Dune: Part Two/Trivia

== Trivia ==
* Stellan Skarsgård's body makeup took 8 hours to apply and 2 hours to remove for every day of shooting. He didn't drink anything and took Imodium pills in order to avoid having to go to the bathroom during shooting days. 
* Lady Jessica's facial tattoos are the Bene Gesserit litany against fear.
* Greig Fraser, cinematographer of Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024), suggested to shoot the sequence on Giedi Prime (the Harkonnen homeworld) with infrared cameras to give the skin a translucent texture. 
* Denis Villeneuve said he will not release any deleted scenes, explaining, "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. 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." 
* Feyd-Rautha's fight on Giedi Prime is seen in a black-and-white infrared color palette, apparently induced by a black sun that the planet orbits around. This is the first time the Giedi's sun is shown in a Dune adaptation. 
* The language used often times by the Fremen is named Chakobsa in the novels, which derives from the real-life Arabic, although also contains parts of French, Greek, Romani and Slavic, including heavy alterations from Hebrew and Sanskrit. 
* Austin Butler underwent vocal training to sound more like Stellan Skarsgård. 
* Austin Butler improvised Feyd-Rautha kissing Baron Harkonnen. 
* Stephen McKinley Henderson and Tim Blake Nelson filmed scenes for the film as Thufir Hawat and Count Hasimir Fenring respectively. Both were ultimately cut entirely from the finished film, but receive a "special thanks" in the ending credits. 
* Director Denis Villeneuve and cinematographer Greig Fraser often chose desert locations based on specific sand dunes having a certain shape that Villeneuve wanted, or the perfect sun orientation that Fraser needed. To keep the desert views as pristine as possible, they had to keep strict discipline with the crew, making them walk in tight corridors in order not to disturb the sand with footprints prior to filming. Afterwards, they had a special 'sand team' that would sweep the sands to erase the prints for the next morning. 
* Austin Butler said he toned down his method acting for playing Feyd-Rautha, "I've definitely in the past, with Elvis (2022), explored living within that world for three years and that being the only thing that I think about day and night. With Feyd, I knew that that would be unhealthy for my family and friends... So I made a conscious decision to have a boundary. It allowed for more freedom between action and cut because I knew I was going to protect everybody else outside of the context of what we were doing. That's not to say that it doesn't bleed into your life. But I knew that I wasn't going to do anything dangerous outside of that boundary, and in a way that allowed me to go deeper." Denis Villeneuve said, "When the camera was on, it was like you were possessed. When the camera was off, you were still maybe 25 or 30% Feyd. Just enough to still be present and focus but removed enough that you didn't kill anybody on set." 
* Austin Butler had to gain 25 pounds of muscle to play Feyd-Rautha in this movie. 
* Contrary to the usual practice, Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024) were not filmed back-to-back, and the studio's approval of the second film very much hinged on the success of the first, which was complicated by a fixed release date and the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, director Denis Villeneuve said that production company Legendary Pictures loved the first film and was "ready to go to war to make the second one", so the sequel had a high chance of being made. It was officially greenlit on October 26th, 2021, four days after Dune (2021)'s US release. 
* Stellan Skarsgård revealed that the massive prosthetics for Baron Harkonnen made his performance better, "how do you do your job with 40 kilos of prosthetics on? It is tough, but the thing is that it hinders you in a way, but it also becomes something like the real fat it would have been that is also a hindrance. And you use the resistance of the costume to make him slower, to me can become more dangerous in a way. You're not interested in showing any psychological fine-tuning in the action. What you want to do is put a stamp on the screen. That means that you want him to have sort of a physical presence that when he comes in, he puts a stamp there, and that casts a shadow for the rest of the film" he said. On top of the challenge, Skarsgård said he found working on the film to be satisfying in another unique way as well. "I've always been trying to make films in different fields all the time. When I've just made a big Hollywood movie, I go and make a small, independent film and back and forth different material all the time. So it feels good" Skarsgård said, before noting that the film gave him the best of both options. "When an auteur movie can be made for $150 million and have box office success, that's something that makes me very happy." 
