It has been confirmed. Dune: Part Two has been properly Kathleen Kennedy’d with Zendaya’s Fremen character Chani. Originally set for a November 3, 2023 debut, the sequel got moved to March 15, 2024 amidst the strikes, then moved ahead two weeks to now. Unlike its predecessor, which streamed simultaneously on HBO’s Max and US theatres, the sequel gets an exclusive big-screen treatment stateside, no streaming.
Shooting kicked off July 18, 2022, scattered across Budapest, Abu Dhabi, Jordan, and Italy, wrapping by December 2022. The first preview trailer of Dune: Part Two with Zendaya dropped on May 3, 2023, with a follow-up on June 29, 2023, which gave us a first look at Emperor Shaddam IV. The last trailer hit December 12, 2023, hinting at sequel-sized action. There were already hints that Dune 2 with Zendaya has been Kathleen Kennedy’d.
It appears that Dune fans are in for a disappointment. Dune: Part Two has been Kathleen Kennedy’d. They put a chick in it and made it lame and gay. It is going to be heavy on the feels. Director Villeneuve spilled to Empire, harping on the Chani (Zendaya) – Paul love saga: “At the very core is a love story between Paul and Chani,” and added “How Paul will gain her trust, how she will open her heart to him, and how they will find a way to free Chani’s (Zendaya) world from the Harkonnen grip. It’s a much more emotional movie.”
On Paul’s journey, Villeneuve hints at power and peril: “He has the power to change things, but he knows that if he does so, it will create an astronomical amount of violence and he will become a kind of dictator. He’s trying to find a way to avoid that ominous future – that’s the burden upon his shoulders.” So will Paul have the juice to do what it takes to shake things up? Maybe, but of course only because strong independent womanz showed him the way. Rebecca Ferguson reprises her role as Lady Jessica, Paul’s mother.
While Part One was about Paul (Timothée Chalamet’s), Part Two flips the script, spotlighting Zendaya’s Fremen, Chani. Villeneuve waxes that Chani’s (Zendaya) got a beefier role in Dune: Part Two, stretching past the book’s bounds: “as the movie progresses, there’s a shift in the main character, and Chani becomes my reference as a point of view.” So stunning and brave.
Zendaya, talking to Total Film, nods to Villeneuve’s feminist simping: “what Denis does very well is take the female characters more deeply into consideration” in a way that was rarely the case for science fiction in the ’60s. He was really able to build out a strong sense of [Chani’s] own views and life. It wasn’t entirely like she’s at the will of who she’s in love with. I did feel a particular sense of care for what Chani represents in his films.” Yes, it is going to be that lame and gay.
Paul’s mom, Lady Jessica, played by Rebecca Ferguson, also gets the love. Villeneuve insists that he knows better than the actual author of the book, and believe’s that she’s the story’s mastermind, and used the Kathleen Kennedy method by beefing up her presence from the book: “Strangely, Jessica’s more in the background in the second part [of the novel] – I thought that was not proper. She’s still Lady Jessica, the main architect of the story. I thought that was a very powerful idea that was not sustained in the book. I made sure that she has the character presence in the second part.”
Dune: Part Two has been thoroughly Kathleen Kennedy’d. It opens 1 March 2024 in theatres.
No it hasn’t been “Kathleen Kennedy’d” Jack. It always how they market the movie to the entertainment media complex.
Based on what we’ve seen the last ten years, can we really dismiss the possibility that the filmmakers have indeed soiled the property with agendas?
I skipped the first one. Used to, when I’d see a classic favorite being adapted into film, I celebrated! Now it’s cause for grieving.
Part 2 is now inflicted upon us. Unlike you gents, I think it’s most satisfying that the producers are trying to lure women in with more female-engaging elements. I think men tend to forget that we too have money and tend to spend it on things that, at the very least, don’t insult us. In this case, what you guys myopically call the sad addition of “feminist narratives”, I call “desperately trying to keep women engaged and willing to pay for sitting through a narrative whose view of women’s roles in the future are irritating, secondary and profoundly unsatisfying.” This is how many women, including myself, felt about Dune when we first read it. Sadly, not enough could possibly change from the original narrative to get me to part with my time or money watching it. I’d rather enjoy myself.