CHANI: What we do, we do for the benefit of all.
Well, I'd very much like to be equal to you.
Maybe I'll show you the way.
HOST: I want to talk a little bit about the themes
of the movie, one of which is Paul's evolution
from boy to brooding man.
We see him wrestle with vengeance.
We see him fall in love with Chani.
How would you describe the difference in working
with Timée this time around?
More time?
Last time was, like, a week.
So, definitely being able to spend more time, also, just
with the characters as well.
And I think he, himself, is kind of growing alongside Paul,
and I think it was very clear and evident while he was making
this, you could see him, in his own personal way,
kind of coming into manhood, or whatever
that looks like for him.
He learned so much on Part One and another movie
he'd done after.
When he came on set, he was an actor
with a much bigger toolbox.
I witnessed him being a leading man.
The way his character has developed
and the way he's really gone from a boy to being
a man in his performance in the second film
is so commanding and so powerful.
I don't know, he's hypnotic.
He was such a kid in the beginning, you know?
And he'd be like, "Hey!"
It was like a little basset hound, "What--
Hi!
What's that?"
You know? And you're like, "Hey, man."
And he's like, "So, what are you doing?
Like, where are you gonna have lunch?"
And he just wanted to know he was so available to know,
and now he's a bit of a veteran, and he's been through it.
And he's done Dune, and he's done Wonka,
and now he's done Dune: Part 2.
And he's going to do other great things,
and there's a little grit there, and there's
a little edge there.
It was really nice to see him come of age.
PAUL ATREIDES: All my visions lead to horror.
Because you lose control.
Because I gain it.
HOST: The work between Zendaya and Timothée, just stunning.
What makes them such really great scene partners together?
The thing is that--
I will say that when we did Part One,
Timothée had spent months with all people all around him.
And when he saw Zendaya coming, it's like Finally, someone
of my age I can relate to.
And they became very close friends very quickly.
They just-- I'm a lucky director.
They love each other, and that made my job much more easy.
They trust each other.
They love each other.
They love to work together.
So, to create an intimacy between them,
to create that love story that is
at the epicenter of the project made my life easier.
HOST: You became, like, really good friends with him
in real life after the first movie.
Absolutely, yeah.
You're friends with him in real life.
How did that elevate the scene work between Paul and Chani?
Well, it's feeling safe and comfortable
and being able to ask questions and feel like there is
no such thing as a stupid question when
you're with people that you feel that safety with.
And I also think that everyone on this cares so much, too.
Like, we all want to do a good job,
and not just caring about each other,
but caring about what we're making together, too.
When you have that care and that sensitivity to it,
then you feel, again, safe, and protected and in a place
where you can do your best work and have the snotty
nose cry or whatever.
You know, those-- you never feel embarrassed, so yeah.
What is the most difficult thing
that you had to wrestle with as an actor,
either physically or emotionally, in this role?
Oh, great question.
Probably physically, although I came into it better
prepared than on the first one.
But once we were shooting in the desert,
those were practical sets you have to get to,
and practical sets you have to scale,
sometimes, within a scene.
Without giving too much away, again,
when Gurney Halleck's having trouble
keeping up with the gang ...
So, there was a physical challenge, simply, not acute,
but in the marathon of shoots in the desert,
just the wear and tear on your body.
But this time, I find it more exhilarating
and sort of affirming, on the other side of it.
What is different about your character this time around,
and how did you approach it slightly differently?
It was more layered, you know?
I think you saw the outer layer of Rabban in the first film.
Didn't really get to know him that
much in this and this film; he's just much more layered.
I think how I approached it was I had a conversation with Denis
about what he thought of this character
because he was just so different and so much more developed.
And he said-- well, he said, when I asked him about it,
he said-- he said the best thing to me.
He said, "Well, let me dream about it tonight,
and I'll tell you tomorrow."
And I thought-- like, I got excited by that.
I was like Oh, man, this is going to be great.
And so he did, and we had a conversation about it,
and he said at the core of Rabban,
he's really-- he's a coward.
You know, he's a coward, he's insecure,
and it just comes out in rage and he's a bully
and he's a drunk.
And so that was-- when I always thought--
and everything I did, I always thought that,
inherently, Rabban is--
he's a coward, and he's just masking everything with rage
'cause it's the only thing he's good at 'cause
he's not very smart, and he knows he's not very smart.
So, that was what I think.
Everything that I did, everything I said,
I always tried to play it like I was
trying to process everything because I just didn't get it.
I just didn't understand.
And I also thought that I may be enraged,
but also, it's because I'm such a coward.
The character is such a coward.
