Timothée Chalamet Says ‘Dune: Part Three’ Is a “Big Swing” in Final Chapter

Timothée Chalamet is promising a bold new turn as Paul Atreides in “Dune: Part Three,” saying the final chapter of Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi trilogy will take big creative swings when it hits theaters this December.

Speaking with Matthew McConaughey during a Variety and CNN town hall at the University of Texas at Austin, Chalamet opened up about how his performance has evolved — and the unexpected film influences behind it.

“What I think you see at the end of the second one, and across the third one, is yourself in ‘Interstellar’ and Heath Ledger in ‘The Dark Knight’ and Marlon Brando in ‘Apocalypse Now,’” Chalamet told McConaughey, before quickly laughing and walking it back. “Actually, wait — let me rephrase all of that! I cannot put myself in that same boat.”

Still, the point was clear. Chalamet said he’s drawn inspiration from large-scale performances that manage to sneak in something surprising — “a curveball” — even within massive blockbuster films.

He cited McConaughey’s work in Interstellar, Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning turn in The Dark Knight and Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now as examples of bold performances inside epic productions.

Learning From Oscar Isaac

Another key influence came from his “Dune” co-star Oscar Isaac, who played Paul’s father, Leto Atreides, in the first film.

Chalamet said Isaac approached the role in a “Shakespearean way,” leaning into heightened emotion without worrying about subtlety. Watching that performance gave Chalamet confidence to take more risks in later installments.

On the first “Dune,” he admitted he felt intimidated by the scale of the project. He had just come off smaller, naturalistic dramas like Beautiful Boy and Call Me by Your Name, and adjusting to the futuristic world of Arrakis wasn’t easy.

“I felt kind of thrown by the futurism,” he said. But by the third film, that hesitation was gone. “All the great stuff you see on screen is from freedom of movement and freedom of choice,” he explained, adding that he and Villeneuve developed a strong creative rhythm. “It’s the eeriest one. It’s a big swing.”

Getting Technical With the Sci-Fi World

Chalamet also revealed that he dove deeper into the sci-fi details this time around. He returns to the cockpit of an ornithopter — the dragonfly-like aircraft seen in the earlier films — but prepared in a much more detailed way.

“For ‘Dune 3,’ I came out early and studied the control panel,” he said. Covered in unfamiliar symbols and futuristic designs, the dashboard required imagination. “I wanted to know what each button did, and invent a dynamic for myself with it.”

It’s a small example of how seriously he’s taking his final outing as Paul Atreides.

A “Red-Hot” Moment in His Career

Chalamet said he felt especially driven during production. After earning Oscar nominations for “Marty Supreme” and A Complete Unknown, he felt creatively energized.

“The bat was red-hot,” he said. “I didn’t want to be complacent about a single moment. Everything was sacred.”

Because this is his final time playing Paul in the trilogy, he treated every scene with extra intensity. “People can get complacent,” he said. “But I was more intense on the third one.”

While he kept quiet about major plot details, Chalamet’s comments suggest that “Dune: Part Three” will push Paul Atreides into darker, more unpredictable territory — and that the actor himself is ready to take one last big leap inside Villeneuve’s epic universe.