Javier Bardem

STILGAR, FREMEN TRIBE LEADER

Who is Stilgar?

Well, Stilgar is the head chief of the people that live deep in the desert of the planet Arrakis, which is also known as Dune. He’s a leader. He’s a fighter. He has a lot of ethics and morals. And he’s taken by the message that a messiah, Paul Atreides, is bringing for him.

Who are the Fremen?

They are kind of protecting their environment and their planet from the abuse that is being taken. So there’s a lot of ethics and morality, and also environmental thinking, in their ways, which I think is brilliant – in the book and in the movie.

How did you find the stillsuits?

Those stillsuits, as they call it, which are the suits that they are wearing, the Fremen, in order to survive in the extreme situation of the desert; in order to recycle everything that is liquid, and that includes saliva and urine

[laughs] Actually, they were built amazingly well. It looks like it’s so heavy you couldn’t walk in it. but actually, once you wear them, you are free to move, and there was kind of a bold, fresh air breeze inside the suit, going in. So it was OK. I thought it was going to be more miserable.