Dune star Timothée Chalamet also loves the David Lynch version

By Randall Colburn  |  September 27, 2018 | 7:35pm
Aux Features Timothée Chalamet

David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune doesn’t have nearly as many fans as the weirdo filmmaker’s other flicks, but his Kyle MacLachlan-starring take has its fans (like us). Among them, apparently, is Call Me By Your Name star and Hollywood darling Timothée Chalamet, who’s signed on to star as hero Paul Atreides in the much-ballyhooed two-part reboot from Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve (Dunis Villdeuvne?). In a new interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Chalamet says his “enthusiasm for the David Lynch version is through the roof.”

That said, Villeneuve has already made it clear that his version won’t be anything like Lynch’s. But that hasn’t dampened the golden boy’s giddiness; truly, he sounds downright tickled about the project. His story about trying to woo Villeneuve, for example, should serve only to heighten his boyish charm. Saying it’s always been his “dream to do a big movie,” he recounts meeting the director at the Hollywood Film Awards last year and not wanting “to scare him away with my enthusiasm for the project.”

He continues:

I saw him over the course of last year. They went on a casting search and were looking to get someone younger than I am. I was just biding my time.

Denis saw me in “Call Me by Your Name,” but somebody snuck him a link to “Beautiful Boy.” Then, in the meeting I had with him, he told me he was going to be at the Cannes Film Festival. So he said, “If you will come to Cannes, we can meet and talk about it.”

So, I went to Cannes and then he said, “I saw ‘Call Me by Your Name’ and I thought you were great. I saw ‘Beautiful Boy’ and still thought you were great, but then I saw you take in ‘The King’ and I thought OK, whatever.” Which is funny to me because I hadn’t done it yet during that time and hopefully it’s presentable, but who knows?

Denis said, “Would you consider doing this?” I was like, “Yes, of course I would.” I have read the script and the book and I am so grateful that it’s a big movie and yet, there’s a real arc to this character.

He also assuages some common fan concerns, saying he doesn’t think the adaptation will “suffer from green screen-isms,” adding that “it feels like the work is intelligent.” Considering Villeneuve has described the project as “Star Wars for adults,” we would certainly hope so.

 
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