Craig Mazin Reveals He Worked On ‘Dune: Part Two’ for a Month Punching Up the Script
Credit: Image of Craig Mazin (left) by Michael Buckner for Variety
In the latest episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Josh Horowitz got the chance to talk with The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin, in a spoiler-filled deep-dive into the HBO series, which is now in the running for multiple Emmy nominations.
As their chat concluded, Horowitz asked the writer about the possibility of working for James Gunn, with whom he’s already collaborated. However, Mazin revealed that while he’s out of the movie business, he will take an occasional gig as a punch-up writer if a big-time director like Denis Villeneuve calls. At that time, he revealed that he will appear in the credits of Dune: Part Two, out this November, after polishing the script for around a month. (Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts co-wrote the script.)
Here is their conversation, which you can check out in video form down below:
MAZIN: “I am out of the movie business, basically. I will work with certain directors when they call because I love them and because they are so brilliant, so if, like, Denis Villeneuve calls, then absolutely. I’m there for, you know, three-four weeks, a month, to work on what you’re working on. But mostly I wanna make my own things and I wanna be in charge of my own things, and that’s what HBO allows me to do.”
HOROWITZ: “Did you just tell me that you did a polish on ‘Dune: Part Two’? Is that what you’re telling me?”
MAZIN: “I am a participating writer in ‘Dune: Part Two’. I will be in the… I came long after… I came in and did a little bit of work. So now they have these… It used to be that you couldn’t even say that, but now they have this additional ‘Literary material’ thing at the end so I am ‘Additional Literary Material.'”
MAZIN: “Anytime Denis makes a movie, you should be excited. He is as kind as he is brilliant. He is a rare one, he’s just remarkable.”
Dune: Part Two is the sequel to, or rather, the second half of the movie we got in theaters in 2021 starring Timothée Chalamet. Part Two will be adapting the second half of the novel, bringing Zendaya’s Chani to the forefront, along with many returning characters like Rebecca Ferguson’s Lady Jessica or Stellan Skarsgård’s Baron Harkonnen, as well as new faces like Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan and Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha.
Craig Mazin has been busy with the world of The Last of Us for a few years now, and it’s not slowing down. In that same conversation, he talked to Horowitz about how he feels very passionate about the mythology and the story ideas presented by both games. After having the chance to bring his full vision to life with the first season, he revealed he is excited about coming back to explore the even deeper themes of The Last of Us Part Two in the seasons to come. (He has said before, and reiterated it here, that the story of the second game is much larger than what they can fit in one season, so they will be splitting it; he just didn’t reveal how.)
Writing on The Last of Us was halted last month due to the WGA strike. At the time, and as Mazin partially confirmed, they were starting the casting process for some key roles in the second season by using scenes from the video game instead of finished scripts. Mazin also said that while they started production on the first season without having finished all ten scripts, he intends to finish writing all of season 2 before cameras start to roll.
Here is the full conversation, though beware there are some spoilers for The Last of Us Part Two mixed in there:
Dune: Part Two will hit theaters on November 3.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
