The highly anticipated reboot of Dune is steadily approaching, and Timothée Chalamet may have just psyched up a whole different fandom for the movie in just a sentence or two. The star makes a bold, but super logical, leap in comparing his upcoming film to the Harry Potter franchise, which on the surface only really are similar because they are both world building fantasy series.
While the demographic of Frank Herbert’s Dune and JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series started out as for different demographics and have completely different aesthetics about them, Timothée Chalamet expertly compares the two in an interview with Deadline. After speaking of his first experience at Cannes, Chalamet goes into his explanation about why Dune reminds him so much of Harry Potter and the way both fantasy franchises have built generations and influenced culture. Here’s what the Call Me By Your Name actor says, in his own words:
I got attached [to the role in Dune] a couple of months after that, and it was nerve-wracking from the announcement, because like I said before, the fans of the book, and the fans of David Lynch version, the computer game, and everything, there’s so much love and strength of feeling. And so much of our pop culture and films and books have been derived from Dune, and all the philosophy the book. I’ve been shocked to learn how many people have a next-level connection to the book. I compare it to how our generation grew up with Harry Potter, and that one makes sense to me. But it’s cool to see with Dune also, when you actually sit down and read it… It’s not that it’s a quote-unquote ‘hard read’ or anything, but it’s not made to be consumed easily, I think that’s fair to say.
Both Dune and Harry Potter are decades old, and both have aged pretty well. As Timothée Chalamet says, the drawl of both series is the connection people make to their philosophies and humanity, and that has allowed the franchises to stick with people throughout their lives no matter how old they get to be.
Timothée Chalamet is a young actor who did not grow up with Dune like those a generation or two older did, however he did grow up with Harry Potter and his words speak volumes to those who fall in his same generation. There is no doubt that fans of David Lynch’s original Dune and Frank Herbert’s books will be flooding to the theaters, but now the Harry Potter fandom, as hardcore as they are, have another world building fantasy to look forward to that is now getting a fresh new look.
Dune is set to release both to theaters and streaming on HBO Max this October 22nd, and with any luck, there will be a second part to the lengthy story coming swiftly after.
