Dune director ‘needed’ talent of Timothee Chalamet to make sci-fi epic

Published

3 years ago

October 18, 2021

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Screams echoed around London’s Leicester Square as Timothee Chalamet fans desperately tried to grab the attention of the young actor who has garnered a loyal – and very loud – following.

He was among a host of stars who turned out on Monday night to promote the new adaptation of Dune – an expensive looking sci-fi that will be hoping to attract the same numbers to the box office that the latest James Bond movie has when it’s finally released later this week after facing delays caused by the pandemic.

While the 25-year-old told Sky News he appreciates that many still won’t feel ready to return to the cinema, he’s clearly passionate that people do view the film on a big screen.

“It feels a little presumptuous to tell people they must go see this in the cinemas – there’s a pandemic, there’s crazy things going on, there’s no obligation to,” Chalamet said.

“But if you like movies and you like big movies and you like movies that are made where directors [are] given free licence to do it as he pleases, and there aren’t multiple corporate multinational interests that are guiding product placement, who gets cast in it, all sorts of s**t like that.

“If you like Christopher Nolan movies, if you like Denis Villeneuve movies, then going to see this in a movie theatre helps our ability to keep doing it.”

Chalamet plays the lead character, Paul Atreides, in the film – a young man with a big career ahead of him, something the actor can surely relate to.

He said he sees the benefits of the weight of expectation.

“Live in gratitude – I’ll take this pressure over the pressures I had when I didn’t have a career, when I was in college, when I just wanted to be acting,” Chalamet said.

“People have worse problems than that, but for me, that’s what it was, so, you know, I’ll take this over that.”

Chalamet was the first and only choice of director Denis Villeneuve, who has assembled an A-list cast for the film, which is based on the 1965 novel of the same name by Frank Herbert.

He told Sky News the young star was perfect for the role.

“The thing is that Timothee had read the book, so he knew exactly what he was getting into,” Villeneuve said.

“And for me, I was looking to dig into the entirety of the character and to be very close to him.

“I needed [Chalamet’s] strength, I needed his talent – I would not have been able to make it with someone else.”

For other cast members, it was the director’s vision for the project that made them want to be involved.

Rebecca Ferguson, who plays Paul’s mother Lady Jessica, a role she describes as “one in a million”, told Sky News how it differed to other projects she’s worked on.

“There was a grandiosity to it, because of how big it is, but I think there was also, amazingly enough, this feeling of independence – the smaller in the large,” she said.

“We keep on saying it’s like an indie, huge movie, and I think it was the love for the project, there’s such a core fundamental belief in Denis, and that means it becomes a very tight bond between all of us because we care.”

Jason Momoa, who plays sword master Duncan Idaho, compared his role to Han Solo in the Star Wars films, and said winning it was “the most surreal thing” that’s ever happened to him.

Echoing Ferguson’s comments, he also referenced Villeneuve’s passion for the film.

“My first meeting with him, he sent me like an 80-page booklet, like his Bible, a lookbook for the whole movie,” Momoa said.

“Just sent it over without me even saying yes, I’m like, yeah, of course I’ll play, but he still sent that over, which I thought was just unbelievable.”

While the stars of Dune have clearly bought into Villeneuve’s vision, it remains to be seen whether the film can help cinemas continue to recover – and there’s a lot at stake for the director too, with a sequel planned, but not yet confirmed.

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But if the buzz in Leicester Square this evening translates to ticket sales, it seems likely Dune will have been worth the wait.

Dune is out in cinemas in the UK on Friday

Entertainment

Madonna plays biggest-ever show to 1.6 million fans on Rio’s Copacabana beach

Published

48 mins ago

May 5, 2024

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Madonna plays biggest-ever show to 1.6 million fans on Rio's Copacabana beach

Madonna has played her biggest-ever gig to an estimated 1.6 million people on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro.

It was the last show in her Celebration tour and she performed hits such Like A Prayer, Vogue, Hung Up, Into The Groove and Like A Virgin.

The Brazil city was buzzing ahead of Saturday’s free two-hour show, with hotels and Airbnb’s packed and about 170 extra flights expected into the city.

Helicopters and drones buzzed over the beach as the Queen of Pop took to the stage at 10:37pm, nearly 50 minutes late.

“Here we are in the most beautiful place in the world,” Madonna told the crowd as she pointed out Rio’s famous mountains and Christ the Redeemer statue.

The 65-year-old opened up with Nothing Really Matters from 1998’s Ray of Light album.

Eighteen speaker towers were dotted along the beach to ensure everyone could hear the US star’s vocals.

Brazilian musicians and people from local samba schools were involved in the show – with many fans dressing up in Madonna-themed outfits.

“Since Madonna arrived here, I’ve been coming every day with this outfit to welcome my idol, my diva, my pop queen,” said Rosemary de Oliveira Bohrer, 69, who wore a version of Madonna’s iconic gold cone bra.

Many fans had staked out a spot many hours – or even days – before the show, while others took in the spectacle from yachts or apartment balconies.

Madonna’s website said it was the biggest she had ever done – more than 10 times the 130,000 she played to in Paris in 1987.

However, Rio is used to huge shows – The Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart have played to similar-size crowds there.

Thousands of police were on duty for Saturday’s show, which city authorities estimated drew a crowd of 1.6 million and would earn the local economy about 293 million reals (£46m).

For Madonna, it was the culmination of an 81-date retrospective tour that began in London in October and moved across Europe and North and South America.

The singer embarked upon the tour a few months after being admitted to intensive care with a serious bacterial inaction in June 2023.

