In an interview with The New York Times director Denis Villeneuve spoke about his vision of Chani in «Dune: Part Two», which differs from her image in Frank Herbert’s books. He also hinted at the role of Zendaya in «Dune 3», which Villeneuve wrote is writing right now.
So the director explained the fundamental difference between Chani in the movie and the book… by Herbert’s own intentions. The writer allegedly regretted the misinterpretation of the novel by readers.
«Chani — my secret weapon. Frank Herbert was saddened to realize that people perceived the book as a celebration of Paul Atreides. He wanted to write a warning against messianic figures, a warning against mixing religion and politics. I wrote the second movie, trying to be more faithful to Frank Herbert’s intentions than to the book. In the book, Chani is only a follower. I came up with the idea that she disagreed».
According to Villeneuve, the image of Chani in the film provides a perspective from which to look at the «dark» transformation of Paul Atrid. In his mind, this becomes a warning to the viewer «which Frank Herbert wanted». The director also wanted to reveal the idea that Paul does not actually liberate, but rather enslaves the Freemen when he seizes control of them and starts a war.
«This is the tragedy of all tragedies. Like Michael Corleone from science fiction, he becomes the very thing he wanted to avoid. And he will try to find a way to save his soul in the third part of».
The book «Dune Messiah», on which «Dune 3» is based, begins 12 years after the events of the first novel, and Paul and Chani are already together in it. The director hinted at the further development of the plot and where Chani’s anger will go without revealing any details. Probably, the audience will see other scenes that are not in the novels.
«This anger is enormous. I don’t want to reveal what I’m going to do with the third movie. I know exactly what I’m going to do. I’m writing it right now. But there’s a lot of firepower in there, and I’m very happy about this decision».
Another question that is of great concern to the fans of «Dune» — is why Paul’s sister Alia was not born. In the book, she is the one who kills Baron Vladimir Harkonen and is a rather bizarre character: a girl with her mother’s abilities. The director wanted to compress the time of the events from several years to a shorter period, so in the movie, Aliya simply did not have time to be born.
«The idea was to compress the book so that Paul would feel the pressure to win the Freemans’ trust, to start preparing — but not succeed, not have time to launch a real war. Time is against him».
Denis Villeneuve explains his decision to leave Jessica pregnant by following the style of Frank Herbert:
«I think pregnant women look extremely powerful. It was very exciting to harness that power. And usually when you see a pregnant woman on screen, she’s always giving birth. To avoid that moment, to leave her in a state of pregnancy, I thought it was very Frank Herbert-like. I moved away from Baby Killer, but I thought it would be more fresh and original. Honestly, that’s one of the things I’m most proud of about the» adaptation.