto are falling asleep, Jessica's massaging Leto's head. It's a very loving, touching moment throughout all of that, throughout that whole winding down montage, we were supposed to be hearing Gurney singing on the baliset to the troops in the barracks. He was supposed to sing us through to that final night as we fall asleep. And then Yui betrays us and takes the shields down and the attack begins. Obviously, all of that is gone. No Gurney singing. The tone of that final night is much more somber and quiet versus having this, like, voiceover of Gurney singing an entire song for us during that montage. What do we think of that change?

[Luna]

I think we were robbed of Best Original Song nomination. Could you imagine?

[Leo]

Especially because what they were gonna do is he was going to sing an early draft of Just a Ken or whatever that fucking song was from the Barbie movie. Word for Word. It wasn't gonna make any sense in Context. But they were gonna win the Oscar.

[Luna]

It was, you know. Now that's a tough field. That was a tough field. Oh, man.

[Leo]

You know, I genuinely think this would have been so excellent. Like the scene where Jessica and Leto are going to bed and Leto goes, I don't want to take the sleeping pill. I just want to fall asleep. Kind of that moment is basically perfect. So I don't want to be misconstrued as to saying, like, I want to change that. But I do think having a scene to your point earlier, Luna, like, to have this normalcy, to have this, like, this is something that Gurney does sometimes. The troops are settling down in the barracks and he's gonna do a little bit of singing to like get everyone in the mood to fall asleep, you know, Like, I think that would have given a much more world building depth to this team, to this family, to Gurney as a character. I think it would have. You know, I am glad we got stillsuits full of piss. Like, that's a banger song. Song of the summer, every summer as far as I'm concerned. But I do think that this would have added a real, really, really nice tone shift. If it is this kind of beautiful, calm moment. Maybe the words of his song are about the peace or, I don't know, whatever. And then the attack on Arkeen is that much more brutal and that much more awful because you see these people who are just settling in for a night of rest, disrupted and killed. You know, like, that would have been really, really nice. And I also couldn't help but realize, like, we see when Gurney wakes up, it's the only shot we get of the balliset in the movie is right next to his bed. So I'm wondering if that was either a remnant from material that they shot and recorded of him getting into bed with the balliset and singing, or if that's just the tip of the hat to like, okay, well, we have the balliset. We're going to feature that in part two, but we're just going to have it here for those people who are kind of eagle eyed watchers. But yeah, the more I've thought about this cut in particular, the more I think I would have liked to have it in the movie. And maybe that means that you push the Jessica so Yui gives them the medicine. Jessica and Leto go to sleep. After that cut to Gurney singing. And then the rest of the night montage of people settling in can be just like 30 seconds of this little song from Gurney and then transition to I Guess Yui knocking out the people or killing the guards and turning off the shields. I think that in my cut, if I was in the director's seat, Sorry, Villeneuve. That's probably what I would have aimed for.

[Abu Zafar]

I actually really love that. You know, one edit I would suggest even there is leave Gurney singing as Yui is killing the cards there. Oh, like, what an emotional, like, juxtaposition that would be to have a, like a somber, sweet song from Gurney Halleck playing as you're watching. Like, wait, is that Yui? What the fuck is he doing? Yeah, and then kind of, you know, kind of have that. I actually agree. I would love for this to be back in the film. I do wonder if it was cut for perhaps just like. Because not every cut is creative. Right. Some cuts could just be like, ah, we fucked up the recording. Or like, this actually was a good idea and we were all in on it. And then maybe Josh Brolin just doesn't have the pipes to sustain a two minute montage sequence of singing non stop. You know, like, there could have been technical or performance reasons as well, to be like, ah, we gotta pivot. Original idea was great, but we just can't pull it off in a way that isn't coming off as cheesy. Because I think as scripted, it is really powerful.

[Leo]

Yeah.