* Denis Villeneuve described Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (Austin Butler) as "a cross between a psychopathic killer, an Olympic sword master, a snake and Mick Jagger." Jagger had actually been attached to play the character in Alejandro Jodorowsky's failed Dune adaptation in the 1970s. 
* Austin Butler was offered the role while having coffee with Denis Villeneuve, without needing to audition. He trained for four months in Budapest, using a fitness regimen made by an ex-Navy SEALs member. 
* Bill Skarsgård (Stellan Skarsgård's son) and Barry Keoghan were considered for the role of Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen before Austin Butler was cast. 
* The sequel was green-lit after Dune (2021) topped the U.S. box office on its opening weekend, making a career-best performance for Denis Villeneuve, and Warner's top-performing opener of 2021. 
* The sandworm riding sequence took 44 days to film and was shot on a set measuring 90 by 24 feet. Upon first reading it in the script, cinematographer Greig Fraser thought, "How the heck are we going to do that?" 
* Steven Spielberg told Denis Villeneuve, "This is a desert-loving story, but for such a desert-loving film there is such a yearning for water in this movie. For all the sand you have in this film, it's really about water. The sacred waters that are yearning for green meadows and the blue water of life. You film the desert to resemble an ocean, a sea. The sandworms were like sea serpents. And that scene surfing the sandworms is one of the greatest things I have ever seen. Ever! But you made the desert look like a liquid." 
* Even though director Denis Villeneuve said that he would have loved to make Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024) at the same time, both movies were long and difficult shoots, which would have been too exhausting. He was grateful that he could learn from all the technical aspects on Part One and recover afterwards, which prepared him to improve and make a better movie with Part Two. 
* AMC's website crashed when tickets for this film went on sale. 
* Actor-musician Sting, who appeared in Dune (1984), turned down a cameo appearance in this film. However he did attend the New York premiere, alongside his daughter Mickey Sumner, on February 25th, 2024. 
* Austin Butler said about appearing eyebrowless with black teeth and a bald head, "was freeing because you're not trying to be anything else." 
* On August 24th, 2023, the film was delayed from November 3rd, 2023, to March 15th, 2024, due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. (Warner Bros. wanted to have the cast available to promote the film.) Release was later pulled back to March 1st, 2024. 
* "Mahdi", a name the locals called Paul several times throughout the movie, has roots in Arabic. "Mahdi Al Montathar" or "Mahdi the awaited", is a prominent figure in Islam where it is stated that he will appear during the end of time and cleanse the world of evil. Attributed similarly to Paul, where he has risen to have absolute power, considered a miracle, and his mission is to cleanse the world of evil. 
* The movie opens shortly after the ending of Dune (2021), with Paul and Jessica Atreides still traveling with the Fremen to their sietch, who carry the body of Jamis along. These scenes were originally meant to end the first film, but it was decided during post-production to shift them to the sequel instead. 
* Outgrossed its predecessor within three weeks of release. 
* Denis Villeneuve said of Zendaya, "She's so clever, but shows she's brilliant and her strong presence, and she was always on set even when she was not shooting. Just sitting between [cinematographer Greig Fraser] and I listening, listening and listening. So I would not be surprised that one day we learn that she wants to [direct]." 
* Christopher Walken, who plays Emperor Shaddam IV, coincidentally starred in the 2001 music video for the Fatboy Slim song "Weapon of Choice" which includes several references to Dune in its lyrics ("Don't be shocked by the tone of my voice", "Walk without rhythm and you won't attract the worm"). Walken said he did not know about the connection until an interviewer for GQ brought it up. 
* Austin Butler revealed he was inspired by Gary Oldman and Heath Ledger when doing research and getting ready for the movie. He revealed: "I've always been inspired by Gary Oldman and many of his roles, Léon: The Professional, or True Romance, or The Fifth Element" he further added "and you know, we've talked about Heath Ledger a lot, the sense of play that he had. And like I say, it's not the specific things, but it's more general inspiration." 
