The road back to Arrakis is getting darker, at least if Timothée Chalamet is to be believed. During a global fan event for Dune: Part Three, the actor praised Anya Taylor-Joy’s performance as Alia Atreides, calling her “breathtaking,” “unbelievable,” and, most memorably, “genuinely terrifying.” Subtle marketing? Perhaps. Still, those are not the usual polite premiere-season adjectives.
What did Timothée Chalamet say about Anya Taylor-Joy?
Taylor-Joy plays Alia, Paul Atreides’ sister, in the third and final chapter of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune trilogy. Chalamet said he did not really get to work with her on the second film, but her arrival on this production clearly left an impression.
“Anya is something special in this movie,” Chalamet said. “Maybe it was Linus [Sandgren]’s cinematography style, or Denis’ direction, but I think the first day Anya stepped on set – I didn’t really get to work with her on the second one – just visually, it was breathtaking, and she’s unbelievable in this movie. That’s not hyperbole. She’s actually terrifying.”
This is a telling tease for a character who carries real narrative weight in Frank Herbert’s universe, and for a film expected to push Paul’s story somewhere darker.
How is Dune: Part Three different from the first two films?
Writer-director Denis Villeneuve also used the event to frame the new film as a shift in tone. He described Dune: Part Three as a “thriller,” saying it will be more emotional and more intense than the first two entries.
