Feeling the nerves. Zendaya is opening up about her “biggest fear” about her many intimate scenes with Timothée Chalamet in Dune.
“I had just gotten my wisdom teeth taken out,” the Euphoria star, 25, told W Magazine of auditioning for sci-fi epic on Thursday, March 3. “My biggest fear was that my mouth would be vile, and then I would have to do a scene with Timothée where we have to be really close and he would smell my dry socket breath.”
However, once she got on set, the Spider-Man: No Way Home actress began to relax. “As a Virgo, I hate not being in control of things, and spontaneity is difficult for me in real life,” she continued. “It’s funny, because that’s why I love acting so much. It’s the one space in which I can feel safe being spontaneous, because I’m not myself; I’m someone else. There are no consequences.”
In Dune, Zendaya plays Chani, the mysterious figure who haunts the dreams of Paul Atreides (Chalamet), one of the aristocrats who have taken over governing the desert planet of Arrakis. Throughout the course of the film, Chani and Paul grow closer and fall in love.
Like their characters, the Malcolm and Marie star and Chalamet, 26, quickly formed a tight bond.
“I was the only other person closer to his age on the cast,” Zendaya told UK Vogue in October 2021. “So he was like, ‘Awesome, someone who understands my jokes!’ He just rolled up with his little boom box [in my trailer],” she said recalling their on-set dance parties to “2000s dance songs like Soulja Boy.”
“We got in a nice, beautiful rhythm, where we were able to snap into focus on scenes but we had so much fun, too,” Chalamet said at the time. “Especially in this industry, it’s nice to have other people who are going through it too and that you can talk to.”
Since filming wrapped on Dune, the pair have frequently gushed about their close friendship, with Zendaya describing the Call Me By Your Name star as “like family” during an October 2021 interview with Entertainment Weekly.
“Immediately I was like, ‘Oh, we’re going to be friends for life. Like, this is happening,'” the Shake It Off alum recalled to E! News later that month. “So that was great and I had an incredible time, and I sure hope that we get to do more of it because selfishly, I just want to have fun.”