Entertainment

Olly Alexander addresses ‘extreme’ remarks from fans on Israel’s Eurovision inclusion

Published

4 hours ago

May 5, 2024

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Olly Alexander addresses 'extreme' remarks from fans on Israel's Eurovision inclusion

The UK’s Eurovision Song Contest representative has addressed “extreme” remarks from fans over Israel’s inclusion in the competition.

Olly Alexander was selected as this year’s representative for the UK for the popular singing competition.

It’s set to take place in Malmo, Sweden, next week but tens of thousands are expected to protest Israel’s involvement and its ongoing war in Gaza.

Alexander, the Years & Years singer, has found himself facing criticism from some who called for him to withdraw amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

Queers for Palestine circulated a letter, signed by thousands including actors Indya Moore, Brigette Lundy-Paine, and Maxine Peake calling for the It’s A Sin actor to pull out of the show.

In March, along with Irish hopeful Bambie Thug, Danish entrant Saba and other Eurovision artists, Alexander released a joint statement, backing “an immediate and lasting ceasefire” but refusing to boycott the event.

Now, speaking out in a new documentary which has followed the 33-year-old as he prepares for the show, he has described some of the comments he and other participants have faced as “very extreme”.

He said: “A lot of the contestants and myself have been having a lot of comments that are like ‘You are complicit in a genocide by taking part in Eurovision’ which is quite extreme. It’s very extreme.

“I understand where that sentiment is coming from but I think it’s not correct.

“It’s an incredibly complicated political situation, one that I’m not qualified to speak on.

“The backdrop to this is actual immense suffering. It’s a humanitarian crisis, a war.

“It just so happens there’s a song contest going on at the same time that I’m a part of.”

Speaking in the BBC’s documentary titled Olly Alexander’s Road To Eurovision ’24, he continued saying that people should boycott Eurovision if they didn’t feel comfortable watching and he respected their decision – but would be taking part himself.

He added: “My plan is to just focus on putting on a good performance in Malmo.

“My team, everyone’s worked so hard, and we’re in the final stretch now.”

Earlier in the week, Alexander broke down crying during an interview with The Times when discussing the pressure he had come under for participating in Eurovision.

He told the paper he knew a number of signatories of the petition against him, and none had reached out to him.

He said: “This is so much bigger than me and Eurovision, it really is. But, obviously, I wish there wasn’t a war or this insane humanitarian crisis.

“I wish for peace and I have found this experience, at times, extremely … I’ve just felt really sad and distressed.”

Speaking on Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, deputy director general of the European Broadcasting Union who organises Eurovision, Jean Philip De Tender, defended Israel’s inclusion in the competition.

He said: “We do understand the concerns and deeply held views around the war in the Middle East.

“The song contest is a music event organised and co-produced by 37 public broadcasters, it’s not a competition between nations or governments.

“Our governing bodies reviewed the participation of Kan [Israel’s public broadcasting corporation] and found that they met all of the competing rules.”

Phillips pointed out incidences when Kan came under fire for their broadcasting.

This included, he said, when Kan published a video of children singing, in the public broadcaster’s own words, for the “annihilation of Gaza” and when one of their presenters was seen writing “I want to send the people of Gaza artillery shells”.

Mr De Tender said they had been in contact with Kan about the content they published and their editorial output, and had expressed concern on occasion.

He added that Eurovision had competition rules which they had to follow, and taking action beyond these rules to exclude Kan would have been a “political decision as such which we cannot take”.

Entertainment

Kevin Spacey denies new allegations of inappropriate behaviour

Published

1 day ago

May 4, 2024

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Kevin Spacey denies new allegations of inappropriate behaviour

Kevin Spacey has denied new allegations of inappropriate behaviour from men who feature in a Channel 4 documentary released next week.

In an interview with journalist Dan Wootton posted on X, the double Oscar winner said he will “no longer be speechless”.

Last year, Spacey was found not guilty by a jury of nine sexual offences alleged by four men between 2001 and 2013 after a trial in London.

He also won a US civil lawsuit in October 2022, after being accused of an unwanted sexual advance at a party in 1986.

The Channel 4 documentary titled Spacey Unmasked is said to feature testimony from men “regarding events they say took place between 1976 and 2013, and relate to what they describe as unwanted sexual behaviour” from Spacey, according to an email shown during the interview.

‘I wasn’t in on the deal’

The two-part series, produced by Roast Beef Productions, is set to air on Monday and Tuesday next week.

“I take full responsibility for my past behaviour and my actions, but I cannot and will not take responsibility or apologise to anyone who’s made up stuff about me or exaggerated stories about me,” the 64-year-old US actor said.

“I’ve never told someone that if they give me sexual favours, then I will help them out with their career, never.

“…I’ve clearly hooked up with some men who thought they might get ahead in their careers by having a relationship with me.

“But there was no conversation with me, it was all part of their plan, a plan that was always destined to fail, because I wasn’t in on the deal.”

‘Clumsy passes’

During the interview, he denied accusations of any illegal behaviour, but did say he had made “clumsy passes” at people in the past.

“Were there times when I would flirt with some of the people who were involved in those programmes who were in their 20s? Yes,” he said.

“Did I ever hook up with another actor? Yes. Did I make a clumsy pass at someone who wasn’t interested as it turned out? Yes.

“But I was not employing them, I was not their boss, I was often times just swimming in for an hour here or there as a well-known actor to lend support… to answer questions.

“That may not have been the best decision, and it is not one that I would do today, but it happened.

“It wasn’t illegal, and nor has it ever been alleged to have been illegal.”

The Usual Suspects and House Of Cards star said he has struggled to get work after being acquitted of all criminal charges, branding his experience a “life sentence”.

Spacey was one of the most recognised faces in Hollywood when allegations of sexual misconduct were made in 2017, leading streaming giant Netflix to cut ties with the actor.

Sky News has not been able to verify the latest allegations.