(Exclusive) Zendaya & Timothée Chalamet on their love story in Dune 2 and the secrets of the shoot

Audio and subtitles are available in English, French and Spanish. You can adjust the settings to suit your preferences. Yeah, I saw it last week. Amazing, amazing films. It was great. And so, yeah, we're going to talk here for 20-25 minutes together. So we're going to take time to talk about loads of things. So again, hello, Zendaya. Hello, Timothée. Thank you very much for taking the time today. I think we're almost the same age. I'm 26, you're 27? I'm 28 now. 28, you're 27. Oh, we have a full circle here. So we're good. And yeah, it's great to have you talk to all of you. I'm not afraid to say it's your two of the most talented actors in Hollywood right now.

Zendaya, we find you in the amazing series Euphoria in the Spider-Man movies. And today, of course, on June part two, we discovered you maybe with the French Dispatch or Call Me By Your Name or Interstellar. More recently also with...

Yeah, everybody. Interstellar, that's what it was.

Yeah, when you see the images now of Interstellar, you're like, oh, that was him.

I know, that's what I said. You're like, that was him at the time. I know. I was living that at the time, too. How old were you? No one knows I'm in this. I was 17. Oh, yeah, okay.

17, yeah. But thank you. Thank you for a beautiful introduction. So, the concept of the show is fairly easy. You've got this table, but it's also a screen, as you can see here. Okay. Okay. And you've got this little buzzer here. I didn't notice that was a screen. Yeah. And so, basically, you will see here a wheel of cymbals appearing here, and when you press on the buzzer...

Because I was wondering what the buzzer was for.

Yeah, that's right. What the buzzer was for, okay? Was it a replay game? Cool. You will have to press on it. So, when you'll press on it, it will stop this wheel on a cymbal, and you'll see each cymbal is like the beginning of a different question. Okay. You'll see.

Very cool.

Are you ready? Are the rules clear? Clear. Let's go. Clear. So, this wheel, you can press whoever wants to press.

Okay.

Huh. Nice. And it's, oh, I always wonder, how do you call those? I call this a sand timer? An hourglass. Hourglass. Hourglass, right? Yeah, hourglass. Hourglass. Yeah. We say savier in French, but... Savier. Savier. Okay. So, basically, with this hourglass, the idea is very simple. I'm going to ask each of you, but we'll start with you, Zendaya. Okay. Zendaya, sorry. And Timothée. I'm trying to get it right. I've got the French way of saying it, the English way, the mixture of...

I've never called him Timothée. Timothée.

But I used to call you Zendaya.

You did? Yeah. Because I think in French, as we say Zendaya... I guess. On the first movie, I was going around correcting people, some people were saying Zendaya. I was like, yo, Zendaya. It's Zendaya. And then we talked and I was like, whoop, sorry to half the crew.

Bring that back.

Yeah.

So, Zendaya. Anyway, then in 60 seconds, I'm going to ask you the most questions in one minute. Okay. I'm curious to answer yes, no or pass if you want to pass a question. Okay. 60 seconds. She'll say pass. She'll say pass.

Pass. Pass.

Are you ready? Yeah. Let's go. Would you like to play one day in a horror movie?

Absolutely.

Are you afraid of sandworms?

No.

Could you release a new album one day?

Maybe.

Is Paris the most beautiful city in the world?

One of.

Was it too hot on the set of June? Sometimes.

Sometimes.

Would you like to direct one day your own movie?

Yes.

Are pineapple pizzas disgusting?

To me personally? Yes.

Do you speak French?

I wish.

If you hadn't been an actress, would you have been a teacher? Yes. Would you like to play a villain one day?

Absolutely.

Could you reshoot a Shake It Up episode?

Oh, you know, no. Okay. Maybe. You know, leave the door open.

Maybe one last question. Did you cry in front of Titanic?

Did I cry? Yeah. Watching Titanic? I don't think so. Okay.

I don't think so. Great. You were waiting.

Because I saw it when I was really little. Yeah. So I really didn't know what was going on. Like, what's happening? So much. It scared me, I think, more. Yeah. And then when I got older, I was like, oh, man. You know. It's long. I'm like, oh, I'm going to leave the door open to shake it up. To shake it up. To shake it up. I feel like, yeah. Thanks.

Next question. So we'll put the wheel again. Cool. You can press whenever you want.

Never say never.

