‘It was dreamed, it was designed, now it’s made’
clan led by Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac), assigned to oversee the harvesting of the drug ‘spice’, the most valuable substance in the galaxy. Leto arrives on desert planet Arrakis, dominated by giant sandworms and tribes of desert warriors, with his concubine Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) and their son (Chalamet). Chalamet is looking stunned because the director who last time out made 2017’s colossal sequel Blade Runner 2049 has gone one bigger.
‘We tried to design a movie that will be as immersive as possible,’ Villeneuve says. ‘It has been dreamed, it has been designed, it has been made, it has been shot thinking Imax.’
When he arrived at the premiere the day before we chat, Chalamet ran the gauntlet of thousands of screaming young girls, his fandom growing hugely since he came to stardom for his Oscar-nominated role in 2017’s Call Me By Your Name. Dune is the first blockbuster he’s fronted and he grew up on set, says Villeneuve.
‘I have kids of the same age – I was working with him like he was one of my kids,’ he says. ‘It helped me tremendously, by the way, to be a father, to work with Timothée. It helped me understand his spirit, his vulnerability, the way he deals with the work. We have a beautiful friendship now. I deeply love him.’
Alongside Chalamet, Villeneuve assembled an all-star cast, including Aquaman’s Jason Momoa (heroic fighter Duncan Idaho), Avengers co-stars Josh Brolin (Gurney Halleck, Leto’s loyal bodyguard) and Stellan Skarsgård (evil Baron Vladimir Harkonnen), and Guardians Of The Galaxy’s Dave Bautista (sadistic Glossu Rabban). But it was when Zendaya arrived on set that Chalamet got excited.
‘I was having fun with all the adults and I don’t want to be ageist,’ he grins, ‘but when Zendaya got there… she understands where I’m coming from!’
The star of the recent Spider-Man movies, Zendaya is just nine months younger than Chalamet (they are both 25) but is the perfect fit for Chani, a native warrior from Arrakis. ‘When Zendaya came in and read... she was Chani,’ Villeneuve purrs.
The relationship between Paul and Chani, her eyes turned bright blue by the ‘spice’ in the planet’s atmosphere, only really gets going towards the end. Why? Because Villeneuve was wise enough to adapt just the first half of Herbert’s giant book. Now Chalamet is hoping Dune will do enough box-office that studio Warner Bros bankroll part II.
‘I hope we get to do the second one,’ he says. ‘That would be a dream.’
On an epic scale.
I was working with Timothée like he was one of my kids. It helped me tremendously