Director Alejandro Jodorowsky intended Amanda Lear to play Irulan in his planned 1970s film adaptation of Dune, which was never made.[21] Irulan is portrayed by Virginia Madsen in the 1984 film Dune,[22] and by Julie Cox in the 2000 TV miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune[23] and its 2003 sequel, Frank Herbert's Children of Dune.[24] Irulan does not appear in the 2021 film Dune, which covers the first part of the book.[25] The character is expected to appear in the upcoming sequel film Dune: Part Two,[11][26][27] and in March 2022, Florence Pugh entered negotiations to join the film as Irulan.[28][29] Pugh's role was confirmed in May 2022.[30]
The 2000 miniseries, however, invents an extensive subplot for Irulan.[9][33][34] Director John Harrison said that he felt the need to expand Irulan's role because she plays such an important part in later books, and her epigraphs make her a significant presence in the novel.[33] Additionally, the character gave him a window into House Corrino.[33] Actress Julie Cox noted that Harrison made Irulan "more of a love interest and to offset the weirdness of Paul marrying a stranger at the end".[35]
Eralin Meralin Part 2
Besides the final scene, in which Irulan is betrothed to Paul, her only appearance in the miniseries based on an actual excerpt from the novel is her visit to Feyd. However, in the book it is a different Bene Gesserit, Margot Fenring, who visits the Harkonnen heir, on assignment from the Sisterhood to retrieve his genetic material (through conception) for their breeding program. The miniseries does not suggest this as Irulan's motive, particularly since she hands Feyd off to one of her operatives before he can actually sleep with her.
Asher-Perrin called the expansion of Irulan's role in the plot "the smartest change" from the novel, and noted the importance of Irulan as an expository tool in the miniseries. He wrote that "Cox is elegant and cunning with the part, and makes Irulan's own journey every bit as interesting as Paul's on the flip side of the political machine."[36] Austin Jones of Paste wrote, "Julie Cox as Irulan is unquestionably a major highlight. She serves as a sympathetic eye in which to view House Corrino as her father plots with the Harkonnens for the downfall of House Atreides. Many of the performances in the miniseries are quite lacking ... but Cox brings a certain vivacity to an otherwise dense story. Much of the strength in Dune lies in the women guiding the plot from behind-the-scenes, and Irulan is undoubtedly a key player not to be trifled with alongside Jessica and Reverend Mother Mohiam."[9]
Irulan does not appear in Denis Villeneuve's 2021 film Dune, which covers the first part of the book.[25] Villeneuve dispensed with the novel's framing epigraphs by Irulan,[7][39] which according to Ryan Britt of Inverse leaves "certain expository details" and "at least one political and historical side of Dune" missing.[11] David Crow of Den of Geek explained, "Without [Irulan's] interluding anecdotes about the man Paul Atreides will become (or at least is romanticized to be in Irulan's texts), we are left to experience this story as Paul does: chronologically and in real time."[10] Adrienne Westenfeld of Esquire called this a "cinematic" choice, and wrote,"The result is a more fiercely interior experience of Paul's journey to messianic prominence ... [and] to shift any sort of frame device from the royal Princess Irulan to the indigenous Chani is to provide a welcome juxtaposition to the frequent focus on noble political power brokers."[39] 2ff7e9595c
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