Dune has long been considered a notoriously difficult story to adapt for the screen, but Denis Villeneuve seems to be doing it right with his Dune movies. The first of his two Dune films dropped last year to huge success, grossing over $400 million at the box office and securing 10 Oscar nominations. However, it only adapts the first half of Herbert’s seminal 1965 novel. We’ve all been eagerly anticipating news about the forthcoming Dune Part 2.
The second movie is still a ways off, but production seems to be going pretty well. Timothée Chalamet plays protagonist Paul Atreides, a young man who’s drawn into a prophecy that could shape the future of the entire galaxy. He stars alongside lots of big-name actors, including Florence Pugh (Princess Irulan) and Zendaya (Chani).
Timothée Chalamet gushes about working with Florence Pugh and Zendaya
This isn’t the first time that Chalamet has worked with either Florence Pugh or Zendaya. Chalamet and Pugh starred in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women as reluctant romantic interests, words you could use to describe Paul Atreides and Princess Irulan. In Dune, Paul and Irulan enter into a political marriage, although Chani is Paul’s true love. In Little Women, Chalamet’s character Laurie ends up marrying Amy (Pugh) despite unrequited feelings for Jo (Saoirse Ronan).
“We were joking on set that we keep doing these movies, and we end up together even though we should be ending up with different people,” Chalamet told Variety while hyping up his new movie Bones and All. The actor also revealed that he had already completed his scenes with Pugh and that she has wrapped filming for Dune Part 2.
“Florence is really special,” Chalamet said. “She’s an incredible actor. She was incredible in Dune — seriously incredible. She brought a gravitas to the role. And I can’t believe my good fortune at this young age…between Taylor Russell in Bones and All and Zendaya in Dune. And Austin Butler’s in that movie too.”
Zendaya is “incredible” in Dune Part 2
Pugh will be a new face in Dune Part 2. We met Zendaya’s Chani in the first movie, but expect to see a lot more of her this time around. “She hasn’t wrapped yet, and it’s amazing,” Chalamet said. “She’s bringing exactly what she brought to the first one — which was incredible — but in greater abundance. And she’s really become a sister. I’m so grateful to count her as a partner and a sister and a friend, and also to share stories about how amazing it is to work with Luca , because we worked with him back to back on wildly different projects.”
Those projects Chalamet mentioned are Call Me By Your Name, the 2017 film that launched the young actor’s career, and Guadacnino’s forthcoming movie Challengers, which stars Zendaya and Josh O’Connor.
Dune Part 2 is due out in theaters on November 3, 2023.
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