I mean, I think he's more of a desert rat now,
and he comes from Caladan.
He comes from royalties, protecting royalty.
All that's gone now.
He feels like he failed miserably.
He's like, you know, resorted to some criminal whatever,
and it's nice.
It's a nice difference.
You see his hair's all grown out and in his face.
He's skinnier now.
He's all kind of sucked up like a little Meth addict.
But yeah, it's nice.
Then you see the reaction, which I love what Denis picked,
to see the reaction when Gurney sees Paul for the first time.
Because we did it a bunch of different ways,
and then you just see this incredible vulnerability
and, like--
just like his whole life come back in his eyes.
And it's really nice.
When we meet the characters, we
obviously take off from where we ended, which is wonderful.
So, the actual fundamental emotion is that of the same--
a plan, an idea, a structure, and a go-ahead.
And then everything just changes.
And I think one of the wonderful things for my character
is when we're put into this environment with the Fremen,
there's basically a rock and a hard place
situation for Jessica, where you have
to make a decision to either die or become a reverent mother.
And therein lies the journey for her.
And it was just--
It was amazing.
He's wounded by--
after the accident with Atreides' poisonous
gas in the first film.
So, he can't live without having those balls,
for instance, that is probably pumping oxygen in him
or something, I don't know.
And having-- he has to take the baths also.
But he's losing strength, and he has
to find an heir to take over.
And he finds Austin Butler.
What impressed you most about him?
He's a great actor, and he's not pretentious.
He's totally there, and he's there for you, too.
I mean, he's playing with me.
And so, he's not doing a solo or anything.
And he's fantastic doing it.
I mean, he's--
I've never seen a snake being portrayed in that way.
HOST: What do you mean by that?
Because he is a snake, and you can see it.
Even his head movements are snaky.
He's wonderful.
With Austin, it was effortless.
It was absolutely effortless because, well, for one,
he's so talented.
But also, we got to know each other each other a little bit
before we started actually working together.
And I just felt so comfortable with him.
I was surprised that he actually took
an interest in my life and my former career in wrestling.
And I always appreciate when someone, you know--
Why were you surprised by that?
I don't know.
You never know when people--
You see people on screen and you see
how talented they are and you see how much love they're
getting for their work, and Austin is one of the biggest
stars in the world.
So, you don't know what to expect.
There's always going to be a part of me who just can't
believe that I'm here and I'm doing this and I'm acting
and I'm on stage with these people.
So, I don't know why.
I don't know why I remove myself from that position, but I do.
It's just who I am.
What was it like to prepare Austin and Timothée,
especially for that final culminating duel
at the end of the movie?
I would say that both of them respect each other,
but they quickly--
they became friends as well, and the intimacy of the combat,
where you have to dance.
Combat is a dance, so they had to help each other
and complement to--
they were complementary.
They became a team.
It was a lot of training that we both did.
Yeah.
We had months before we ever met in Los
Angeles, where we both trained with a Kali instructor.
And then, Roger Yuan started getting more specific with us
about what the fight was, and then when we got to Hungary,
we started working with the most amazing stunt
team in the world.
And we worked through the specifics of fight styles,
but then also, how the choreography
was going to work together.
And then, our first day meeting was in the big stunt warehouse,
and we met each other and then immediately got into the fight.
HOST: Oh, wow.
- And so-- - Day one.
Day one, we--
that was the first thing that we did
together, so we bonded while--
Wrestling.
Yeah.
No text, no coffee beforehand.
No text, no coffee. HOST: Just right into it.
Yeah, no, just straight fight.
Denis calls it a little bit like--
it's like the choreography was intimate,
so meaning that there was a lot of trust
and kind of just given--
It was intimate.
It was immediate.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's no small talk.
Palpable.
It was palpable.
HOST: What happens after that?
Do you guys hang out?
Do you decompress after a really highly kind of a--
I mean, that is a really high-level scene.
In the rehearsal or in the actual shooting?
HOST: In the actual shooting.
In the actual shooting, I think it was relief.
I don't know.
I feel like we made it to the other side.
We gave it our all.
Yeah, you've said the word cathartic.
I like that word. - Yeah, it was cathartic.
There's a catharsis about it because you
work so hard leading up to the moments like that.
And then when you finally bring it
and when you feel like you didn't let everybody down,
and instead, you got to leave it all on the field,
it's a good feeling.
Yeah.
HOST: At the end of the movie, there's a nice little scene
for folks who have followed your career,
to see you spar with Dave on camera yet again in a scene.
As veterans of a very famous franchise,
what is it like for you to share those moments on screen?
