Dune stars bid emotional farewell as Denis Villeneuve’s trilogy begins countdown to finale

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“It’s a different beast,” said Villeneuve, who is set to direct the next James Bond movie. “It’s more of a thriller and it’s more of an intense story. It’s definitely more emotional as well.”

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Speaking to fans and press in Los Angeles, Chalamet teased that Paul’s journey serves as a “warning tale” about the moral decay that can happen to power hungry “charismatic leaders.”

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“I trusted you,” a betrayed Chani says to Paul in the trailer. “You promised me that you would never take power in your name. You convinced me that this was your home — that I was your home.”

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“People mistake Paul as a classic hero,” Chalamet said of his character’s dark turn. “(Herbert), wanted to warn the world what can happen when people blindly follow leaders, and that even the good can be corrupted.”

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The four-time Oscar nominee added that Villeneuve’s adaptation, which he co-wrote with Brian K. Vaughan, “ties the story together” and adds in elements “that weren’t explicit in the book.”

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Dune: Part Three features many returning cast-members from the previous films, including Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Charlotte Rampling, Josh Brolin and Anya Taylor-Joy. The film will also feature new additions like Robert Pattinson (as the villainous Scytale), Isaach De Bankole and Jason Momoa, whose Duncan Idaho character from the first film is resurrected as a ghola.

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With epic battle sequences and large-scale war scenes shown in the new trailer, Villeneuve promised that the third entry will take the story in a new direction. “I said to my crew, ‘I don’t want us to walk in our own footsteps,’” he said. “I want something that would be fresh and new … It’s the last Dune movie and it’s very different.”

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“The first two are siblings,” Chalamet added. “This one has its own energy. There’s a new tone to this.”

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The Oscar-nominated moviemaker also gave fans a sneak peek at the seven-minute long battle scene that opens the film and was shot on Imax. The sequence will play ahead of Imax screenings of The Odyssey when that film opens in theatres next week.

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“The movie is meant to be an Imax experience and to be seen on the biggest screen as possible,” Villeneuve previously said. “Those are epic cameras. Those are the best cameras in the world.”

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Initially, Villeneuve planned to make another movie before returning to the world of Arrakis.

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“After Part Two … I said to everybody, ‘I’m taking a break,’” Villeneuve confessed. But he felt the urge to pick up the third entry right away when he was awoken in the middle of the night with images in his mind of what Dune: Part Three might look like.

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He also thought he had a “responsibility” to finish the story for the legion of Dune fans that helped propel the first two films to eight Oscars and $1.1 billion at the worldwide box office.

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“I felt an appetite and a joy and a desire to finish that story,” he said.

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Beaming at the adulation he got after the rapturous trailer premiere, Chalamet said he was glad that Villeneuve didn’t delay his conclusion to the trilogy.

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“He could’ve taken years between these projects, but instead he buckled in and we got it done right away,” Chalamet said, beginning to smile. “I’m a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and I’m trying to imagine the last time someone knocked out three things consecutively. I’m very grateful to Denis. In Denis, we trust.”

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Dune: Part Three opens in theatres on Dec. 18.

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