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Timothee Chalamet took a page from Tom Cruise’s playbook while filming Dune: Part Two, and no, it wasn’t just about the intensity. It was Top Gun: Maverick. Chalamet alluded he watched Cruise’s high-flying action flick a whopping eight times during the production of his own epic saga. Talk about dedication! He even rented out a theater in Budapest to screen Top Gun: Maverick for the entire Dune cast and crew. “Some of the crew were kind of scoffing at going,” Chalamet admitted to GQ. “But I just thought it was one of the greatest films I’ve ever seen.”
But why Top Gun: Maverick? Simple. The film’s energy, precision, and commitment to its characters hit Chalamet right in the gut. And guess what? It wasn’t just the adrenaline rush that inspired him; it was how Cruise approached his craft. The legendary actor even gave Chalamet some personal advice after the first Dune movie wrapped. “After I met Tom Cruise, right after finishing the first Dune, he sent me the most wonderfully inspiring email,” Chalamet shared. “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.”
Timothee Chalamet took that “war cry” seriously. He didn’t just sit back—he acted. Following Cruise’s suggestion, he brought in specialized trainers for motorcycle and helicopter work. We’re talking about the same Tom Cruise famous for doing his stunts in Top Gun and Mission: Impossible. So, it’s no surprise that Chalamet’s discipline and training paid off in Part Two.
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Dune director Denis Villeneuve couldn’t help but notice the difference. “Action-wise, I felt that he was much more trained than in ‘Part One’ and ready for the fighting sequences,” Villeneuve said. “I was impressed by his level of discipline for ‘Part Two.’ You know, when you are the lead on a movie, there’s a presence, the way you approach your work and your discipline will necessarily have a ripple effect on the rest of the crew.”
Timothee Chalamet’s commitment didn’t stop with his training. He became a full-on leader on set. “He was the first one on set, always ready,” Villeneuve continued. “I was super pleased and impressed with how Timothée really embraced that discipline and became, for me, a real leading actor on this film.”
The evolution was clear, both on and off-camera. In Dune: Part One, Chalamet’s character was a young, naive Paul Atreides, still learning the ropes of the harsh world around him. But in Part Two, he transforms into a charismatic, powerful figure. Villeneuve saw this transformation in real-time. “It was the first time that I witnessed someone growing in front of my camera,” he reflected, impressed by how Chalamet embraced the shift from boy to man, from leader to a figure with much darker, messianic vibes.
So yeah, Timothee Chalamet didn’t just watch Top Gun: Maverick for the thrills. He took Tom Cruise’s ethos of dedication and applied it to his own journey, proving that inspiration can come from the most unexpected places—even a fighter jet cockpit.
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