SECRET WAR

Sharon Duncan-brewster is keeping it real as Liet Kynes

So how was your Dune experience?

I found it, if I’m honest, exciting and overwhelming all at the same time. Because for me, newbie on the block, it was quite a big experience. Everything was quadruple anything I’d ever done before. I know that a lot of people thought it was going to be difficult because it’s so intricate and complex. I think it’s a relief for most of us that it’s Denis who’s tackling it, because he’s such a stickler for detail. He’s so respectful of time and giving things space.

What was it like on the set?

Everything is big, my friend. I walked into the palace, the House of Atreides, and I was just astonished at how much detail went into the extremity – everything’s so high. There was one set that felt like it was maybe half the size of a football pitch, and there’s this long walk by myself on my own to reach everybody else. And I’m looking at all these big stars, big stars and me, walking towards them in this huge room, just the detail. When you were walking around set and stopped to look at something, if it was meant to look like stone it even felt like stone, that was how much detail, you’d absolutely swear that it was the real deal. We were face to face with it – it’s not something that just looks great on camera, and only on camera, it was stuff that felt real for us within the space as well.

Did filming in real locations make a difference?

My first day of filming, first day on set, was with Jason Momoa. We were in Jordan in Wadi Rum, and it was just this epic… It’s just vast, outstretched land that goes on forever, that makes you feel so small and insignificant. You’re told this has been here for millions of years, you can see how the sea and the water that was once there has brushed and shaped the stone. You could have done that in greenscreen and this is the one thing that Denis did not want to do. If we could do something for real and something that was a real physical space, that’s what he wanted. Everything that we went through was about experiencing it as well at the same time, and I do think that does create a much more authentic performance and energy.

What was it like working with the stillsuits?

They were definitely snug in places, because that was necessary for them to look right. At first – I won’t lie to you – they took a little while to get used to, especially in the heat, and there are straps here and there that were tugged quite tightly. The way you walk in them, at first it felt sort of like a cowboy kind of motion; you start to find a way to manoeuvre within it that is less chafing. It wasn’t painful, it was just you learned to adapt how you moved and how you hold yourself. Because it’s made for survival and almost warrior-like, it means you did hold yourself with a different stature. This is a real suit that’s supposed to take you to the desert and beyond for over two weeks, so the fact that it took getting used to and it was a little bit uncomfortable to begin with, actually it helped. It helped with the whole reality of what they would have experienced the first time putting it on.

What are you acting with when sandworms are involved?

Still in the desert, but lots of wind machines, and lots of people shouting, as loud as they can, “It’s coming! It’s at 10 o’clock!” So we’re just imagining. And a whole load of dust. I mean, this stuff gets everywhere. There was one scene where I was told, “Look out, just look out!” and literally my eyes were just so full of dust… These are the sides of showbiz that nobody tells you. I was finding bits of sand for months after I got home.