Great. HOST: Yeah?
I mean, it's great.
I wish it lasted longer.
But it was great with him 'cause we
went through this whole sword fight that we were really--
the focus was that.
Am I going to be able to pull it off?
Can I do it in one take? And all that.
Am I in that kind of shape?
And then you show up with Dave, who's in perfect shape,
and it's like OK, do what you have to do to him.
And you're like Is that possible?
Can I do that?
But he's so easy.
He's so fun to work with, and he's so easy, and he's so--
no ego.
There was, like, zero ego there.
I've known Josh for years, and we've
had a lot of conversations about everything
other than the business, and about life in general,
and mistakes we've made, and our journeys.
And those are always the best conversations, which I think
made me love that guy so much.
So, sharing any scene with him is
always an honor and a pleasure and, selfishly, I just--
I love it because I respect him so much.
We have a good time together because I think
he's been around, and I've been around,
and Javier's been around, and that's an easy volley.
I mean, what was great is you had in one room--
you had Timothée, Zendaya, Florence, Austin, and Rebecca.
You had Javier, you had me, you had Charlotte Rampling,
you had Christopher Walken.
I mean, [BLEEP] crazy, man.
Like, you're looking around, like, I don't care who you are.
I don't care how famous you are, what your work is.
You look around and you're like This is probably
never going to happen again.
This is a truly, truly special moment.
And then, when you get to know everybody, you're like,
everybody is just as insecure as anybody else.
You're ready for-- Austin's over there practicing his moves
on Timothée, and just stab him, and strike him like that,
and we're all watching like it's so cool.
I hope he does well. It's cool, man.
It's like an acting troupe.
Josh mentioned when he looked around set that he was just
struck by the amount of talent assembled,
which is saying a lot for him, based on what he's been on.
What was it like for you to join the set?
How excited and inspired were you in terms of what
you can bring to it as well?
I would agree with Josh.
I've had the privilege of working with a fair few really,
really talented greats, and it's always just as magical
because you just get to be around these people
that you have studied, you have watched,
you have appreciated since being so young.
And then, on this set, you not only have that,
but you have every single young actor that you have admired
and get to be around these-- this energy.
It was truly--
I mean, it was completely exhilarating coming in, anyway.
Just the first movie, obviously, took everybody by storm.
Everybody was so impressed and excited by this world.
And I got to watch the first movie,
be desperate to be in the second, and then I was.
So, I truly felt like it was like my fan-visiting day
because I got to be in this world.
I got to be amongst them as they made the second movie,
and then I got to leave.
And I didn't know how the rest of it was baked.
I got to figure that out when I watched the movie.
So truly, the whole thing was just very, very magical
and completely agree with Josh.
Everybody there is as eager and as excited as the next
and wanting to do such a good job,
and wanting to outshine themselves
the day before because everybody's just got this level
of energy and talent.
That's how I imagine what making movies should feel like.
HOST: When you watch back the film on a big screen,
whose eyes captivate you the most?
I can give a lot of answers.
I can say Austin.
Feyd-Rautha, has sort of the eyes of a shark or a snake,
and crazy contrast with his teeth.
But also Lady Jessica, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem.
They all communicate so much with their eyes.
I think of Timothée and Paul, those moments
where he's covered except for the eyes,
and I feel so much watching.
It's so nice when you get a question
you've never had before.
Austin Butler, without a shadow of a doubt.
I think the House of Harkonnens are the most
interesting, sexy, dark--
Bald heads and latex; it's fantastic.
It's that.
It's the yuck.
The way that he tilts his head and just looks
through the people he's looking at.
I think-- I was drawn.
I was just so drawn to him.
I love actors that can be silent in a corner
and that are listening to the others,
and you will read all story in their eyes
in the most subtle way.
Both Zendaya and Florence Pugh were,
at certain, precise moments in the movie, a witness.
And the way we can read their emotional journey
in the most subtle way is very moving for me.
I think Rebecca's eyes.
There's so much going on and so much
that you don't know what's going on,
and she's dealing with a lot.
And it's like, it's ultimate, protective mama bear that I
love watching on her face.
She was just, like you're saying, just
conveyed so much with her eyes.
Even when there's a moment where her
eyes-- she put in brown contacts and her eyes go brown.
I'm like, even with contacts on, that
quite literally cover her eyes, she's so expressive, and yeah.
And Lady Jessica is scary, I'll tell you that.
And, you know, Chani and Lady Jessica,
they don't quite see eye to eye.
It's a monster-in-law vibes.
You give her some fierce eyes, too, though.
Yes, yes.
I try my best.