Dune’s Stephen McKinley Henderson on Realizing He’s a Character Actor

Dune has a stacked solid of actors each established and on the rise, from Timothée Chalamet as supposed messiah Paul Atreides and Rebecca Ferguson as his mom Jessica to Jason Momoa as lovable warrior Duncan Idaho. But few of the movie’s stars have the “oh, it’s that guy!” vitality of character actor Stephen McKinley Henderson. As Thufir Hawat, Henderson’s pc man for House Atreides isn’t the showiest function within the movie, but it surely hasn’t stopped folks from taking discover of his character…and in addition that cute parasol he sports activities whereas strolling across the desert planet of Arrakis.

Henderson’s been round as an actor for many years, however in an interview with Vulture, he admitted that he by no means thought he’d be “in a film of this stature.” It was solely lately that he actually started to consider how his journey as a movie and TV actor modified, which he partially attributed to Vulture itemizing him as one of many nice character actors working at present. What’s extra, he hadn’t learn the unique Frank Herbert novel; a pal would often quote passages from the ebook at him due to Henderson’s curiosity in theology and philosophy. It was solely after director Denis Villeneuve sought him particularly for the function that he dove into the novel. “It became one of my favorite books,” he stated, understanding the hype surrounding it.

The total interview is nice, and Henderson comes throughout as a candy man, as seen when he calls up the author after the interview’s ended to gush about his function in Halle Berry’s upcoming MMA film, Bruised. Having come primarily from theater work, Henderson provides up an fascinating view into the bigger than life world of Dune. Calling it “Shakespearean,” he identified how every part hinges on Paul. “It’s not that they know what a messianic journey he’s on — he’s simply the crown prince of the House Atreides who will one day be king…the linchpin for this wonderful film of Denis’ is that Paul’s future is important.”

When it got here to enjoying Thufir within the movie and spouting off a lot of sci-fi jargon, Henderson centered on the character’s empathy, as seen when he provides up his resignation following a failed assassination try on Paul. That’s the place the parasol got here in: whereas taking pictures in Budapest on a scorching day, Henderson was provided a parasol by somebody to guard him whereas he was sitting down. When Villeneuve took discover, they rapidly agreed that Thufir would have a parasol. “It was just one of those spontaneous things…it’s something that someone not human would be attracted to. I just think it’s the desire to really be a part of these wonderful people as the alien that he is,” Henderson stated, including {that a} parasol is relatively “civilized” for his character to have. “It just says so much about where he is at the time and that he’s taking care of himself. He was a young man once.”

Dune is in theaters and on HBO Max now.

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