Posted in: Movies, News, Warner Bros | Tagged: Charlotte Rampling, dave bautista, denis villeneuve, dune, jason momoa, javier bardem, josh brolin, oscar issac, Rebecca Ferguson, sharon duncan-brewster, Stellen Skarsgard, Timothee Chalamet, zendaya

Dune Director On Why Timothee Chalamet Was Pick To Play The Lead

Dune director Denis Villeneuve is getting out there and letting things fly more than anytime in the past few months of production. Earlier this week, we got some quotes about how he is trying to finish the film to make it's still on the books December 18th release date. Now, in a new chat with the Secrets of Dune YouTube channel, he went into detail about why he chose Timothee Chalamet was the perfect, and in his eyes only choice to play the lead Paul Atreides.

Chalamet Was The Only Choice For Dune

"Timothee Chalamet was my first choice at the beginning. There was just one Paul Atreides on Earth right now for me, and there was one name on the list. And I met Timothee and we both agreed spontaneously that we would work together. It was not difficult to convince Timothee. I chose Timothee for several reasons. First of all, he's 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 Timothee has that. 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."

Earlier this wee, Villeneuve had this to say on trying to finish the film under these unprecedented circumstances: "I was planning to go back and shoot some elements later because I wanted to readjust the movie. 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."

He went on to explain a bit more about the effects work finishing up as well: "As a director, there are things that can be done remotely to deal with technology. The supervision of VFX with some equipment is easy to do from afar but, editing, for me, the big lesson from this is I thought it would be possible to edit at a distance," he adds. "With my editor [Joe Walker] sharing equipment, being afar from the [one another], but I realize how much editing is like playing music with someone, and you need to be in the same room. 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."

Dune, directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring Timothée Chalamet, Oscar Issac, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Stellen Skarsgard, Dave Bautista, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, and Charlotte Rampling is set to open in theaters on December 18th.

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