Robert Pattinson tells Dune 3: “It was so hot in the desert!”

Partly filmed in the vicinity of Abu Dhabi, the filming was exhausting for a large part of the team.

The climate on Arrakis is not the same as in Gotham City!

Robert Pattinson recently told IndieWire that the filming of Dune: Part 3 directed by Denis Villeneuve had been much more demanding than expected, notably because of the oppressive heat of the Arab desert where a large part of the scenes were filmed.

“When I was filming Duneit was so hot in the desert that I could no longer question anything, I could no longer think…”

Robert Pattinson then explains: “It was so relaxing that my brain just wasn’t working. I had no functioning brain cells. And I just listened to Denis: ‘Okay, I’ll do whatever you want!’”

Dune 3 was filmed partly in Abu Dhabi, notably in the Liwa desert.

Pattinson’s role in this latest installment remains secret for the moment. He joins the main cast consisting of returning Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin, Rebecca Ferguson and Anya Taylor-Joy. The film is inspired by Frank Herbert’s second novel, The Messi of Dune.

As with each part, anecdotes about the extreme heat of filming multiply. Austin Butler, who played the villainous Feyd-Rautha in Dune: Part 2had told Entertainment Weekly that several people on the set had suffered heat stroke in the first week of filming.

“It was 110 degrees and so hot. I had my wig on, and it was between two sets that were just 200-foot-tall gray boxes surrounded by sand. It was like a microwave. People were passing out from the heat. And it was only my first week,” explained Butler. “It really creates a bond with the whole team. There’s something so humbling about being in such an uncomfortable environment.”

Dune 3 is due to be released on December 16, 2026 in cinemas in France.