Long before Denis Villeneuve’s epic films came to theaters, many other talented directors tried— and failed—to bring Frank Herbert’s seminal 1965 novel to the screen. One of them finally did in 1984, but David Lynch’s Dune is remembered as a fascinating disaster rather than a great movie. Over the years, though, as the film’s status as a cult classic grew, countless fans have tried to figure out what went wrong with a movie that had so much promise. One even put together their own exhaustive “SpiceDivercut” cut to try and fix the film’s problems. But no version, official or otherwise, has ever included something author Max Evry discovered while working on his book A Masterpiece In Disarray (David Lynch’s Dune – An Oral History). Actress Molly Wryn sent him a never-before-seen deleted scene featuring her Fremen character Harah with Lady Jessica and Alia Atreides.
Now Evry is ready to share this lost moment, and Nerdist has your exclusive first-look at the fully restored moment. And we also have a video showing how our very own editor and Dune expert Matt Caron spiced up the footage to make it worthy of Muad’Dib.
Evry’s comprehensive oral history features interviews with the cast and crew of Lynch’s Dune. That includes insight from Molly Wryn, whose role as Harah was all but cut from the original film. But she did more than just talk about her experiences working on the movie. Wryn sent Evry one of her never-before-seen deleted sequences. It features her, Francesca Annis’s Lady Jessica, and the young Alicia Witt as Alia. It’s a moment adapted from Herbert’s novel. It’s when Harah explains to Jessica why the highly-advanced toddler scares the Fremen.
Wryn even provided an introduction to the scene where discussed her time on the movie. Despite all her work her part ultimately became one of just a background character. You can see her here behind the Fremen’s new Reverend Mother from the theatrical cut.
In addition to enhancing the scene’s quality, our talented editor and lifelong Dune diehard fan Matt Caron also put together a video showing the process used to restore the scene. He took a low-quality VHS recording of the original workprint and enhanced it to high-definition quality. He also got an important coloring assist from his friend Anthony Tocchio. That made it possible to give the scene the signature blue eyes sported by those who live among the spice melange on Arrakis. The end result is a clip that looks like it arrived in theaters in 1984.
This restored scene will also appear in ViaVision’s upcoming Blu-ray of Lynch’s Dune. That special release will include a commentary track by Evry himself on the “Alan Smithee” cut of the movie. That extended TV version is the one Lynch refused to have his name on.
Would he have felt differently if it included this long-lost scene with Harah? We don’t know about Lynch. But we’re positive fans who have always wondered what his Dune could have been will be glad to finally see this clip.