The Dune Sex Scenes Denis Villeneuve Kept Out For A PG-13 Rating Sound Wild
While speaking to The New York Times, "Dune" and "Dune: Part Two" director Denis Villeneuve opened up about how far he could go with some of the sequel's scenes ... and when it comes to the sex scene between Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his Fremen lover Chani (Zendaya), Villeneuve showed some apparent restraint.
Initially, interviewer Amy Nicholson asked Villeneuve about the line where Chani says that Paul "sand-walks like a drunk lizard" (sand-walking is the only safe way to travel in the Arrakis desert lest one disturb the lethal sandworms). Villeneuve confirmed that, yes, there is alcohol on Arrakis, and went into more detail: in the book, there are Fremen parties, even some orgies involving spice. I didn't bring that into the movies because it's PG-13."
Because of the severe lack of water on Arrakis, Nicholson notes that while spitting is a sign of respect, it's considered wasteful to cry and spare the moisture. So what about kissing, as Paul and Chani do many times during "Dune: Part Two?" As the director put it, "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."
Not only that, but the brief scene we see of a tryst between Paul and Chani has some basis in Herbert's lore as well: "[Fremens on Arrakis] 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."
Paul and Chani's love blossoms during Dune: Part Two
Based on the fact that Denis Villeneuve can market future "Dune" films to a much wider audience if he maintains that PG-13 rating, it makes sense that he might want to keep any scenes between Paul and Chani tame, as he did in "Dune: Part Two." After only seeing visions of Zendaya's Chani in the first "Dune" film, Paul finally meets her and the Fremen people in the wild desert of Arrakis as he travels alongside his mother Lady Jessica (a formidable Rebecca Ferguson) as a refugee of war. The two strike up a friendship — though it's reluctant on Chani's part, as she inherently mistrusts outsiders to Arrakis — that becomes something more, and soon, the two are decidedly together.
The one sex scene between Paul and Chani implies the action but cuts respectfully away from any nudity, simply showing the two together briefly. Unfortunately for fans of Paul and Chani, though, their relationship runs its course in many ways by the end of "Dune: Part Two," thanks in large part to Paul's thirst for power and acceptance of the title of "Lisan al Gaib," a term used for a prophet. So what happens, exactly, between Chani and Paul?
A third Dune film will change Paul and Chani's relationship forever
At the end of "Dune: Part Two," Paul does the one thing he knows will drive Chani away — he accepts the prophecy believed by Fremens like Stilgar (Javier Bardem) and accepts the mantle of Lisan al Gaib, defeating his nemesis (and first cousin once removed) Feyd-Rautha, the heir to House Harkonnen played by Austin Butler. Then, he gives a "rousing" (and terrifying) speech about raising a holy war, while Chani watches in the crowd, aghast ... to say nothing of how, after defeating Feyd-Rautha, Paul demands the hand of the Emperor's daughter Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh, aside Christopher Walken as the Emperor himself).
"He betrayed her in many ways," Denis Villeneuve tells the outlet of Chani's pain at the end of the film and her subsequent escape into the desert. "But the big thing for Chani is that it's not about love. It's about the fact that he becomes the figure that will keep the Fremen in their mental jail. A leader that is not there to free the Fremen, but to control them. That's the tragedy of all tragedies. Like the Michael Corleone of sci-fi, he becomes what he wanted to avoid. And he will try to find a way to save his soul in the third part."
Fans will have to wait until "Dune: Messiah" eventually releases to find out more, but based on Villeneuve's comments, the film will still stay away from particularly explicit sex scenes.