* Tim Blake Nelson was cast as Count Hasimir Fenring and his scenes were filmed, but his entire role was eventually cut out in editing. As such, Count Hasmir's only appearance in a Dune adaptation has been in the miniseries Dune (2000), which left out his wife, Lady Margot Fenring. That situation is reversed in this film, with Léa Seydoux appearing as Margot, but not her husband. 
* This is the first live-action adaptation of a novel in the 'Dune' series to include the character of Lady Margot Fenring, who was left out of Dune (1984), Dune (2000), Children of Dune (2003) and Dune (2021). Elizabeth Debicki, Eva Green, Amy Adams, Natalie Dormer, Olivia Taylor Dudley, and Gwyneth Paltrow were considered for the role before Léa Seydoux was cast. 
* The names Shaddam Corrino IV and Princess Irulan are never said out loud in the film. 
* IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond said they "ran out of seats" in trying to screen this film. 
* The plot of the full 166 minutes of this movie is told in 39 of the 137 minutes of the original Dune (1984), and in 166 of the 270 minutes (3 episodes of 90 minutes) of the mini-series Dune (2000) (76 minutes of the second episode and all of the third episode). Altogether, the Denis Villeneuve movies run for 321 minutes, more the double than the David Lynch adaptation. 
* The cast features two Oscar winners (Javier Bardem and Christopher Walken) and five Oscar nominees (Timothée Chalamet, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, and Charlotte Rampling). 
* Christopher Walken filmed his scenes in two weeks. 
* According to New York Times columnist Kyle Buchanan, at the time Austin Butlerwas announced as the frontrunner to play Feyd-Rautha, Tye Sheridan and Harry Styles were also revealed to be serious contenders for the role. 
* Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen is played by Austin Butler. Coincidentally, there is a House Butler in the novels that has long gone extinct by the events of the first book, although their bloodline survives within House Harkonnen. In Brian Herbert's prequel books, Feyd-Rautha's birth name was Feyd-Rautha Rabban, after his mother (Emmi Rabban)'s family. He was taken by his brother Glossu Rabban (played by Dave Bautista in the movies) before he turned two years old, to 'prevent him from being raised too soft and weak', as Glossu and Vladimir Harkonnen felt that Feyd's and Glossu's father (and the Baron's half-brother) Abulurd Harkonnen was far too kind and gentle for the Harkonnen name. 
* The term 'Kwisatz Haderach' refers to the Hebrew Kefitzat Haderech which means a miraculous journey between two distant places in a brief time. 
* Souheila Yacoub didn't audition for the part of Shishakli. Instead casting director Francine Maisler and Denis Villeneuve just gave her a phone call out of the blue saying the part was hers if she accepted it. Denis Villeneuve saw her in the series No Man's Land (2020). Another connection might be that she played in Wajdi Mouawad's play "Birds of all kind" in 2018, and Villeneuve adapted Wajdi Mouawad's work previously with Incendies (2010). 
* Many fans objected to Anglo-Saxon actor Christopher Walken playing a role previously played by a Hispanic (José Ferrer in Dune (1984)) and an Italian (Giancarlo Giannini in the TV mini-series Dune (2000)), but despite the character's name, the novels do not identify him as Hispanic, Italian, or Middle-Eastern. The surname Corrino was adopted by a member of House Butler to connect his dynasty to the Battle of Corrin. 
* Hans Zimmer guessed that Denis Villeneuve was working on the third instalment of the franchise when he visited him when he was composing the film's score and wordlessly left a copy of "Dune Messiah" with him. 
* In an interview with Reel Blend, Rebecca Ferguson said that the crew referred to the Ornithopters as "Horny Throbbers" on set. 
* Austin Butler chose to model his voice on the intonations of Stellan Skarsgård, suggesting that Feyd-Rautha had grown up around Baron Harkonnen. Skarsgard didn't know about this decision and was taken aback the first time he heard it. 
* Released on Javier Bardem's 55th birthday. 