[Abu Zafar]

I read the script and I was like, wow, what a wait for the last night on Arakeen before the big attack. So that is why it makes me. And it doesn't. Again, it doesn't feel like the kind of cut that Villeneuve would make. You know, it's not like superfluous lore stuff. It feels like a thing Villeneuve would have wanted to keep. But I'm curious if there were technical reasons why they couldn't and they had to just simplify and settle with what they could do.

[Leo]

Man, I wish. For the thousandth time, I wish Villeneuve was the sort to release a director's cut or to add commentary. I appreciate that he puts the thing in the theaters and he goes, that's the artwork. Don't worry about, you know, I really respect his integrity. But, man, I'm right there with you. I'm so curious and to know a little bit more about what made the sausage. I'm fine with knowing what's happening, you know, behind those closed doors.

[Abu Zafar]

Tell me I'm still gonna eat the sausage.

[Leo]

You know, I will eat the shit.

[Abu Zafar]

Out of the sausage.

[Leo]

Yeah, just. It doesn't matter. I'll eat it. Well, another notable moment is a few extra lines Between Jessica and Paul in that foggy scene where it's like Mohiam has just departed. And it's Jessica out on the landing field. And she turns to see that Paul's overheard about the Kwisatz Haderach. And again, we'll do this little scene reading. I guess you can be Paul Abu, and I'll be Jessica.

[Abu Zafar]

Okay. All part of a plan. Do you love my father?

[Leo]

Yes. Yes. Yes.

[Abu Zafar]

Thank you for giving three takes. Our editor will pick the best one.

[Luna]

Hopefully all three.

[Abu Zafar]

He won't. I'm the editor. I'm leaving all of them in.

[Luna]

He hesitates to ask the next question. Looking very young. Jessica's face crumples.

[Leo]

Oh, Paul.

[Luna]

She strides across the space between them and throws her arms around him. They cling to each other in the downpour.

[Leo]

I bumped the mic while I was trying to cling to you through the webcam. That's true love.

[Abu Zafar]

That's true love. End scene.

[Leo]

End scene.

[Abu Zafar]

So that's interesting. That's a very touching moment in an otherwise very tense scene.

[Leo]

Yeah, I was gonna say, what a fucking difference. My God. Cause we talked about in our analysis of that movie how that scene is the beginning of the shift, right? The. My mother is my enemy. She is my enemy. That idea from the book begins to inhabit itself as physical space between them. They don't even see each other in full contrast anymore because they're so distant at this moment. And how great that was as a visual metaphor for this distance between them. So the idea of her closing the distance and they wrap each other in their arms, and it's like, that is the mother and son relationship that begins to fall apart in this story. So it feels very out of place to think about that. Like, what a crazy difference. That's so wild to me.

[Abu Zafar]

Totally. How do you feel about it, Luna? Would you have wanted a hug at the end of the foggy scene?

[Luna]

That's a tough one for me. I think that in a way, not having the hug and just watching Paul and turn away definitely adds the weight to the scene. But it. It begs the question, who. Who am I supposed to feel for in that scene? Right? Because in. In a way, if it's Jessica, she. Her son almost died a couple of beats earlier. She had no idea what was going on in that room. She was just hoping that all of the things, the. The motherly love and teachings that she's given him over the years will all adds up to this moment. And he either passes or fails. And I feel like that she's still de Stressing from that moment when she then has to go and sort of like, mentally battle Mohim and then to then have her son turn his back. It's just. It's so much compounding on Jessica in that moment versus, I think, in this version with the hug, she gets that a little release enough to. To sort of keep going with the plot and the plan. And I think if you don't know anything about how much the Bene Gesserit train about controlling their emotions, you kind of get it in the Gom Jabbar scene. But pain is one kind of emotion. You know, seeing your. Your family and. And your son and your blood turn his back on you is a different kind of pain that a lot of people I think see very differently wouldn't be able to put a put aside. And so I think that this scene just adds so much, has such a different connotation of just their family dynamic that I'm. I'm curious why it was ultimately cut from the movie if not due to pure pacing.

