Timothée Chalamet wanted a part in 'Dune' so badly he set up Google alerts

Timothée Chalamet isn't playing Paul Atreides in Dune by accident.

The 25-year-old actor walked Deadline's Joe Utichi through his dedication to director Denis Villeneuve casting him in the feature film adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 sci-fi novel by the same name in this new interview published Tuesday (Aug. 31):

"As soon as Denis got involved, I set up a Google alert and that's when I got the book.

"In total honesty, I think my understanding of Dune at that point was from a graphic novel I’d seen at Midtown Comics when I was shopping for Yu-Gi-Oh! cards when I was about 10. The year you and I first met, when I was there at Deadline Contenders with Call Me by Your Name, that would have been 2017 or early 2018, and Denis was there with Blade Runner. I remember I was trying to put myself in front of him as much as possible and set up a meeting with him. We had a night at the BAFTA where one of my good friends, Stéphane Ba—who’s also an actor—saw Denis across the room and was like, 'Hey buddy, he’s right over there.' So, we went over to talk to him. I kept trying to put myself in front of him, but I didn’t really get a sense of the possibility [of working with him].

"I was about halfway through the book when I got the call that he was going to be the president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, and I was in London prepping The King. He asked me if I could come out there, so I quickly busted through the second half of the book as best I could. So, like, the first half of my copy is properly annotated and full of my thoughts, and then the second half I just raced through. And then I had that meeting with him, and it was such a joy."

Dune centers around Atreides, "the son of a noble family entrusted with the protection of the most valuable asset and most vital element in the galaxy," and stars Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Dave Bautista, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, and more, alongside Chalamet.

The one-time Oscar nominee also commented on Villeneuve's decision to only tackle the first half of the book in the forthcoming movie with hopes for a sequel that would focus more on Zendaya's character Chani: "Chani will play a huge role in the next film. I don't know if there's a script yet, but just based on the book, along with Lady Jessica [Rebecca Ferguson], they have a lot to do together, let's put it like that."

Below, watch the Dune trailer ahead of its Oct. 22 release.