Dune star Rebecca Ferguson is almost done reading Dune

Dune hasn’t opened in the U.S. yet, but it’s tearing up the international box office, having already made over $100 million, per Deadline. Among the lucky folks to have already seen it is The Last Show host Stephen Colbert, who has a long history of dorking out over fantasy and sci-fi sagas — did you know he had a small role in The Hobbit movies?

Apparently he’s just as big a fan of Dune. “I’ve never been more excited to talk about a movie, ohhh, maybe ever,” he told Dune star Rebecca Ferguson (Lady Jessica) when she visited the show the other night. “People associate me with Lord Of The Rings, but Dune is nearly equally important to me…[I]t’s combed into my mind, my soul.”

For Ferguson, Colbert’s intensity is a bit intimidating. “It’s quite daunting to be on this end of your knowledge,” she said. She gets slightly more flustered when she reveals that she hadn’t read the book before getting the part. “[Director Denis Villeneuve’s] love version that he wanted to create, that is what I was on the receiving end of.”

That said, she’s since made up for lost time. “By the way, I did read the book,” she told Colbert. “I haven’t finished it…I tried reading this book, it’s hard, it’s dense.”

She’s not wrong; Dune is a famously dense book, full of knotty ideas about religion, politics, leadership and more. With all that in mind, Ferguson laid off the ad-libs and relied on the text and Villeneuve’s direction to craft her performance. “This one was so important to stick to the book and to this role. He stuck to the theme that was Jessica and then kind of defibrillated this modernization of her.”

There will be time to read more of Frank Herbert’s series if Ferguson gets to go back to film the rest of the story, since the upcoming movie only cover the first half of the novel. She even asked Colbert if Jessica had much more to do in the latter part of the book, and Colbert could barely contain himself. “There’s so much more that you do!” Here’s hoping we get to see it.

Jason Momoa owes Rebecca Ferguson money from Dune

As for behind-the-scenes gossip, Ferguson tactfully called out two of the movie’s very high-profile cast members for making her feel a bit excluded from the cool kids table. “I don’t want to mention names, but when Oscar Isaac and Josh Brolin did this…”

It all ended well, though, with Ferguson working her way into a group chat with her castmates. And she’s on good enough terms with Jason Momoa (Duncan Idaho) that he borrowed money from her. “Jason Momoa owes me money.”

As for whether you should see the movie, Colbert has all the review you need. “I will say for the record, this is my review, a perfect adaptation of this book.”

Dune comes out in U.S. theaters and on HBO Max on October 22.

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