I Discovered Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ Script. ‘Dune: Half Two’ Is Higher

As with the e book, the script begins with the gom jabbar scene between Paul Atreides and Reverend Mom Mohiam, besides on this model the Atreides have already made their trek from Caladan to Arrakis. Proper after Paul passes his take a look at with the field, the 4 clever males of Thufir, Yueh, Gurney, and Duncan current Duke Leto with a wounded Fremen and three others assassinated by the Harkonnens.

HAWAT

Assassins! They trapped three of those poor fellows over there past the cliffs.

HALLECK

There was a worm. We needed to run for it.

You possibly can see the issue: Proper off the bat, Herbert is utilizing dialog to debate motion scenes that might be much better to see than to listen to about. He’s additionally introducing ideas left and proper (the Bene Gesserit order, the Kwizatz Haderach, sandworms, Fremen, Harkonnens) with out giving any context to them.

As in Lynch’s movie (and the e book itself), we get these beautiful inner-thought voiceovers. Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac in Half One) thinks to himself, “We’ve been on this damned planet solely two days and already the Harkonnens are at work!” Typically these VOs comprise psychic conversations between two characters, a way Villeneuve makes use of a number of instances in Half Two, as between Feyd (Austin Butler) and Girl Fenring (Léa Seydoux).

The stage-play-esque stretches of barefaced expository dialog proceed unabated when Herbert’s script introduces the world of the hedonist Harkonnens, who covet a globe of Arrakis made out of jewels of their Guild Ship adorned with pornographic work. Introducing a personality not in Villeneuve’s movie, they’re proven torturing Wanna with an “agony field” as Feyd primarily videotapes it for Wanna’s husband, Physician Yueh, so he’ll do their bidding in opposition to Home Atreides. She calls them “monsters,” with the Baron articulating, “In fact we’re, my pricey Wanna. We are going to do something to regain our planet and its valuable spice … We should rule Dune and the spice. All of us want the spice. It lengthens our lives and also you Bene Gesserit witches want the spice to your goals.” Not fairly Paddy Chayefsky.

Stilgar arrives at Leto’s Nice Corridor with a complete contingent (together with Mapes, Kynes, and Chani) to extract the water from the useless Fremen utilizing a deathstill. Paul tells his mom, Jessica, that he acknowledges Chani from his goals, prophesying that she’s going to bind him to the Fremen. Stilgar presents his individuals’s water to Paul, whom he immediately acknowledges because the Mahdi (the messiah of legend, although it’s by no means defined past that he could also be “the Shortening of the Method”). Duncan joins the Fremen as an olive department, and Mapes joins the Atreides as a home servant. On her means out of the corridor, Chani provides a kind of backward glances to Paul that Zendaya does so often within the new motion pictures.

After Wanna unexpectedly dies throughout torture, the Baron plans to make use of Yueh to kill Paul with a hunter seeker whereas preserving Yueh’s spouse in a “crystallis” (a crystal case). Rely Fenring (who will lead the Emperor’s Sardaukar to assault the Atreides disguised in Harkonnen uniforms) arrives on the Guild Ship. Disgusted by Harkonnens and appearing solely within the Emperor’s curiosity, he takes the recording of Wanna’s torture handy off to Yueh.

On Arrakis, the Duke’s remaining troopers and baggage (together with atomics) are delivered, with Gurney enjoying accompaniment on his Baliset. Herbert was reportedly insistent that the enjoying of this instrument seem within the movie, one thing which was filmed however reduce from Lynch’s movie and Villeneuve’s first Dune, however which lastly seems in Half Two. Herbert then consists of the scene the place Duke Leto rescues the carryall crew from the worm, virtually beat-for-beat like Lynch’s, although Villeneuve gave the scene extra juice by having Paul be practically killed. One nice second acknowledges the injustice served to the Fremen as two of them (guides) attempt to board Leto’s ornithopter:

KYNES (VO)

We’ve got no room for them.

PAUL (VO)

There’s a capsule historical past of the Fremen!

We get a cool scene of Duncan combating actually back-to-back with Stilgar in opposition to a squad of Harkonnen amid the dunes. Stilgar chastises Duncan for utilizing his defend (it attracts the worm), then they seize a Harkonnen who warns them there’s a traitor of their midst. The scene the place Mapes cuts herself to point out fealty to Jessica is there, as is the scene of Paul and Gurney practice-fighting (though sans shields) and the hunter seeker’s assault on Paul.

As a result of Herbert can not let a lot go, we get the banquet scene that has been unnoticed of each theatrical variations of Dune as a result of the political machinations it displays usually are not important to the plot (Leto goes to die quickly anyway). The banquet winds up consuming up practically 25 pages of the script earlier than it’s interrupted by Rely Fenring’s assault on the Atreides fortress with the help of Yueh decreasing the shields.