[Abu Zafar]

I imagine it also maybe was because of the father line. Do you love my father? Is a bit of an awkward thing to say in that moment because we just did the Gom Jabr test. We just did Bene Gesserit stuff. We're talking about the Kwisatz Haderach. We're talking about the Bene Gesserit manipulation of the Imperium. And I think for Paul in that moment to ask, do you love my father? Might have felt confusing or out of place. You know, like, maybe the hug is not the reason this was cut, but that line in particular about the Duke, ultimately, I will say, like, I still kind of land in the camp of being happy with this cut, because I do think, yes, perhaps there's a lot of, like, lore or character reasons to keep it, but I think tonally, given the tone of that scene, it feels like too much of a flip to suddenly go from. We're watching the distance form between mother and son, and it's quite icy. They're literally standing 10ft apart in the fog, not even seeing each other clearly. To then immediately go to a hug, I think feels like a bit of tonal whiplash. And ultimately, I'm glad that this cut in particular was made. I think, Luna, you've made some strong arguments for keeping it that I do agree with. But at the end of the day, I wonder if just the feeling was off. You know, if you're watching it and you're like, oh, that hug felt a little out of nowhere, maybe we should cut it and maybe. And a lot of editing, like when you listen to editors talk about how they work, there's like no rules, right? There's no rules when to like switch camera angles or when the right time is to switch a scene. You do it when it feels right for the story. You cut to a different character's camera angle when it feels like it's time to cut. And that instinct, that editor instinct, that storytelling instinct, is something that the best editors hone over decades of their career. And that's like an intangible X factor that I think is a learnable skill. But you only learn it by doing it a lot and practicing it a lot. And this to me feels like perhaps one of those gut decisions as well. Those gut instincts telling them like, we need to end it here and not get to the hug.

[Leo]

Yeah, well, that is. Those are the kind of big changes that we were seeing throughout the movie. Now we did want to take a minute and just celebrate some rapid fire sort of miscellaneous, notable one off little moments that kind of a grab bag of interesting changes. And this will go pretty quickly. But overall, I think this is also interesting to think about. These are the sorts of little changes that happen either during shooting or maybe it's a decision that's made before you actually get to set that day. But maybe it's also something that happens in the editing room in the months following production. Right. You're in the post production phase. So we have gathered these for you, dear listener, as a little gift.

[Abu Zafar]

That's right. Luna, do you want to share this first one? Because this is one that you had thoughts on.

[Luna]

You are touched by Shai Hulud. The vision is a gift. Don't be afraid to see. That was a wonderful line by Shout Out Mapes that she says to Paul in a brief holy passing that they. They run into each other in the palace. I thought that was such a beautiful line and I'm so bummed that that little scene was cut. But I. I do understand, I think, why overall the scene was cut. Obviously, as we've touched on several times, there's definitely a flow to have an entire scene where two people pass in a hallway just to drop this little lore tidbit. Feel definitely feels excessive even. Even for me totally. But also I'm kind of glad that it was cut for the other reason that I feel like in Dune one in particular, a lot of the interactions that we get from the Fremen on Arrakis, it. It almost seems like when we have these dialogue from the Fremen on Arrakis, they're always dropping these like, nuggets of wisdom every time they speak. And it's not. It's almost like they speak in coded nice phrases to. To get. I don't know how to describe it. It's very strange.

[Leo]

They're just always speaking fortune cookies.

[Luna]

Yeah, I. I think, for example, you have the gardener who Paul meets and, you know, or he's talking about the palm trees and sort of giving that comparison and asking Paul about, you know, what is. What's more important, prophecy or the on the ground now lives of the Fremen that are suffering without water. And then we would have this shot out map scene and then you have the random Jamis. It just. It just felt like a lot over time and. And they didn't. It didn't feel like real people that. That spoke. It just felt like every single person Paul was interacting with was giving him these nuggets of wisdom. And in a movie book that gets sort of bad rap for being a white savior story, even though it is not. I feel like when you constantly have people of color coming into the scene just to drop nuggets of wisdom, I feel like it starts to feel a little icky.