Never say never. Never say never. Never say never. Oh, okay. So it's a dice. Okay. And so to get to know the movie better and also both of you a little better, we're going to play a game called Who's Most Likely To. Okay. So basically between you two, who's most likely to something. Okay. And you'll see it's linked to the movie and linked also to yourselves. Maybe the first one is, who's the most likely to survive the longest alone in the desert? Between you two. The most likely is...

Definitely me. Between us?

Yeah. Why you? Why you?

Like, you're not survived.

That was very honest. I'll give that to Z. Of course, you've shot this movie a long time in the desert. You've been to Jordan. You've been to several places. Sometimes where no one has been before. So I guess you saw something very special to shoot over there. And we heard Denis Villeneuve really wanted to shoot those... To be there. Yeah, those scenes over there. How is it like to shoot over there in such places? Is it difficult? Is it too hot? Is it like impossible to do? How do you manage it?

I loved it. I loved it. And it was hot and it was sweaty at times. But I thought it was breathtaking. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And brilliant but silent. And you could just really be present to it.

Yeah. Because of course in the movie we've got all this music that's all around. So we hear it.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. That's true. Yeah. I agree. It's really just like some of the most breathtaking things you'll ever see. Like the sunsets. I have like a whole album in my phone of just sunsets. Yeah. Yeah.

And sun rises. It's a phone full of light pictures.

Yeah. Literally.

Yeah. Every day I'm like beautiful. Amazing. Amazing job. Yeah. I think we've got a picture of you also Timothée on Instagram. You felt happy too. Oh yeah.

Oh my god. That was my dad and that was towards the end of the shoot. We looked deliriously happy there. I don't know what was going on.

So the second who's most likely to is who's most likely to be the best in Sandworm Rodeo.

Sandworm Rodeo. Timothée and Zaday or Paul and Shani. Oh.

Maybe Timothée and Zendaya first.

Rodeo.

Because you've got, Timothée, there's of course this very epic scene in the movie. Yeah.

You did more warm stuff than I did.

I did more warm stuff so I might give that to me but I'll have it.

Yeah. I'll let you have that.

I appreciate it. Because you have one too where we see you of course riding those Sandworms and I think what's interesting, of course they're like epic scenes. They're also interesting scenes because we see how a population in June, the Fremen, are also able to live in a certain way with nature. You can see by the way they walk, they try not to wake up those Sandworms. By the way they also live with nature. When you discussed the movie with Denis Villeneuve, did he talk to you about those topics, the themes he thought were important to push in the movie? Yeah.

I think something that I thought is so beautiful is their connection and their protection of water and what spiritually it means to them. And I think from a character's perspective, it means that even crying is a sacred act. It's something that you don't waste your water. And so for me, I had to find ways to convey emotion without crying. Because usually you're like, okay, well it's a crying scene. I'm sad. I'm going to cry. But there's a lot of moments where you're like, okay, well I can't cry. That's not allowed. So how do I find that same feeling? Or how do I get them welling, but I don't let them drop? You know what I mean? Just like me. That's right there, you know? Well, well.

Well, well. Yeah. It was about still, I think, reserving her emotions and holding them in and seeing what you can find or express in other ways and how you can convey her anger that sometimes might feel like sadness or might feel like whatever and how to like push it down just enough while still, you know, operating within the Fremen rules.

That's so interesting to see how a wall, yeah, can impact your way of acting in a certain way.

There is a scene actually that they got rid of my tear. I accidentally let one fall and they have digitally removed it.

No crying.

Because I thought when it happened, I was like, they're going to have to get rid of that.

They'll take it off.

And they did.

Gone. They'll take it off. Maybe one last one is who's most likely to be able to live without a phone? Like a smartphone.

I mean, I'm trying to do better at that. I'm going to go with me.

That's a work for all of us. I think we all are. I think we all are. It's true. That's also something like in the movie, it's, of course, it's not said directly like this, but I feel like as we follow the Fremen, we see this, you know, population who's like, you know, building itself, but without technology as we see it today. Right. Like it's not, it's no artificial intelligence. It's no like smartphones and stuff. And so I feel. I'll talk to that. Yeah. That's gone.

That's one of the great themes in the book is, thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a man's mind. And it's a, it's a world without AI and cell phones, like you put it, and where instead of pushing technology, the human mind was pushed to a degree that, you know, no one here can use.

What do you think you would learn or discover from spending like one or two weeks without such technology yourself?

my screen time average would go plummet, that'd be nice. Get it into zeros. How would I learn about myself? I don't, I don't know. I have to do it. You have to try.

