Timothée Chalamet and Austin Butler on 'Dune: Part Two' | AP full interview

I don't think he's seen it yet. this the  second time I've heard of this today and I don't know what you're talking about. okay.  it's a sand worm as a popcorn bucket. oh it's a sand worm as a popcorn bucket. that's what I  didn't get earlier - they didn't describe what it actually was. it was all innuendo earlier.  yeah yeah. oh really. that's weird. it was all what was not being said. yeah um  but uh yeah - I designed that so. at the end of the first one we didn't - I  don't think we we knew -

I think we were confident with it but uh it was uh it was not a  surefire deal that we were going to get to make this so it was strange because the the the  first movie simply being half the book is an incomplete arc and some thought in the back of my mind was maybe I won't get to fill out the rest of this picture with Zendaya and Denis and  the rest of the great cast but we were fortunate to do it and it was cool to put the still suit  back on and get right back in Budapest Abu Dhabi Jordan fe

el like you know nothing at changed.  Yeah, Wadi Rum sounds sounds amazing to to have experienced twice now. twice now yeah and this  time I actually spent a nigh in the desert there over which was amazing. were you in a tent? yeah  they sort of have a like sort of permanent tent installations they were amazing. that's awesome.  yeah I mean the first film was extraordinary you know I I uh I was I was an enormous fan of uh  of the film before ever knowing that I I could be part of it you know so

that was just such a  great joy. um and uh it was really taking on this character that was so different from anything that  I've done before and um although just possibility for play and and for just unexpected things that  that I knew I had a lot of latitude to play you know and and Denis is is truly one of the greatest  filmmakers alive right now and so the opportunity of getting to to be around him and and be on his  set with with all these incredible actors it was just a blast. it's a real g

ift as an actor when  when you look in the mirror and you don't see yourself and that's what I felt with this and  we had such an incredible hair and makeup team and I spent a lot of time with them you know  prepping and then and then 3 hours every day in that chair and another hour to cut me out of  the the cap at the end of the day. crazy crazy thing to see. yeah. I have some pictures of just  your hair poking out at the top. strange. it might not be something you can reflect on but a lot of 

people have been talking about how you have sort of grown up in between these films and then Paul  has to obviously grow up very quickly too. did you feel that? yeah absolutely absolutely yeah at 23  I was simply a boy and uh no but I but I do feel that too you know I think at the beginning of the  first film he's really you know protected by his privilege literally behind walls. and by the end  of this movie without giving too much away his fully assumed his position as a leader. and it's a  wo

nderful thing to play as an actor and I did get those years in between the films to grow up in my  own life and and uh and uh - get furniture and you know things like that you know yeah. so then you  came back and you were like I'm ready. the couch. without giving too much away I would say my  my my references were less you know uh sort of rock star figures and more people in movies or  in culture that are sort of uh I don't want to say shamelessly but that just like own the position  they're in

- you know uh no irony, no nuance to the fact that they're were they're supposed  to be - which wasn't the kind of thinking or roles or characters I had gravitated to in my own  life, you know. I'm sure everybody's asking about the fight but it I I wonder if you could talk me  through just like what that was like - what the preparation how you - I heard it was one almost a  continuous take too. I think there were wide shots that were almost continuous in its entirety - then  we broke it down fr

om my from my memory. but it was great - it was a lot of uh uh individual um  training with the same kali instructor in LA but I think our schedules weren't lining up and then  when we finally met in Budapest we got after it right away I think the first day we had together  we were supposed to train together - and we ended up rehearsing half the fight because we were so  enthusiastic. and uh on the day it was the rare dream you have as an actor to have a physical  task in front of you that matte

rs uh not only crucially to the story but it's in some ways the  climax in front of some of the greatest actors in the world. it's a dream come true. it felt like  a tight rope you know where uh we had this this was particularly when we did the entire fight  together - because you have all those incredible actors - these titans that we are we both look up  to so much. and then that's the moment of truth where um where you want to just leave it all on  the field. and um and so it it really it fel

t like standing in the wings before you walk out on  stage is something that that incredible intensity that you feel and then action's called and and  we just got to work - it was it was a blast. in some ways I was I was I was ready for what the  what what the desert had in store for us based on the first movie but uh it's definitely great to go  back to the hote. and even like my dad visited at some point I came back to the hotel and I peeled  off the still suit he's like holy -- hee's dying yo

u know seeing all the sweat uh just how nasty it  was to just peel it off at the end of the day. I mean you have such a fun young vibrant you know  set of actors here - was this like a time you could like go out to dinner afterwards or like  or was everyone just collapsed and ready for the next day? I mean we had some dinners when we got  hungry. I'd say both I mean it was rare that the four of us were together simply by way of this  the production schedule. but otherwise you know yeah people ar

e often beat up and I keep saying  I think Florence, Zendaya, Austin and myself are sort of like the tamest bunch you know. dinner  was the was the latest school night we had you know. didn't get much more since the 2020s. Denis  just seems - I mean he seems to not be able to process that his sort of like 40-year dream has  like you know and and he's even leaving the door open a little bit for for more story. I don't know  I mean what was it sort of like to watch him sort of achieve this on that

level. oh exhilarating  you know uh um oh man I can speak about this all day but uh it's ultimately a playful creative  exercise to get to direct any movie. the man who takes himself too serious is more focused  on the people around him or the audience than the actual product - and that reeks of a movie  that's pretentious or something. and Denis is so playful - it's like the greatest evidence of  self-confidence to me that he is so playful on set even with the props or whatever - as opposed  t

o someone who's whatever the opposite. and uh just so such a lesson as a young young creative to  to see him carry himself like that and so cool. he has his childhood edition - he connects to the  character. his yearbook was signed Muad'dib - so he connects with it - it's so important that you  work with not only directors but actors who live the material and it's not a day job. and it's a  privilege to do that because it takes sort of a sacrifice in other parts of your life to be able  to make

the room to literally imagine yourself as another person continuously - and explore every  thought even if that that means being the messiah of the universe - and my mom having to deal  with that on FaceTime or whatever. [Laughter] the popcorn bucket has sort of caused a little bit  of a frenzy. dare you proud owners of it yet? no I don't think he - I don't think he's seen it yet.  this the second time I've heard of this today and I don't know what you're talking about, okay. it's  a sand worm a

s a popcorn bucket. oh it's a sand worm as a popcorn bucket. that's what I didn't get  earlier they didn't describe what it actually was. it was all innuendo earlier. yeah yeah. oh really.  it was all what was not being said. yeah um but uh yeah I designed that. congratulations. thank  you yeah definitely hit the spot, hit the mark