Dune director is happy that Stilgar (Javier Bardem) became the movie's comedy MVP
By Dan Selcke
Dune: Part Two recently crossed the $700 million mark at the box office, firmly establishing itself as the highest grossing movie of 2024 so far. As we wait for director Denis Villeneuve to make Dune: Part Three ("I’m writing it right now"), he talked to The New York Times about some of the more unexpected aspects of Part Two, including how the character of Stilgar — the fundamentalist Fremen leader played by Javier Bardem — became the movie's biggest source of comedy.
Dune isn't a very cheery series, so audiences were happy to laugh at the ultra-serious Stilgar, who believed so strongly that newcomer Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) was a promised messiah that he ignored all evidence to the contrary, including Paul himself saying he was wrong. That's just more evidence of how humble the messiah really is!
"The idea to bring humor to Stilgar was to make him lovable, to feel the humanity in that character," Villeneuve said. "He’s not an austere figure, he has a big heart. But his beliefs, his faith, his reactions bring humor — and that is something I love about making a sci-fi film, because I can talk about that without offending people because it’s a fake religion. I designed all the prayers myself, so I know it’s fake. I find Stilgar very funny. And when people laugh, I’m happy because that was the intention."
That said, things turn grim towards the end of the movie when Paul embraces his role as messiah and leads the Fremen people on a galactic crusade that ends in the deaths of billions of people. So while we laugh at Stilgar's unshakable faith early on, it definitely has a dark side. "For me, he is the most tragic figure of all," Villeneuve said.
Denis Villenueve's guide to Fremen sex
As long as we're talking about funny stuff, lets talk about sex. We know the Fremen have it — Paul and his paramour Chani (Zendaya) get down in the movie — but how does it intersect with Fremen norms about conserving as much moisture as possible? How do you exchange bodily fluids under those conditions?
"As long as you don’t lose your humidity, you can kiss. It’s an exchange of fluids — an act of love, when you think about it. Fremens love to kiss," Villeneuve said.
"You cannot have sex outside, for sure. But they are very sexual. I suspect that all sexual intercourse happens in environments that are protected from losing moisture. When they are in their sietches [or caves] underground, those are sealed. You don’t need to wear stillsuits inside them. We can deduce from that there is no problem to have sex in a sietch."
So there you go: everything about Fremen sex you always wanted to know but were too afraid to ask.
A third Dune movie from this team is on its way, but we don't have a firm timetable in place yet. Given how big a hit Part Two was, I'm sure Warner Bros. Discovery wants to step on the gas.
Next. Every actor who's played Paul, Chani and other characters from Dune: Who did it best?. Every actor who's played Paul, Chani and other characters from Dune: Who did it best?. dark
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