Zendaya Reveals Her Role in ‘Dune’ Is Not As Big As We Hoped

“I wasn’t in it very much.”

As sci-fi fans excitedly await the first look at director Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbet’s novel, Dune, Zendaya shared some news about her role in the film – and it’s not exactly what we expected.

The Euphoria actress told InStyle that she was impressed with the trailer, even though her role in the film isn’t all that big. “Dune was incredible,” she said. “I wasn’t in it very much, so when I was watching the trailer, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ I called Timothée (Chalamet) and said, ‘Dude! You should be proud.’ It is a big deal to even be a small part of something with such a massive cast. And I love sci-fi stuff too. It’s fun to escape into another world.”

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Although it may be disappointing news at first, fans of the novel aren’t too worried. Dune will be split into two movies, an agreement that Villeneuve made with Warner Bros. before even tackling the story. Zendaya plays Chani, a Fremen woman who is the love interest of Timothée Chalamet’s character, Paul Atreides. Considering Chani’s character is much more prevalent towards the back of the book, there’s a good chance she’ll make a bigger appearance in the second installment.

Even with the actress’s limited presence, the film definitely has no shortage of big-name celebs. Chalamet will star alongside Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgard, Charlotte Rampling, and Jason Momoa.

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Although Dune is set to premiere on December 18, we can only hope that movie theaters will be safely opened by then as the coronavirus crisis continues to alter our everyday lives. Even finishing the film in the middle of the pandemic was an obvious struggle for Villeneuve, especially considering his goal to “honor everything” within Herbert’s novel.

“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,” Villeneuve said at the Shanghai International Film Festival, as reported by IndieWire. “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.”

Dune takes place in the distant future and tells the story of Paul and his mother (played by Rebecca Ferguson) fleeing for their lives after their planet, Arrakis, is violently seized. With the help of Arrakis’s native Fremen, Paul fights to take back control of the planet and its valuable spice.

Multiple failed attempts have been made in the past to adapt Dune into a promising film. Directors David Lynch and Alejandro Jodorowsky have each created film adaptations of the novel, both of which bombed at the box office. As the world anxiously waits for Villeneuve’s trailer to be released online, we can remain hopeful that the director will give us all a pleasant surprise.

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