Timothee Chalamet has largely kept details of Dune: Part Three under wraps ahead of its December release. However, during a town hall hosted by Variety and CNN at the University of Texas at Austin, the actor offered fresh insight into how he approached his evolving portrayal of Paul Atreides in Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi trilogy.
Speaking alongside Matthew McConaughey, Chalamet said the final chapters of the story draw inspiration from performances in large-scale films that managed to inject unexpected depth. He referenced McConaughey’s work in Interstellar, Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight and Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now, before quickly laughing off any direct comparison. Instead, he described the third instalment as a chance to introduce surprising creative choices within the framework of a major studio epic.
Chalamet also credited Oscar Isaac, who played Paul’s father Leto Atreides in the first Dune, as a key influence. He said Isaac approached the material with a Shakespearean intensity, embracing its heightened tone. That example encouraged Chalamet to take greater creative freedom in later instalments.
Reflecting on the first film, Chalamet admitted he initially felt unsettled by its futuristic scale after working on more naturalistic dramas such as Beautiful Boy and Call Me by Your Name. By the third film, he said, he felt more confident and developed a strong creative rhythm with Villeneuve. He described the new chapter as darker and more ambitious, calling it the boldest entry yet.
Chalamet also spoke about the technical demands of the production. Returning to an ornithopter sequence first seen in the original film, he said he prepared more thoroughly this time, studying the fictional aircraft’s control panel and inventing a personal logic for how each element functioned.
