The Dune: Part Two Scene That Had Florence Pugh 'Dead Terrified'

At the beginning of David Lynch's 1984 adaptation of "Dune," Princess Irulan (Virginia Madsen) narrates directly to the camera, laying out the mythology of Frank Herbert's psychedelic universe as concisely as she can. She talks about the Pashisah Emperor Shaddam IV, the valuable spice Melange, the planet Arrakis, the Fremen, and the foretold coming of a Messiah. "A beginning," she says, "is a very delicate time." Her sentiment is reflected by the filmmakers, who have their work cut out for them visualizing everything Irulan talks about. 

In Denis Villeneueve's 2024 adaptation of the same text — "Dune: Part Two" — Princess Irulan is played by Florence Pugh, and she, too, finds a beginning to be a very delicate time. One of the first times audiences see Irulan in Villeneueve's version, she is likewise dictating the events of the film, this time into a strange cylindrical dictaphone. Villeneuve's version of "Dune" eschews the story's magical, psychedelic elements in favor of political intrigue and Bene Gesserit subterfuge. Irulan, then, keeps track of the massively complicated conflict between House Atreides and House Harkonnen as a matter of diplomatic training. She, like the audience, is just trying to keep up. 

It seems that Irulan's scrambling to keep track of the plot was also felt by actress Pugh. In a recent interview with Collider, Pugh admitted that her first day on set, speaking into her dictaphone, was the most stressful of the shoot. Given what was about to happen in the story, Pugh felt a lot of weight on her shoulders; it was going to be her job to make sure everything was clear for the audience. That was no small task.