Denis Villeneuve has paid tribute to his Dune predecessor David Lynch with a photoshoot starring Timothée Chalamet and Kyle MacLachlan.

For W Magazine’s Directors Issue, the Dune filmmaker directed his leading man Chalamet for a photoshoot in which he played a bartender who serves a customer who turns out to be his spiritual twin.

Villeneuve had hoped to cast Lynch as the customer, since he directed the first film adaptation of Dune in 1984. However, the Mulholland Drive filmmaker passed away on 15 January before they got a chance to meet.

To honour Lynch and the legacy of Dune, Villeneuve decided to cast MacLachlan, Lynch’s favourite leading man, instead. Chalamet and MacLachlan both played the character Paul Atreides in their respective Dune films.

“He was one of the great masters,” Villeneuve told the publication. “I hope that this shoot can be, in part, a love letter to his legacy.”

He added, “When I called Kyle about this shoot, I felt that he was happy to celebrate both Timmy and David Lynch.”

Chalamet and MacLachlan, who first met at the 2022 Oscars, posed for several photos together in the bar. Alongside one image of the Twins Peaks actor holding a martini, a handwritten message reads, “Thank you David! Denis.”

Although Lynch famously disliked the finished version of his Dune, insisting the final cut didn’t match his vision, Villeneuve did not feel intimated trying to mount another adaptation of Frank Herbert’s epic novel.

“I knew I was able to do it,” he stated. “The fact that a master like David Lynch had trouble wasn’t in my mind. Dune was a huge part of me – I was 13 when I first read the book. And I retained the arrogance of a teenager. I wanted to devour the world at that age, and the book is linked to that type of energy. Not to sound too grand, but the book spoke to me so loudly that it erased my fear.”

Villeneuve’s adaptation was split into two parts released in 2021 and 2024. He is now developing the book Dune Messiah, which will star Chalamet once again.

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