Dune is one of the most popular movie series in recent years, thanks to the visionary director Denis Villeneuve. The first film premiered in 2021, and Dune: Part Two recently smashed box office records, drawing crowds big enough to lead to an IMAX re-release. The series is based off of the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert. The cast features Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet in the lead roles. The sequel sees Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, and Christopher Walken join the cast. How does they stay so fit? Read on to see how the cast becomes “fully conscious, fully aware of yourself.”
Zendaya plays the character Chani in the film. She tells Interview Magazine that she doesn’t like to put pressure on herself when it comes to her life and career. “I’ve never really thought, ‘I have to do this by this time and I want to do this by that time.’ I just want to do the things that make me happy and bring me joy and fulfill me as an artist, as a person. So, I keep that loose, because if one day it turns into a completely different career path, then I would allow myself to do that.”
Josh Brolin plays Gurney Halleck in the film. He shared how he got in shape for the role on Instagram. Brolin captioned the post, “20 squats, 20 dips, 20 Push ups in the sauna — 5 rounds after 225 degrees for 30 mins, followed by a 36 degree cold plunge for 5 mins after 25 circuit training workout for cardio and core without rest. And tons and tons of spice.”
Austin Butler plays Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen. To prepare for his role as Elvis Presley, he worked with trainer, Ryan Gambin. “He really takes his job seriously,” Gambin told The Courier-Mail of Butler. “And obviously Elvis has a lot to do with his hip movement so we were doing a lot of hip dominant exercises. We didn’t have any strength goals … but we pretty much focused everything around his hips.”
Timothee Chalamet plays lead role Paul Atreides in the film. In an interview with GQ, he revealed that Tom Cruise inspired him to train harder for the film. “After I met Tom Cruise, right after finishing the first Dune, he sent me the most wonderfully inspiring email,” Chalamet said. “He basically said, in Old Hollywood, you would be getting dance training and fight training, and nobody is going to hold you to that standard today. So it’s up to you. The email was really like a war cry.”
Florence Pugh joined the film as the character Princess Irulan. In an interview with Vogue, she talked about her relationship with food, and why she doesn’t want to lose weight for roles. “It was expected that you would be on whatever diet that you needed to be on, and for me, that was just shocking because I’d never done that before,” she explained. “I think I definitely put my foot down in that aspect. I love food.”
Dave Bautista plays Glossu Rabban Harkonnen. In an interview with Men’s Health, he revealed his typical diet. “I eat as clean as possible. I was eating mostly vegan, except for eggs because I couldn’t give them up for breakfast. I play with my diet a lot. During the day, I am all protein and fats. And then at night, I’ll usually have one very low-carb meal.”
Rebecca Ferguson plays Lady Jessica in the film. She talked about her fitness secrets in an interview with ELLE. “I do Pilates when I can. I found a real sense of—it sounds really weird, but I don’t understand people that can run outside as a jogging regime. I sort of go ‘ooh a flower,’ ‘ooh mountain,’ and ‘ooh hello!’ but now I like running on the treadmill so I’ll whip up a film or something that is max 40 minutes, and I just go running. I’m into Modern Family right now. That’s very good!”