I have to do it.

You know, I think also just in general, I think we were talking about it on the plane here, because we were reading and I was like, my goal is to read more. Like, you know, and I think that scripts don't always count. I always am like, yeah, read scripts, it's the same thing, you know, but, but actually, you know, sitting down and just being with a, with a good book and trying to just like, let your mind fall into something else, I think is, yeah, something I need to be a little bit better at. I get it. Shooting in Jordan was a little bit like that.

I thought shooting in Jordan, Abu Dhabi, once we were in the desert, it felt like, you know, you were still, you're still at your phone and could be connected. But if you wanted to disconnect, it was a lot easier. There's no service. There's no service. Good experience.

There's also no service. So, yeah. Next question. So the wheel will start again. Okay. Nice. And you can press on the buzzer.

Your turn.

Oh, back at it.

He's back. He's back.

Back at it. I think it's your turn. I'm down. I'm down. It's your turn. Are you ready? 60 seconds. Let's go.

Rock and roll.

Do you believe in destiny? Sometimes. It's your most ambitious film.

Yes.

Is Saint-Etienne the biggest soccer team in Europe? In my estimation. Yeah. From my point of view, yes. When you were a kid, did you watch SpongeBob? Yes. Does money make happiness? No. But he can buy a lot of other things. That's a good line from another movie. That's not an easy one for years, no. Is it possible to be flashed by a radar on a sandworm? No. Is it possible to dream in French? Yes. Is it possible to dream in French? Yes. Is France the best country in the world?

Yes. Yes. You're going for the hard hitters. One of the best. One of the best. Maybe the best. One of the best.

One of the best. Did you eat a lot of chocolates on the set of Wonka? Too many. Are there any good croissants in the US? Yes, but you've got to find them. It's difficult. They're very niche. Maybe one last one. Could you release a rap album one day? No. Not this universe. Not this universe. Unfortunately. Different universe. Great. We can put the wheel again. Nice. You did good. Yeah. I wish I had this in life. You can press whenever you want. Cool. So, it's a heart. We'll see. It's a YouTube comment we found. If one of you wants to read it.

Cool. One thing that I don't think Dune gets enough credit for is that Paul and Chani is one of the best love stories in all of fiction. That's me.

I just... Two years ago. Two years ago. Two years ago. I knew there was going to be this interview. What do you think? Because it is also a big love story. That's something people may not see or get when they think about Dune, but especially like this part two is really about a love story.

I think that's a really wonderful compliment. And I think it's one of the things Dune, the director, did an incredible job of. It's a huge film. There's enormous scope. In a lot of ways, it's a movie about conflict and conflict of planets. But at the heart of it, like you said, there's this love story between two young people.

And between those two, so Paul and Chani, of course, who you play, there's this sort of Romeo and Juliet style to the movie. Like we see they're not from the same population. There's this sort of love that seems difficult, you know, to match and to get. Why do you think like we as like an audience love to follow so much those, you know, love relationships that seem difficult to build?

The star cross lovers. Yeah. I think it's because the more you have to fight for it, the stronger you feel about it, the more you feel like you've earned it and the more you feel like connected to it. And I think in many ways, because of the scope of the film, I think Denis, he from the beginning, he said that this was something that he really wanted to find time to dig out. He was like, I know that there's like all these big moving parts, but I really want, it's so important that we find the heart of this. And the heart of this is, is this, this love story, you know? And I think in many ways, I think quite different from the book.

She has apprehension towards him and rejects the idea of who he is and what he represents to her. I think for good reason, because of, you know, the, the painful things that he represents to her and the people that she loves. So he has to earn her respect. He has to earn her friendship. He has to earn her way in and then ultimately get to the heart and get to her heart. And I think because she's so guarded because she's so closed off to him. I think when she does share herself at all, it means so much more. And those moments are even stronger and bigger because there's more weight to them.

You know, precious little things that mean a lot. Exactly.

Even in their, in their glances, like he did a lot of things. He would always say, okay, I'm just going to like do a pass. If you guys just looking at each other, do a glances past. Glances past. So sometimes you can build these really intimate moments with no words at all. You know? So yeah.

As long as there's no tears, it's still good. Yeah. No crying. No crying there. That's interesting. And also, I feel like that's something we find in your previous role in Dune 2 is those characters, young characters trying to evolve and like with those big, you know, life decisions, they sort of have to take during their, during their lives. And it's stuff we've seen also in some previous role. We, we've seen it in Euphoria, for example. We've seen it in Call Me By Your Name too. And I'm sure, and I've seen it, and we see, I guess you know it, but many of those roles help.

