News culture According to Denis Villeneuve, removing this character from Dune 2 was one of the most difficult decisions
Denis Villeneuve had to make drastic decisions to adapt Dune as best as possible. The filmmaker is a big fan of Frank Herbert’s saga, but had to sacrifice this character in order to best realize his vision of the book.
Adjustment, painful work
Adaptation work is never an easy task. Between the faithful transcription of the original work and divergent and entirely assumed screenplay choices, successful adaptations are largely based on such a balance that Denis Villeneuve seems to have found with his work on the two Dune films. But for the filmmaker, this balance is achieved with a certain amount of violence, at the expense of painful sacrifices, as he explained d’Entertainment Weekly
When adapting, there is always some form of violence to the original material. You have to change things, bend them, you have to make painful decisions.
As we know, the two films have some important changes compared to the books in order to offer viewers a story that is easier to digest but can also keep them hooked for several hours. And sometimes Denis Villeneuve even went so far as to delete characters completely to make his adaptation simpler.
A paid sacrifice
In Dune: Part 2 we notice the absence of several characters who are nevertheless more or less important in Frank Herbert’s books, such as Hasimir Fenring, the husband of Lady Margot Fenring, the character played by Léa Seydoux. But for Denis Villeneuve, one absence in particular was deeply painful: that of Thufir Hawat, the Mentat in the service of the House of Atréides, whom we already saw in the first feature film.
One of the most painful decisions for me concerns Thufir Hawat. She’s a character I absolutely adore, but I decided early on that I wanted to do my own Bene Gesserit adaptation of her. This then meant that the Mentats could not be as present as expected, but that is the nature of adaptation.
In the books, Thufir Hawat is imprisoned and then forced to serve House Harkonnen. An entire section of the original story that Denis Villeneuve wanted to avoid in order to focus on Paul and the Bene Gesserit plan. A choice that clearly pays off, as “Dune 2” is currently a box office hit receives rave reviews
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