The other challenge with the scene was simply making sure Chani’s tear fell at the exact right moment. “[The tear] can only fall when a specific thing happens,” Zendaya explained. The result is a stark contrast from the actor’s emotional scenes in “Euphoria,” where her character, Rue Bennet, often cries in a chaotic and guttural fashion. Rue’s episode-long breakdown in season 2’s standout episode “Stand Still Like the Hummingbird” won Zendaya an Emmy for Best Leading Actress; it was definitely deserved, but it was also the sort of noisy and provocative performance that’s designed to get everyone’s attention. Everyone loves a loud tearful monologue, but a subtle, restrained performance can be just as interesting, and just as important to the story.
This is maybe one of the most fascinating aspects of the “Dune” movies so far: they’ve served as an impressive showcase for most of the cast’s acting talents, even as the material they’re given is not the type that usually wins awards or attracts a ton of praise. Almost every character in this franchise is stoic and borderline robotic. It’s so easy to imagine a version of their performances that’s reminiscent of the wooden deliveries throughout the “Star Wars” prequels. Those characters were meant to be stoic too, but there it felt cheesy and unconvincing. It’s difficult to give a nuanced, subtle performance while working deep in the hot Abu Dhabi desert for weeks on end, but folks like Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, and Rebecca Ferguson have somehow made it look easy.