I think young people get to know themselves, get to discover themselves, get to know what they really want to do, who they really want to be. I'm curious to know to what extent those roles also helped you shape who you are on a personal level.

I feel like maybe it gave me confidence artistically, you know, and as an actor and in my pursuit of other roles and projects. I don't know if that's a boring answer, but it's the truth, you know, I just, that's what I personally got out of it. And personally got out of how people responded to that movie in particular. It was just like, okay, I wanted to do this, and maybe I'm, can, maybe I'm doing the right thing. Where before that role, I was like, you know, having to convince people in my life to let me act, you know, and I was pursuing the right thing. Great.

Yeah. We'll put the wheel again.

Nice.

You can press whenever you want. Oh, phone call. It's a phone call, but it's a modern phone call we've got here. So basically people had loads of questions. So we've got three questions here. Cool. Some vocals. You can just press on it first, second and third, and then answer to the questions.

Hi to you both. We've already seen you sing in movies and on TV. Can we expect you to sing as a duo one day? Dune 3. Yeah. It's a musical. It's a musical. You've heard it here first. You've heard it.

Oh my God. Danny doesn't know yet. Oh my God.

That would be a bit.

It's going to be a musical. You see the sandworm suddenly singing like in the middle of the set.

The sandworm singing. Yeah. It doesn't have a voice you'd expect or something. Yeah. Like too low or something. You want to see the second one?

Hi, Timothée. I was wondering what's your favorite French movie and could you act in a French movie?

Hmm.

Yeah.

Well, I definitely would love to act in a French movie. And that's one of my dreams. In French? In French, yeah. You know, Louis Garel has become such a fantastic director. But right now my favorite French movie is Shoot the Piano Player with Charles Aznavour, which is absolutely amazing. And a Truffaut movie. Somebody I'm playing in a movie loved that movie. So I've been watching it. I've watched it a few times. Great. Amazing. Aznavour, wow.

They're preparing a movie about Aznavour. Really? Yeah. Wow, that's it.

That's going to be fun.

Yeah. Maybe one last one, I think. Yeah. One last question for both of you. Hi, Timothée. So what's your best and worst memory as a fan of the AS Saint Etienne Football Club?

Oh, man. Okay. Well, my best memory. Great question. I'll be quick about this. My best memory is when around 2006, 7 or 8, I can't remember, they qualified for the Europa League. And in the match, I think it was against AS Monaco and Finduno scored like two goals. It was a 4-0 win, if I remember correctly. It was a beautiful game and they got into the Europa League. There's a stadium announcer announcing, you know, that they're qualified for the Europa League. The next year is beautiful. My worst memory, my worst memory was the relegation a couple of years ago. Kind of brutal. But they will rise. It's a historic club, you know. It's a historic club and they will rise.

And it's going to be beautiful.

And we've got, because we told the AS Saint Etienne that you were coming here. And they were like, oh wait.

This is my dad's childhood.

Like really, really. It's like his soccer fan. Yeah. And so they offered you.

I mean, they're still a legendary team, but they used to be like really.

Yeah. They were like that big team at the time.

Now people like to rag on them, because now they, you know.

I'd say they offered you.

What? Oh, sick. Sick. Sick. Sick.

Wow.

It's from the museum. Like they literally took it out of the museum. Yeah.

Thank you. And so Zendaya, I don't know if you're a huge soccer fan, so we brought you a shirt of the French team. Oh, thank you. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. I'm in the team.

Yeah. We don't want any jealousy or like, so you have on too. Oh, good national team jersey. Yeah. It's Mbappé, so it's what we do best in France. I knew it. That's cool. That's cool. Mbappé. That's cool. Mbappé. That means a legend.

That was great.

At least you have two little presents. Yeah. Not too big to bring back. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Best interview of the whole time. Thank you.

Thank you so much for taking the time.

Thank you.

That was great. And have fun at the premiere tonight. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you so much for taking the time.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for taking the time. Thank you. Have a good day. You were there? We went to it. Oh, it's Tom. Yeah. I've seen a video of MMSing. Yeah.

He was so excited. Yeah. And then he saw it. He saw it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm from France, but my dad's British. Okay. So come on. Cheers.

For a $5,000 chandelier. More. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time. Thank you. Have a good day. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.