Zendaya promises bigger role in ‘Dune: Part Two’: ‘She’s not just in dreams this time’
Zendaya reassured fans this week at CinemaCon by promising that she will play a bigger role in “Dune: Part Two.” Viewers walked away from the first film bitter at her lack of screentime.
The trauma and disappointment was understandable. In the lead-up to the release of Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” in 2021, movie posters and trailers prominently featured the “Euphoria” star. In the end, the 2½-hour epic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi novel featured Zendaya for only about seven minutes.
After hearing her disembodied voice narrate the beginning, viewers didn’t actually see Zendaya’s character, Chani, until just before the first film’s final action sequence, save for glimpses of her appearing in protagonist Paul Atreides’ (Timothée Chalamet) dreams.
“She’s not just in dreams this time,” Zendaya promised. She was speaking on Tuesday to the audience at the “Dune” CinemaCon exhibit in Las Vegas.
Here’s why Zendaya is in ‘Dune’ only for seven minutes. But it’s a safe bet that she’ll be back for the sequel, which was announced Tuesday.
Following the release of the first film, Zendaya recalled arriving on set in 2021 with everybody already in costume and much of the film already shot.
“I was very intimidated,” she told Stephen Colbert during a 2021 “Late Show” episode.
But during production of the second film, she had more time to sit with her character and the cast.
“I only got a small time to learn who she was [in the first film],” Zendaya said this week at CinemaCon. “And now I feel like she’s a part of myself.”
The “Dune” director doesn’t agree with Warner Bros.’ call to release the film in theaters and on HBOMax simultaneously. “I think it was a bad decision. I designed the movie to be seen in the theater.”
Zendaya’s Chani is a Fremen, an indigenous people living on the planet Arrakis, which is being colonized and heavily mined for its spice that extends life and provides superhuman cognitive abilities. Chalamet’s Paul belongs to one of those colonizing forces
Villeneuve previously told The Times that Zendaya’s Chani would be “much more prominent in the second one,” painting her as a protaganist alongside Chalamet. After all, the first film was only staying true to the source material as it covered the first two-thirds of Herbert’s novel. “Part Two” will cover the last third, which contains the majority of Chani’s character development.
Zendaya has a new contract with HBO for Season 3 of ‘Euphoria,’ and the star is set to earn $1 million per episode for her portrayal of Rue Bennett.
During the panel at CinemaCon this week, Villeneuve called the first film “a contemplative movie,” while describing the sequel as “an action-packed, epic war movie.”
“It is much more dense,” the director said before showing the trailer, which has yet to be released online. “We went to all new locations. I didn’t want a feeling of repetition. It’s all new sets. Everything is new.”
The first film was a box office success, amassing more than $400 million in ticket sales, despite a rocky pandemic reopening for movie theaters. “Dune” also found critical success and was nominated for 10 Oscars, including best picture. It walked away from the 2022 ceremony with the most awards, six total, winning for sound, original score, film editing, production design, visual effects and cinematography.
“Part Two” is scheduled for a Nov. 3 release.
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