* Michel Seydoux, grand-uncle of Léa Seydoux (Lady Margot Fenring), was originally set to produce a Dune adaptation in the 1970s. As chronicled in the documentary Jodorowsky's Dune (2013), this was the version to be directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky, which had Charlotte Rampling attached (who plays the Reverend Mother in this film and its 2021 predecessor). According to a deleted scene of the documentary, Rampling left that film due to a (later deleted) sequence involving extras defecating in unison, and the entire project ultimately fell through due to prohibitive costs (a projected $8 million budget, which was astronomical at the time). Ironically, had the film been made, it would have been the only other adaptation of the novel to feature Léa's character of Lady Fenring. 
* Lady Jessica's role is significantly beefed up in this version. In the book, she largely retreats into the background in the later passages but Denis Villeneuveviewed her involvement in being critical in masterminding the rise of her son. 
* Just a couple of weeks into seeing the first dailies coming in from the film, Warner Brothers started asking Denis Villeneuve if he would be interested in doing a third instalment. 
* Frank Herbert's son Brian Herbert called this the best adaptation of his father's work that he'd ever seen. 
* This film features three actors who have played James Bond villains (Christopher Walken, Javier Bardem and Dave Bautista), as well as a Bond girl (Léa Seydoux). 
* Filmed in the midst of the Jordanian desert, the crew had to build 18 miles of new road to transport all their equipment and establish basecamps. 
* None of the sets were recycled from the first film. They were all created specially for this movie. 
* Paul's first ride on a sandworm is Denis Villeneuve's favorite sequence in the film. 
* Thanks to this film and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024), Warner Bros. became the first studio to accumulate $1 billion at the global box office in 2024. It reached the milestone in 15 weeks, a new record for the studio, surpassing 17 weeks in 2018, with Ready Player One (2018) and Rampage (2018). 
* The showrunner of The Last of Us (2023), Craig Mazin, did an uncredited script polish. 
* Feyd-Rautha's striking monochrome gladiator bout was filmed with specially designed black-and-white infrared cameras. 
* Timothée Chalamet was 23 when he made the first film. In the intervening three years - and like the character he portrays - he has become more confident and commanding on film sets and was unfazed about leading such a gigantic production. 
* This film is 10 minutes longer than Dune (2021). 
* Florence Pugh performed her opening narration on her first day on set. 
* Throughout the movie, there are references to the Bene Gesserit sisterhood planting superstitions throughout the Fremen tribes in order to control the population. While the actual sect of the Bene Gesserit is not named in either part of Villeneuve's Dune movies, it is referred to in the books as the Missionaria Protectiva. 
* After drinking (and surviving) the Water of Life, both Jessica and Paul Atreides learn that they are the respective daughter and grandson of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. The movie doesn't reveal how this came to be, but in the prequel novels of Dune, Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam (played in the movie by Charlotte Rampling) is revealed to be their mother and grandmother. She once requested a child from Baron Harkonnen, as part of the Bene Gesserit's plan to beget the Kwisatz Haderach, to which the Baron conceded by brutally raping her. In retaliation, the Reverend Mother inflicted a disease on the Baron that made him deformed and severely obese. 
* In the original novel, Baron Harkonnen is killed by Paul's little sister Alia with a gom jabbar. At that time, she was about 4 years-old and already a fully aware Reverend Mother. Just before his death, she reveals to him that she is his granddaughter by saying: "I'm sorry, Grandfather... you've met the Atreides gom jabbar". However, in the movie , Paul is the one who kills the Baron, saying; "You die like an animal, Grandfather." 
* Anya Taylor-Joy has a brief uncredited cameo as Alia, Paul Atreides' little sister in a flash-forward during one of his visions. Alia is a fan favorite from the original Dune novel, where she is born during Paul and Jessica's two-year stay with the Fremen; although she is a toddler, she has the mind of an adult due to Jessica's drinking of the Water of Life. However, Denis Villeneuve shortened the two-year period from the book to several months in the film, so that Alia is almost exclusively depicted as a voice calling to Jessica from her womb, and remains unborn at the end of the movie. Completely omitted from the book is Paul and Chani's infant son Leto (named after Paul's deceased father), who was also born during that 2-year period, but killed during the final battle of Arrakeen when the Sardaukar attacked the Fremen Sietch where they had hidden him. 
