Jason Momoa explains how he was on top of a mountain when he got the call from his agent saying Denis Villeneuve wanted to talk to him about Dune. Following his breakout role as Game of Thrones’ Khal Drogo and subsequent casting as Arthur Curry/Aquaman in the DC Extended Universe, Momoa has become one of the biggest stars in the industry. As the actor films Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, his Apple TV+ series See is streaming its second season, and Villeneuve’s highly-anticipated adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune (1965) plays in theaters and on HBO Max. The film’s stacked ensemble cast includes Momoa, Rebecca Ferguson, Timothée Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, David Dastmalchian, and Javier Bardem, to name just a few.

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Dune follows Paul Atreides (Chalamet), the heir of nobleman Duke Leto (Isaac), who is tasked with ruling over the desert planet of Arrakis and, in turn, the Spice trade, at the beginning of the film. This decision by the Emperor boots the evil House Harkonnen from Arrakis, leaving House Atreides to deal with the latter and the native Fremen. One of Duke Leto’s right-hand men, Duncan Idaho (Momoa), essentially acts as the marine who scouts the planet before Paul, Leto, and Lady Jessica’s (Ferguson) arrival. On top of being House Atreides’ swashbuckling swordmaster, Duncan serves as a mentor and friend to Paul.

In a recent interview with IndieWire, Momoa revealed how Villeneuve called him to play Duncan without the mention of an audition. During Sundance 2019, Momoa, who is an avid climber and outdoorsman, received a call from the Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 director while the actor was on top of a mountain. Read Momoa’s casting story below:

“I got a call from my agent literally on top of a mountain, and I was shocked, and he was like, ‘Denis Villeneuve wants to talk to you right now. I thought it was a prank. He said, ‘He wants to talk to you right now. He wants you for a role. He won’t tell anyone what it is.’ Me and my best friend, who loves Denis, ran down the mountain, into the room, FaceTimed him, and he had everything laid out. He had this whole department there in costume. Everyone was staring at me, and he had a whole book. It was this manifest. Pictures, everything. It was almost like he was pitching it to me, and I was taken aback. He asked if I would play Duncan. That’s never happened before.”

If anyone was going to try their hand at Dune four decades after David Lynch, it needed to be Villeneuve. Dune is very much a passion project for the director, who can recall first reading the novel when he was 14. In the film, he tries to recreate many scenes and characters the way he pictured them as a teenager. That being said, Herbert’s novel describes Duncan as handsome with “curling black hair” who women find very attractive. Suffice to say, Momoa not only fits this mold but brings a physicality, charisma, and humanity to the role that shines through in a decidedly dark and stoic film. It’s no wonder Villeneuve called the guy on top of a mountain to play his swashbuckler.

Momoa also spoke on taking inspiration from the role models he had as a kid to help him portray Paul’s—“men that come in your life, and they go on these journeys…and you just idolize them.” For those familiar with Herbert’s source material, Duncan is equatable to the franchise’s very subtle moral compass, which also comes across in the film when Momoa is fighting off House Harkonnen. Given the Dune’s pending box office success, fans now patiently await Warner Bros.’ decision to greenlight a sequel, which will cover the second half of the events in Herbert’s novel. With eight books in total (not including prequels), it remains to be seen if Dune becomes a cinematic franchise. If it does, audiences could be looking up to Momoa for quite some time.

Source: IndieWire

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Josh Plainse is a writer, movie, and television fanatic based out of Wisconsin. Josh works for Screen Rant covering the latest in entertainment while simultaneously pursuing the never-ending dream of becoming an established novelist, screenwriter, and/or decent human being. Josh would accredit characters such as Goku, Han Solo, Simba, and Maximus Decimus Meridius for instilling within him an affinity for storytelling. It is this incessant obsession which has propelled him to seek opportunities that inform, entertain, and inspire others.

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