The Big Picture

• Hans Zimmer's iconic music for the Dune franchise earned him a second Academy Award for Best Original Score in 2021.
• Dune star Josh Brolin holds a writing credit for a tune in the second film.
• Brolin filmed a song for the first film, however, it was cut from the final version of the movie.

Hans Zimmer truly outdid himself when he sat down to compose the now-iconic music for Denis Villeneuve’s Dune franchise. Having previously served as the composer for such films as Gladiator, the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, Interstellar, The Dark Knight trilogy, and more, his work on the first film, which arrived in 2021, would earn Zimmer his second Academy Award for Best Original Score, following a 1994 win for The Lion King. But, did you know that Dune star Josh Brolin actually holds a writing credit for a tune in the second film? During Collider’s Barnes & Noble Q&A for Dune: Exposures moderated by Steve Weintraub, Brolin revealed that after a song he sang in the first film was cut, Villeneuve hooked him up with some one-on-one time with Zimmer to pen a track for the follow-up film.

As those who read the books penned by Frank Herbert will know, Brolin’s character, Gurney Halleck, was quite the bard who, along with his impressive and legendary fighting skills, could also bring a tear to the eye of any man within ear’s distance when he began to sing. The Outer Range actor says that he poured that spirit of the character into his performance and that in Dune: Part One, his vision almost made it into the final cut.

“In the first one, we did a song, and I sang in front of, like, 30 guys. I actually like the song. I didn’t write it, but I like the song. I did it in front of [Jason] Momoa. [Denis Villeneuve] called me the night before, and he said, ‘Can you learn this for tomorrow morning?’ Which he tends to do. Like, ‘I had a dream…’ I’m like, ‘Oh, fucking dreams.’ But I learned it, I did it, and then he felt super bad. He called me and he was like, ‘I have to cut the scene. Tonally, it’s not right.’ And I was like, ‘If it’s bad, just tell me. I don’t care.’ But he said, ‘No it’s actually really good, but it’s tonally wrong.’”

Josh Brolin’s Second Shot at Adding More Of His Voice To ‘Dune’

Even though his singing performance in Dune: Part One may have just been too off for Villeneuve to work into the final cut, Brolin would have a second shot in Dune: Part Two. And with it, the actor not only got the chance to work with Zimmer, but he also nabbed a co-song-writing credit. Explaining how it all came to fruition, Brolin said:

“Then he had me write this song with Hans Zimmer for the second one, I think maybe as an apology. I’m not positive. But that was a nice thing to be able to do. And Hans gave me credit for the song - partial credit, not all the credit. Again, man, you’re doing this for like four months, and you’re out in the middle of nowhere. Things get weird there.”

You can hear Brolin’s co-composed tune in Dune: Part Two as it’s now available to rent or buy on digital and expect to see more of Gurney Halleck as Villeneuve is hard at work developing Dune 3.

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