* Director Denis Villeneuve included a salute to David Lynch, director of Dune (1984). At the start of Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986), Kyle MacLachlan finds a severed human ear, crawling with ants, Towards the end of this film, when the screen shows the dead body of Stellan Skarsgård, the camera zooms in on his ear, which is likewise crawling with ants. 
* In the movie, it is mentioned that there is grave danger to Emperor Shaddam IV if the Landsraad knew his secret plan to kill the Great House Atreides. Not explained more deeply in the film, the novels reveal that the Landsraad is the union of the 157 Great Houses that compose a vast empire spread out over 13,000 planets. All together, even the emperor has to answer to the Landsraad's High Council, which has the absolute power to depose an Emperor if it is taken that he is a threat to his own empire, or his actions are opposite to its interests. 
* The music Gurney Halleck plays on the Baliset is reminiscent of the soundtrack of the MS-DOS game Dune (1992). 
* According to Denis Villeneuve, Lady Margot Fenring's role in the film will be slightly different than the version of the character depicted in the original novel. Villeneuve described her as "a secret agent" and will be "full of surprises". When asked if the character would be good or evil, he gave no answer. 
* Stephen McKinley Henderson originally reprised his role of Thufir Hawat from Dune (2021), where it was kept small because his character was to become more prominent in Dune: Part Two (2024). However, much to director Denis Villeneuve's regret, Henderson's entire performance ended up on the cutting room floor after he chose to refocus the story on the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, which left little room for Thufir Hawat. In the novel, Hawat is captured during the Harkonnen raid on the Atreides forces, and made to believe that not Dr. Yueh but Lady Jessica was the traitor within their ranks. He then begrudgingly serves as a replacement mentat to the Harkonnen, and unwittingly helps them fight the Fremen forces led by Muad'Dib (not knowing that this is Paul Atreides). Hawat still manages to subtly manipulate the Harkonnen, driving a wedge between the Baron and his nephew Feyd-Rautha, In the end, after Paul overthrows the combined Harkonnen and Imperial forces, Hawat is ordered to poison him, but Paul foresees this. He still offers Hawat the choice to go through with it, in recognition of his years of loyal service to the Atreides. However, rather than harm his old masters, Hawat takes his own life. Henderson confirmed that he filmed scenes with Austin Butler, suggesting that like in the novel, Hawat was the one responsible for Feyd-Rautha having to battle a non-drugged Atreides warrior during his gladiator fight. With no on-screen resolution to his faith, it is implied that Hawat died during the Harkonnen attack in the previous movie. 
* For Dune (2021), fight coordinator Roger Yuan had focused on developing fighting styles for the Atreides, the Harkonnen and the Imperial Sardaukar. For this sequel, he designed the style of fighting that Paul teaches the Fremen to defend themselves against the Harkonnen. In the novel, it is described as 'the Weirding Way', a style that uses incredibly fast speeds by altering the user's perception of reality. It actually originates from the Bene Gesserit, and in the previous movie, it is briefly alluded to when the reverend Mother chastises Jessica for teaching Paul "the Way", and when Lady Jessica uses it to successfully disarm Stilgar near the end, although it is not further elaborated upon. Scenes where Jessica trains Paul in the Weirding Way and the Voice were confirmed to have been shot but deleted. The Weirding Way was infamously not used in Dune (1984) because director David Lynch feared it would look like "Kung Fu on sand dunes". Instead, Weirding Modules were conceived that are essentially sonic beam weapons, which subsequently found their way in some form in many of the video games inspired by Lynch' movie. This iteration of the Dune story thus reverts back to the literary source, with the Fremen using hand-to-hand combat and stabbing weapons. 
* In the three different adaptations of Dune, the character Rabban dies in a different way in each film. Here, he is killed in combat by Gurney Halleck. In Dune (1984), he was executed by the Emperor and his head displayed to the Baron. In Dune (2000), he was torn apart by a mob of Arakeen natives. This last is what happened in the book. 
