Dune director cast Timothée Chalamet because of his “insane charisma”

Dune director Denis Villeneuve talks about the difficulties he’s having finishing the movie in quarantine. Fingers crossed, everyone.

Dune is one of the most anticipated movies of 2020…provided it actually arrives in 2020. The coronavirus has played merry hell with the theatrical release schedule, and no release date is safe.

If Dune does get delayed, it’s possible it’ll be a blessing in disguise, because apparently director Denis Villeneuve is having a hell of a time working on it from home. “I was planning to go back and shoot some elements later because I wanted to readjust the movie,” he said in a (remote) video interview promoting the Shanghai International Film Festival. “I needed time. At the time I didn’t know that it would be a pandemic…as we were about to go back to do those elements.”

"The impact was that it crushed my schedule right now. It will be a sprint to finish the movie on time right now, because we were allowed to go back to shoot those elements in a few weeks…it meant also that I have to finish some elements of the movie, like VFX and the editing, being in Montreal as my crew stayed in Los Angeles."

With today’s technology, you can do a lot of film work remotely, but when it comes to stuff like editing, Villeneuve has discovered that the personal touch goes a long way. “I realize how much editing is like playing music with someone and you need to be in the same room,” he said. “There’s something about the interaction, human interaction, the spontaneity, the energy in the room. I really miss not being in the same room as my editor….it’s very, very painful.”

Villeneuve and Walker have worked together for a long time and have a close working relationship. Working together over a long distance…it’s just not the same. “Maybe one of the reasons is that the editor is…also a psychiatrist,” Villeneuve mused. “He’s the one dealing with my OCD and my panic attacks and my fears, and receives my joys. In the future, if something like that ever happens again, I will definitely make sure my editor is close to me.”

Oh lord, can we please not contemplate something like this happening in the future? Once in a lifetime is plenty.

One of the elements of Dune that’s set in stone is Timothée Chalamet’s performance as Paul Atreides, an off-world transplant who comes to the titular desert planet to rule it with his aristocratic family. Long story short, things go seriously sideways and Paul has grow up very fast.

With buzzy roles in stuff like Call Me By Your Name and Little Women, Chalamet is definitely a hot property in Hollywood right now, and Villeneuve sees why. “He is a phenomenal actor. He is someone that has a lot of depth, someone that is very mature for his age because Paul Atreides is an old soul in a young body, and Timothée has that… Also, he has features that remind me of old school Hollywood stars. He’s a real movie star. He has that insane charisma. Insane charisma. You put Timothée in front of a camera and it’s an explosion.”

Villeneuve also had some interesting things to say about Jason Momoa, who plays Paul’s sword master Duncan Idaho. Villeneuve explained that Momoa “was someone that I chose for his bohemian relationship with adventure and his elegance onscreen. And, at the same time, his fantastic smile where we see that he has this insane charisma on the camera. The way he’s like a ballet dancer when he fights, and he portrays one of the best fighters in the galaxy, so I needed that kind of knighthood, [that] kind of elegance and bravado and sense of humor.”

Let’s hope that charisma pays off when Dune hits theaters on December 18. Cross your fingers.

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h/t IndieWire