Tim Blake Nelson is 'heartbroken' over his character being cut from “Dune: Part Two”
The actor shot one scene for the film, in an undisclosed role.
With Dune: Part Two finally bringing spice back to theaters, fans of the sci-fi saga have begun to notice that a few faces are missing from the Denis Villeneuve-directed sequel.
Among them is Tim Blake Nelson, the Ballad of Buster Scruggs actor who was previously cast in an undisclosed role, but never appears in the movie. Nelson himself has already voiced his disappointment about his single scene being left out of the movie’s final cut.
“I don't think I'm at liberty to say what the scene was,” Nelson recently told MovieWeb. “I'd leave that to Denis, if he wants to talk about it. I had a great time over there shooting it. And then he had to cut it because he thought the movie was too long.”
He added, “I am heartbroken over that, but there's no hard feelings. I loved it, and I can't wait to do something else with him and we certainly plan to do that.
Representatives for Villenueve did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images; Niko Tavernise/Warner Bros.
Tim Blake Nelson and Timothee Chalamet in DuneNeither Nelson nor Villenueve have disclosed the role, but fans speculate he was slated to play Count Fenring, husband to Lady Margot (Léa Seydoux) who also serves as a friend, advisor and assassin for Emperor Shaddam (Christopher Walken). Perhaps if Villeneuve gets to fulfill his ambition of making a third film based on Frank Herbert's Dune Messiah, Nelson will get another chance to appear in the franchise.
As fans of Hebert’s novels know all too well, Fenring is not the only character who didn’t make the cut. Though both parts of Villeneuve’s sprawling adaptation are over two hours long, not every element from the novels could be incorporated. The filmmaker, a hard-core Dune fan himself who first read the books at 13-years-old, previously told EW that making cuts was one of the most difficult parts of bringing the story to life.
"When you adapt, there's always some kind of violence toward the original material. You have to change things, you have to bend, you have to make painful choices," Villeneuve said. Of the character portrayed by Stephen McKinley Henderson in the first film, he added, "One of the most painful choices for me on this one was Thufir Hawat."
While Thufir survives the massacre of House Atreides in the novel, the sequel makes no mention of him and Henderson does not return.
"He's a character I absolutely love, but I decided right at the beginning that I was making a Bene Gesserit adaptation,” Villeneuve explained. “That meant that Mentats are not as present as they should be, but it's the nature of the adaptation."
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