* The character played by Florence Pugh is Princess Irulan, daughter of Emperor Shaddam IV. But this fact is known only to the fans of the book, because in the movie she is never referred to as "Irulan". Same thing applies to the little sister of Paul Atreides, Alia. 
* The message of defiance sent by Paul Atreides to the Emperor is written in the Deseret Alphabet, a replacement to the traditional Latin alphabet conceived by religious leader Brigham Young. 
* Anya Taylor-Joy's cameo was shot in secret and was only revealed when the film was released. 
* The character of Chani is the daughter of Doctor Kynes in the book, who, in Villeneuve's Dune is played by actress Sharon Duncan-Brewster. However, since her parents are never mentioned in Part One or Two, it is safe to say that Liet Kynes and Chani are not related in the Villeneuve Dune movie universe. 
* The sub-plot about Chani and Fremen from the North regions of Arrakis not believing in the Legend of the Mahdi was completely made up for the movie. 
== Goofs ==
=== Continuity ===
* During action scenes, the goggles Paul and the Fremen wear will go from being on during wider shots, to being nowhere to be seen in close-ups. One might think the visors on the goggles are retractable, but there are several shots in which Paul will have his goggles pulled down around his neck.
* During the final exchange between Paul and Feyd-Rautha, as a bloodied Feyd is slowly pushing his blade towards Paul there is a brief close up shot of Feyd without blood on his face. His face was previously bloodied due to an earlier blow.
* When Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV receives Paul's challenge, he inspects the Atreides seal Paul stamped with his father's ducal signet in the previous shot, opens the scroll to reveal its engraving, and promptly drops it on the ground.
** The scroll remains visibly open when dropped by the emperor and again in the following shot of Irulan picking it up. However, in the next shot, Irulan quickly slides the scroll open to read it. While this highlights the cool prop, the scroll was already completely open when she picked it up, and she has no reason to partially close it only to immediately open it again.
=== Incorrectly regarded as goofs ===
* One of the pillars of Dune's Universe is the absence of any type of advanced computers, summarised in the quasi-religious principle of "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind". The Harkonnen operators are using systems that merely relay information from one place to another, much like the way cameras sent images of the first moon landing back to Earth. It would be easier with the processing units existing in today's world, but computers are not necessary to relay the information from vehicles in the field to controllers at a base. Multiple wars were fought using aircraft, naval vessels, and tanks during the second half of the twentieth century in which similar field information went back and forth without the use of computers.
* During the first extractor attack, a number of Fremen attacked the Sardaukar soldiers on foot with numerous casualties. Once the ornithopter was shot down, the extractor was destroyed with long distance weapons, rendering the Fremen land attack and numerous losses pointless.
* In the fight between Paul and Feyd-Rautha Paul is stabbed in his lower left side. After he turns Feyd-Rautha's blade into his own gut and he dies, Paul then pulls the blade out of his right shoulder.
* When the first extractor lands on the desert, there is already sand above its caterpillars, even before they start rolling on the ground. This was presumably left over from when it was last used ; on a desert planet, vehicles are unlikely to be jet-washed between operations.
* One of the Fremen female warriors calls Paul "Maud' Dib" before he formally chose that name. This takes place when Paul is about to ride the worm for the first time.
* In the final fight, Timothée Chalamet ends up with a knife in his left flank. Then in a subsequent shot, he removes a similar knife from his right shoulder. This is the knife Feyd was stabbing him with. The knife from his flank was taken out off-screen by Paul and used to kill Feyd.
* Paul calls "cousin" to Feyd-Rautha. If Feyd-Rautha is Baron Harkonnen's nephew, and Jessica is Harkonnen's daughter, are Jessica and Feyd-Rautha who are really cousins. Paul would be Feyd-Rautha's second nephew.
=== Revealing mistakes ===
* Several shots feature a variety of in-universe solar eclipses while circular lens flaring remains present, typical of shooting against a bare sun. This means the eclipses were added in post while the ghosting present from the regular sun was left in its unaltered ellipse form. The lens flares should be mirroring the visible ecliptic patterns, e.g. crescent-shaped lens flares during partial phases, and other patterns congenial to the more complex dual moon phases.
Category:Trivia facts