[Leo]

Yeah, that's a great point. I, you know, we'll talk. So another kind of. In the same line of that the Jamis visions during the Coriolis storm are not in the script originally, which is really interesting to me because that the vision is a gift. Don't be afraid to see. All of that is kind of stuff he gets from Jamis. And Jamis becomes this source of wisdom as well as his mortal enemy in this movie. And that's such a fascinating, beautiful relationship. So I like that they shifted the tokens from this conversation into that Jamis Pott. But you're right, it's like if every time you meet a Fremen, they're just like, here's what you need to know from me, white boy. And he's like, thank you, indigenous person, for your wisdom.

[Abu Zafar]

It's the like wise black woman trope from many movies, you know, where the black woman always only comes in to deliver wisdom to our main character and has no other purpose in the story. I agree with you, Leo. Jamis, I think, inherited some of this line, some of this thinking and some of this line from Shout Out Mapes. I also, if you just think about the movie like a puzzle you're putting together, it is too early in the movie for someone to say this to Paul. Just like, logistically Speaking because how does Shadow know he has visions, that he is having visions? And even if she does, why does she feel it's her place to tell him not to be afraid? You know, like, it raises more questions than it answers for Shadout to run into Paul in the hallway and say this to him randomly. So I think even just like logistically from a pure storytelling doesn't make sense for this scene to happen. I would argue it doesn't. This early on it makes sense for Jamis to say those things because by that point Paul has had the tent scene, he's awakened more of his visions. We've seen, we've seen the jihad, but this early when they've just moved to Arrakis, it feels out of place. So I think in addition to Luna, your point about like having a whole scene, for one thing, is not good filmmaking. This felt like a whole scene just so Shadout could deliver this line and so just cut it, you know, trim the fat off that.

[Leo]

It also, if you look at the scene, it's got a lot of stage direction and a lot of like, Shadout pats him on the shoulder and then like leaves and he watches her leave and then is like, I can't believe she touched me. You're not supposed to be touching the son of the Duke, despite formality and blah, blah, blah. And all of that is very shown. So I'm like, this isn't even a three second scene. This would probably be a three or four minute scene with a lot of silence and space. And I'm sure it would be great. But in a movie that already has a lot of silence and space, it's like, yeah, let's keep that moving for sure.

[Abu Zafar]

Okay, another couple quick rapid fire scenes here to call out. In the original script, there's actually post arcane attack. There's actually a scene of Piter gloating over a captured Thufir Hawat.

[Leo]

Whoa, crazy.

[Abu Zafar]

And even say he, you know, he even turns to Thufir and he says, quote, checkmate, old friend, end quote. You know, that is cool to see that in the original script. Which means, like there was a version of the story at some point where Hawat is captured and perhaps Hawat comes back in Part two and is more of a player in Part two. But obviously at some point the decision was made to dramatically cut down Thufir Hawat's part in this story in both part one and part two. And so then, yeah, obviously you gotta lose this scene. Once you lose Hawat, you lose this scene. Of Piter as well.

[Leo]

Well, another thing that was cut from the film is just occasional Paul voiceover. Just like Paul explaining stuff via voiceover, which got cut and.

[Abu Zafar]

Yeah, all of it got cut. There's no Paul voiceover.

[Leo]

Listen, I don't know about y'all, but thank God.

[Abu Zafar]

Thank God.

[Leo]

Thank goodness. Cause I get it. You need to sometimes give some internal thoughts. And maybe that voiceover would have been Paul's perspective, which could have been good to get in moments where what he's actually saying out loud isn't justifiable. And you could have some internal depth. He could think to himself, how tired my father looks. Those are things that could be said, but that just immediately starts feeling like the 1984 film where it's narrations everywhere because they didn't do a good job of kind of setting up what's happening on screen.

