Christopher Nolan admits he struggled with one part of Dune: Part Two

Christopher Nolan has praised Dune: Part Two as “miraculous” – though admitted he found one aspect of the sequel difficult to keep up with.

The Oscar-winning filmmaker recently moderated a conversation with director Denis Villeneuve who directed 2021’s Dune and its 2024 sequel.

The critically acclaimed films are an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s bestselling book series of the same name; the first, Dune, was published in 1965.

Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Austin Butler, and Stellan Skarsgård are among its star-studded cast.

Speaking with Villeneuve, as reported by Variety, Nolan called Dune: Part Two was a “miraculous job of an adaptation, of taking that second half and making an incredible conclusion of the story”.

The Oppenheimer director, however, confessed he did have trouble keeping up with one aspect of the sequel.

He joked: “I have a lot of questions about how you did that, starting with: Usul, Muad’Dib, Paul, Lisan al Gaib. How many f***ing names can you give one character and expect us to keep up with it?”

Chalamet’s character in the film, Paul Atreides, goes by several other names throughout the film’s nearly three-hour duration.

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Although Nolan was joking, he went on to say there is “a serious question” behind the remark.

“Most adaptations, it’s a process of condensing things and simplifying things,” he said. “My feeling in watching both films, in particular the second film, is that this was an act of exploring a little further and burrowing into the complications and embracing those and the world building beyond even what’s in the book.”

Nolan is not the only fan of Villeneuve’s take on the books. In March, Spielfberg called the sequel “one of the most brilliant science-fiction films I’ve ever seen”.

“Let me start by saying there are filmmakers who are the builders of worlds,” Spielberg said at the time, shortly after the film’s release. “It’s not a long list and we know who a lot of them are. Starting with [Georges] Méliès and Disney and Kubrick, George Lucas. Ray Harryhausen I include in that list. Fellini built his own worlds. Tim Burton.

“Obviously Wes Anderson, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, Guillermo del Toro. The list goes on but it’s not that long of a list, and I deeply, fervently believe that you are one of its newest members… And that scene surfing the sandworms is one of the greatest things I have ever seen. Ever!”

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Critics were similarly taken with the film, which has emerged as an Oscar frontrunner – three years after the first Dune movie was said to have been snubbed by the Academy Awards.

One legendary director, however, has been far less complimentary about the film – which he said he has no plans to watch.

Earlier this month, Quentin Tarantino said he was not interested in watching remakes, including any remake of David Lynch’s 1984 original Dune starring Kyle MacLachlan.

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“I saw [Lynch’s] Dune a couple of times. I don’t need to see that story again,” Tarantino said. “I don’t need to see spice worms. I don’t need to see a movie that says the word ‘spice’ so dramatically.”

“It’s one after another of this remake and that remake,” the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood filmmaker explained. “People ask, ‘Have you seen Dune? Have you seen [Netflix’s] Ripley? Have you seen [Disney Plus’s] Shogun? And I’m like no, no, no, no. There’s six or seven Ripley books. If you do one again, why are you doing the same one that they’ve done twice already?

“I’ve seen that story twice before, and I didn’t really like it in either version, so I’m not really interested in seeing it a third time. If you did another story, that would be interesting enough to give it a shot anyway.”