I have bad news.
We were so close to hearing a well-known Québécois profanity come out of the mouth of a character from Dune, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
At the recent Montreal premiere of Dune: Part Two, Gentilly, Quebec-born director Denis Villeneuve gave a series of interviews on the red carpet with local media. When asked by Buzzfeed Canada if there were any French-Canadian easter eggs in the film, Villeneuve responded, rather humorously, by noting that he did indeed try to do so: with the curse word “tabarnak.”
@buzzfeedcanada Director of Dune Denis Villeneuve (and Quebecker) reveals! #dune #duneparttwo #denisvilleneuve #dunepart2 #timotheechalamet
“I was convinced that if I was able to put the word ‘tabarnak’ in one of the movies, it would please the people from Montreal,” he explained. He said he even tried to have Oscar nominee Josh Brolin, who plays House Atreides War Master Gurney Halleck in both of Villeneuve’s Dune films, say the word.
“I asked Josh Brolin to use the word at one point and it didn’t work out. It doesn’t live well in the mouth of an American. I’m sorry, I failed, I failed,” he said.
While Villeneuve didn’t mention why he pitched “tabarnak” to Brolin, specifically, it’s easy to see why it would be fun for a stern warrior and mentor figure like Gurney to use a French-Canadian swear word.
If nothing else, though, Quebecers can rejoice in the film being a major success story for homegrown talent — not just for Villeneuve, but for collaborators like the Oscar-winning Montreal-born production designer Patrice Vermette. Films like Dune: Part Two can also help inspire up-and-coming Quebec filmmakers.
And hopefully, one of Villeneuve’s next projects — which include Cleopatra with Zendaya, an adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s sci-fi novel Rendezvous With Rama and, hopefully, Dune Messiah — will find a place for tabarnak.
Via: Cult MTL
