Dune: Josh Brolin’s Role Would’ve Been Better With His Big Cut Book Scene

Warning: the following contains SPOILERS for Dune.

Dune 2021 couldn’t be a 100% faithful interpretation of the book primarily because of the limitations of the film format, and one of the omitted scenes from the book involving Josh Brolin’s Gurney Halleck would’ve given the character much more depth. Despite the fact that Denis Villeneuve’s Dune eschewed many elements from the book in order to keep his Dune adaptation under two and a half hours, he did keep many of the right elements from the first half of Frank Herbert’s novel. That being said, the cut book scene involving Gurney Halleck probably shouldn’t have ended on the cutting room floor.

In the books, Gurney Halleck is not just the Warmaster for the Atreides army. Apart from having a reputation for being efficiently lethal on the battle field, Gurney is also famous for his skill on the baliset, a nine-stringed guitar in the Dune universe, and being a pretty good singer. As Jason Momoa’s Duncan Idaho describes Gurney in the book: “He could be killing you while he was singing and never miss a note.”

Dune director Denis Villeneuve has revealed that they actually shot a scene of Gurney singing and playing the baliset. Josh Brolin’s Gurney performs a song that was written by Frank Herbert and screenwriter Jon Spaihts, and musically arranged by Hans Zimmer. As Villeneuve himself explains via CinemaBlend, removing the said scene from the final theatrical cut was a painful decision:

“When I make a movie, things that I cut out of the movie, they are dead to me. It’s like, ‘OK, not in the movie? Dead.’ The song from Gurney Halleck was breaking my heart. And by itself, it’s so beautiful. I had to cut it out for numerous reasons. And boy, that was painful. But, if there’s a part two! (laughs) And I love the way Josh. One thing at a time.”

Dune rightly depicts Gurney as a stern soldier who’s loyal to the Atreides. However, by failing to show off Gurney’s musical talents as a bard, the character is robbed of his true depth and dimension. Gurney is stern on the battlefield, but he can be very social when the situation calls for it, which isn’t exactly how he was depicted in Dune 2021. In the Dune books, it’s even said that he sometimes breaks out the baliset and sings songs for honored guests of the Atreides.

Dune 2 will be in theaters on October 20, 2023, and Villeneuve could use the sequel as an opportunity to finally show off Gurney’s musical talents. In Dune, the baliset can actually be seen beside Gurney’s bed, during the moment when an Atreides soldier wakes Gurney to inform him that they’re being attacked. Considering how Gurney stays alive throughout the parts of the Dune saga which Villeneuve plans to adapt, Gurney might just pick up the baliset in the sequels.

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