[Abu Zafar]

Yeah. Look, I'm sure someone will email us or respond and call me out on this, but I think if you have to resort to writing your character's thought in a movie, you have failed to make the movie.

[Leo]

Yeah.

[Abu Zafar]

Filmmaking is a visual medium. Say it on the screen. Filmmaking is a performative medium. Have your character perform it, but do not have voiceover thought bubbles happening. That, to me, is an utter failure of filmmaking. And it's funny to see that there are occasional moments of Paul Vo throughout this script. I think the most illustrative one, for example, to give one example, is in the Coriolis Storm. There is no Jamis, as we mentioned earlier. Instead, there's Paul Vo as he's thinking about piloting the ornithopter through the storm. He thinks things like, I gotta get this over 5,000 meters, okay? I'm almost through the eye, and I get just up and over. Like, how awkward would that have been in such a beautiful, tense scene? You know, it's like one of the best moments in Part one. And how narratively jarring would it have been to suddenly hear Timothee Chalamet thinking things out loud? And instead, I think very elegantly, the solution they came up with that also fits thematically in the story is alternate visions of Jamis teaching him, visions of Jamis guiding him, visions of Jamis delivering beautiful lines like, the mystery of life is something, something experience and not to be solved. Something, something. You know, beautiful lines that I totally remember. I think, what an elegant solution to a. To a genuine problem. Right. Dune is a very dense book with a lot of internal monologues happening, translating. That is one of the reasons that for decades, Dune has been considered, like, unfilmable, right? And I think Villeneuve and the team landed on a very elegant solution. But it's still interesting to see that even this team, at one point or another, was considering internal monologue voiceovers as a way to make this story work.

[Leo]

My name is a killing word, Man. In a different universe, though, it would be fun to have Timothee Chalamet perform all of those lines, all of those awkward, whispered, yeah, my name is a killing word.

[Abu Zafar]

Right? Then I can set them to my different ringtones. You know.

[Leo]

People are like, that is a very niche ringtone, my friend. Not even music. It's just Timothee Chalamet. So I'll wrap up on this one last one that I thought was, it's just a personal vendetta. Still, I think one of the things that is the worst moment in the first movie is Kynes. Liet. Kynes walks in sietch and city. Kynes, a person of the desert, a Fremen, a planetologist. Brilliant. About to ride a worm. Excellent. Snuck up on. I'm sorry, By a small troop of Sardaukar. Bullshit. Absolute bullshit. In the book Trapped political trap. Makes perfect sense. Makes sense that political trappings would be the thing that would be a downfall for Fremen trying to operate within the power structures of the Imperium. That makes perfect sense in the movie to have Kynes just be snuck up on by a guy who just stabs her in the. That's so dumb.

[Luna]

In, like an elite Sardaukar. Just.

[Leo]

Just some dude, normal fucking John Sardaukar is just out here with his little stabby blade bullshit. And there's like two of them, three of them. They're all making sound everywhere they go chirping in their Sardaukar. Such bullshit. I hate it. I still hate it so much. In the script, it's a little bit better. So I'm here to tell you, dear listener, it's a little bit better. Specifically, it is one Sardaukar, not three. Which, again, my suspension of disbelief. The idea of three fucking people stumbling up a sandy hill quietly. Impossible, right?

[Abu Zafar]

When's the last time you convinced three people to be dead silent at the same time? Name one example.

[Leo]

It never happens. It never happens. We're. Right now we're in a podcast.

[Abu Zafar]

We can't do it.

[Leo]

It's impossible. But so. Okay, already improvement. One person. Sure, I can understand that. And in particular, it's listed as Sardaukar assassin. So this might be a specialized assassin. Sardaukar. Someone who Is stealthy, has maybe fancy equipment that gives you an answer to how the fuck did this happen? That's great. That would have bothered me so much less than the fucking three John Sardaukar. Normal ass Sardaukars sneaking up on a Fremen in the desert. Bullshit.

[Abu Zafar]

God, I bet this was their first fucking deployment.

