“I always have been, since I was born as a filmmaker, concerned, inspired, and sensitive about the female condition and women’s relationship with power,” Villeneuve tells
Den of Geek when we sit to chat with him ahead of
Dune: Part Two‘s release. “Why? Because I had been raised in the ‘60s and ‘70s in a feminist environment, which is something that I love. So what is specific about the way I approached
Dune? I would say it’s probably women. That’s the first thing I said to Eric Roth, who started to do the adaptation at the beginning. He asked me to summarize in a word what I wanted to do, and I said, ‘Women!’”
The director continues, “I want the movie to be an adaptation about the Bene Gesserit. I want the Bene Gesserit to be at the center of the epicenter of this adaptation. It’s one of the things I feel is the most accurate with our time.”
The main Bene Gesserit Sisterhood characters of Jessica (
Rebecca Ferguson), Reverend Mother Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling), Lady Fenring (
Léa Seydoux), and Princess Irulan (
Florence Pugh) all have essential parts to play in the labyrinthine events which unfold in
Dune: Part Two. Yet there’s another character, Chani (
Zendaya), whose importance goes well beyond her part as Paul’s central Fremen ally and eventual lover/mother of his children in the books.
“In the book, Chani is a believer,” Villeneuve explains. “In this adaptation, Chani is part of a group of Fremen that don’t believe in this idea of a messianic figure. I did that for the audience to feel that the Fremen are in a society that is more complex, that everybody does not believe in the Bene Gesserit idea. This contrast gave me the possibility to have some perspective on Paul at the end.”
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