Rebecca Fergusson looks set to have a big theatrical presence this year. She’s starring in two of the most hotly anticipated theatrical experiences of 2023. Up first is Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, in which the star plays ex-British agent Ilsa Faust. Later this year arrives Dune: Part Two where she plays the all-important role of Lady Jessica, the Bene Gesserit mother to Timothee Chalamet’s Paul Atreides. With the trailer for Dune: Part Two having dropped recently, Fergusson was all praises for the sequel, hailing it a spectacle in front of which even the first movie pales in comparison. Here’s what she had to say when asked about what audiences should expect from the movie.
I’m smiling so much right now. It’s so fucking good. I get emotional talking about it because I love Denny [Villeneuve] and I love Greig [Fraser] and I love the team. But dude, number one is phenomenal and big and grandiose, and then you go close-ups and the imagery and the acting. Yeah, it’s all great. It’s fucking nothing compared to number two. Number two, it’s like a fucking gut punch. It’s unreal.
Fergusson went on to praise the new talent joining the movie. Dune: Part Two features the likes of Austin Butler, Florence Pugh and Christopher Walken portraying key roles in the film. And while Fergusson may not have scenes with all of them, she was all praises not just for the characters, but the immensely talented ensemble of actors and actresses assembled by Denis Villeneuve to play them.
Their characters are huge and important, and they are emperors, and they are princesses, and they are brutal killers, and they are gory. They are fully and utterly needed to make the spectacle that it is, and it’s the crème de la fucking crème of actors. That’s what it brings.
Fergusson’s role may take a bit of a backseat, given that the second half of Frank Herbert’s book puts the focus squarely on Paul and his journey to becoming the Muad’Dib, the saviour prophesized to lead the Fremen in a victorious battle against the Harkonnens. Fergusson isn’t perturbed by this and seems to understand her role in the context of the sequel’s changed priorities. In a past interview, she laid out the what her character’s arc in the sequel entails as thus:
She’s a mom protecting and training someone, something. I say something because she knows [she’s dealing with] an entity bigger than themselves. When Paul starts going off, she begins losing power, and it puts her on an unpredicted journey to discover who we are in response to other people. That’s when we find ourselves again.
Regardless, she may actually end up having a lot more to do than Lady Jessica did in the novel, thanks in part to Villeneuve tweaking things. In the same interview, Villeneuve had revealed that he expanded Lady Jessica’s part to accommodate Fergusson’s acting prowess, and is excited to see what she brings to the table.
Lady Jessica kind of disappears in the second part of the book, and I made sure as I was writing the screenplay to do the opposite, to make sure that she will be active, to bring her back to the front of the story. I’m looking forward for the world to see what Rebecca has accomplished. She’s not afraid to go very far away. She’s a force that I can count on.
Dune: Part Two has surely become one of the most anticipated movies of the year thanks to the recently released trailer. It’s a bit surprising for Warner Bros. to release a second full-length trailer with the movie being so further away from release. I’m convinced there will be a third and final trailer that will arrive some time closer to the movie’s official release, when tickets for Dune: Part Two go on sale.
Dune: Part Two releases in theaters on November 3, 2023. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, it is an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel Dune and features a stellar, ensemble cast that sees Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgard, Dave Bautista, and Javier Bardem reprise their roles from the first movie, with new entrants Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, and Christopher Walken joining the cast.