[Leo]

Like they've never even seen sand. And they're walking silently. Idiots with rhythm. Ugh. Whistling. I don't know, it's dumb. So just Kynes would never get snuck up on. But put some respect on Kynes name, right? So anyway, just wanted to throw that out there. In the original, in the script, the shooting script, it was one Sardaukar assassin. Otherwise plays out the same, you know, the pounding on the sand and both individuals, Kynes and the Sardaukar assassin are eaten by the gaping maw of the sandworm term of Shaiholu. So that's fine. Great.

[Abu Zafar]

Yeah. Well folks, there you have it. A number of changes between the original shooting script of Dune Part one and the final cut of the film that we have all watched and enjoyed countless times. Luna clearly holds the record. That was super fun. Thank you for pitching this idea, Luna. And thank you for doing so much of the research on this. Was also a great excuse personally for me to just watch the movie again, which for the record, always fun. Still fucking slaps like. I had so much fun rewatching the movie. It's been quite some time since I've revisited it, so it was nice to go back and watch it again. Before we let you all go though, to wrap up, you all know the drill. A couple of quick reminders indeed.

[Leo]

And the first one is, hey, you want to support us? You want to help us do what we do? Keep Gom Jabbar going, keep the lights on, all that. Well, the two best ways to support us. One is to become a patron [e-mail] Gom Jabbar and the other way is to buy some Dune themed swag from our merchandise store. Those links are in the show notes. Check them out. Great way to support us and help us keep doing what we do.

[Abu Zafar]

That's right. And of course we want to hear from you. So email us gamjabarpodcastmail.com Send us your thoughts on the changes we've laid out today. Would you reintroduce any of these cut scenes back into the film? And why? What would your cut of Dune Part 1 look like? Send it to us. Send us your Dune spec script. I guess I don't know, actually don't send us that. I don't want to read all that.

[Leo]

We already get really long emails.

[Abu Zafar]

Send us your thoughts. Come to our podcastmail.com. we always love to hear from our listeners.

[Leo]

Okay, so question. If you had to add a box of index fingers cut. And sent with a threatening note to a movie, what movie would you add a box of cut index fingers to?

[Luna]

I'm gonna have to go with the Barbie movie.

[Abu Zafar]

Oh, holy.

[Luna]

Hear me out. Hear me out.

[Leo]

Yeah, I'm listening. Please. I'm locked in. Luna.

[Luna]

She's Barbie. It's like. It's like a post credit scene.

[Leo]

Yeah.

[Luna]

After the whole gynecologist bit.

[Leo]

Yeah.

[Luna]

She goes home to her first apartment, which is like in a really rundown part of town. And she's just like, oh, hi to like random strangers outside that clearly sketchy. And she goes to like throw away her trash for the first time. And she's clearly struggling because it's very gross. And she's like, oh, a box. And like right next to the trash can there's a little box and she opens it and it's just nothing but fingers. And she goes, oh, my God, I'm so sorry. Someone lost all of these. I should take them home and try to find the owner. And then we just.

[Abu Zafar]

Oh.

[Luna]

Oh, hard cut.

[Abu Zafar]

Yep.

[Leo]

I feel like that's the sequel. That's right.

[Luna]

It just seems like a Greta Gerwig kind of like hard Pip. I could see you're doing it.

[Abu Zafar]

Well, friends, there is no real ending. It's just the place where you stop the recording. But this podcast is always one step beyond us logic. So help spread the word of Muadib and leave us a review on Apple podcasts and Spotify and be sure to check out the other shows on the larparty podcast network on laurparty.com you can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram at thorparty. And we are of course also on YouTube. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, whoever controls the podcast controls the universe. We'll see you on the golden path.

[Leo]

This episode is brought to you by Universal Pictures. Today's the day. From Universal Pictures in Blumhouse come a storm of terror. From the director of the shallows. The woman in the yard. Don't let her in. Where does she come from? What does she want? When will she leave? The Woman in the Yard in theaters now.