Rebecca Ferguson Interview | 'Dune: Part Two,' Working With Denis Villeneuve & More

Rebecca Ferguson joins the show to discuss all things Dune: Part Two. We walk through her collaborations with Denis Villeneuve on bringing Jessica to screen, fine-tuning Jessica's relationship with her unborn prescient daughter, and even some of the silly NSFW names for objects in the Dune world. We also had to bring up the iconic "Facob Tremblay" story from behind the scenes of Doctor Sleep.
After the interview, we give our final predictions before this year's Oscars!
00:00:00 - Intro
00:05:14 - Rebecca Ferguson Interview
00:33:53 - Our Final Oscars Predictions
01:37:19 - Outro
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ABOUT ReelBlend:
ReelBlend is CinemaBlend’s flagship podcast featuring CinemaBlend Managing Director Sean O’Connell, Fox 5 DC Entertainment Reporter Kevin McCarthy and Fox 32 Chicago Entertainment Reporter Jake Hamilton. Join them each week as they discuss the latest entertainment news, review new movies hitting the big screen and tell stories about working as entertainment journalists.

[@ReelBlend]

Thank you for listening! We have more Dune interviews to come, and more amazing interviews with filmmakers each week. Be sure to subscribe and come hang out with us each Friday!

[@SenpaiAustin]

The Jawline of that whole fictional family goes crazy hard

[@geoid5388]

Ikr

[@emsi96]

Isn’t she just the best? Her energy is so fun and unique.

[@ReelBlend]

The best! We have to have her back on sometime soon. Wonderful person to chat with.

[@ellishowen259]

Agreed 👍 I crush hard on this woman 😂

[@adam-ll1yf]

My god Rebecca is just one of the most effortlessly cool people ever! I could listen to her talk about anything and everything.

[@DariusVincentHughes]

This interview just shot her to my top 10 favorite celebrities today. So down to earth and charming. No pretension, genuine passion. She’s a gem.

[@arun-it9gr]

Or she's just a very good actress in her element.. the clue is that she's an actress..

[@BEASTKINGBAKU]

She is the type of person you wanna gossip and geek while having a nice cup of tea with lots of loud laughter

[@angelpipessd]

I’ve adored Rebecca since her first scene in Mission Impossible, adored her in Dune 1, adored her in Silo - she is a singular magnetic presence on screen and off. And her VOICE is so lovely and musical.

[@siobhan-rae]

yes i have not seen enough love for her performance in Silo!!

[@a.girl.has.no.name_]

Silo is one my fave series. And she’s a standout in the Greatest Showman!

[@Teaspooncat]

@@a.girl.has.no.name_ Tbh she's a standout in almost anything she's cast in. Edit//Shouldn't even say cast in because Rebecca will stand out in any setting

[@hoomakoa]

Her confidence really makes for entertaining performances in every movie I’ve seen her

[@tvkritisk]

It's never enough watching Rebecca Ferguson goofing around and giving that much details of the behind scenes, and her story telling and comedy timing is gold. I can watch her for hours talking about whatever she wants to.

[@MissZen94]

I want a Rebecca Ferguson podcast

[@paddawan_]

"She fucking hovered" 🤣🤣 I adore her humor, her views on things and ways to express herself

[@jasonboyd782]

I love how curious and intelligent Rebecca is. I actually look forward to seeing what stuff she will produce in the future.

[@xPersonguyyx]

Rebecca seems like the absolute coolest person

[@commandZee]

Rebecca Ferguson and Pedro Pascal have the same fun flirty disarming quality during interviews.

[@recordatron]

Rebecca Ferguson has been absolutely hilarious in all of the interviews I've seen her do in the Dune press tour, I hadn't followed her career too closely but she's really won me over with her performance in Dune and just her general personality. Will definitely be following her work more closely from now on!

[@dominicbiondi4097]

Ferguson's husband must be the most amazing guy to get a woman like that.

[@Robert_Douglass]

He is, my brother. He is.

[@aungkyawpaing2865]

Yea I can confirm

[@Robert_Douglass]

@@aungkyawpaing2865 Hmm... Aung Kyaw Paing. You're Burmese, yes?

[@Dularr]

Hope we get the Lady Jessica and Alia dynamic in future films.

[@nevbarnes1034]

If the films follow the book, then that won't happen. Jessica is wholly absent from _Dune Messiah._

[@Tmtrnr22]

@@nevbarnes1034pain…

[@Teaspooncat]

@@nevbarnes1034 Ok but Alia hasn't even been born yet - the story is already different from the books. (At least what I've gathered from other people who've read Dune is that by this time in the story she had already been born, which was also the case with Dune 1984 film) So unless they make a huge time jump Jessica is going to be there. Either way, not having her in the next one would be a massive loss on and off screen

[@nevbarnes1034]

@@Teaspooncat _Dune Messiah_ is set twelve years later. Alia is a teenager at this point. She basically takes over Jessica's role as the Atreides in-house Bene Gesserit.

[@hadassa5797]

omg this interview with Rebecca is so delicious to watch. Good questions you guys made and she's always so interested in answering and always in a humorous way. She's a delight. I've been following her career for quite some time and I'm so happy she's being recognized more now.

[@thatkidwiththehoodie]

I feel like Rebecca Ferguson and Gwendoline Christie would get along very well xD

[@bowi1332]

We must protect her.

[@jrtelic1228]

Thank you for this. I never knew Rebecca had such a great personality. She's so humorous and energetic. I'm excited to see more of her work.

[@Animodeus]

She is so real I love her about it

[@Teaspooncat]

Rebecca is just incredibly lovely. I love everything about her and I'm not even exaggerating. So happy she is as known and appreciated as she is currently

[@madavmahesh1940]

how can someone be this beautiful 😩

[@rotten_belly_bowser]

My god! This woman is just the most unique soul on this planet! I've never been so in love with a goddess I've never met.

[@Delli88Burn1]

I was a afraid this was going to be a very standard interview after the blue screen vs real environment question. But then, holy crap. This interview was so much fun! Her energy is something we aspire to have, and the well placed swearing and improvised sound effects...like angels singing. But humbly, some feedback(from a Nobody), I think specifically for actors(compared to the more technical team like the Directors and DPs), some questions that would allow them to be more expressive would be more interesting to them and to the viewers.

[@Trazynn]

Her character doesn't appear in the second book but there's plenty of ways to write an arc for her in Part Three. Lady Jessica, off world, isolated and estranged from her son, observing all the dire effects of his rule across the galaxy.

[@Nick-ql2qj]

That would be really cool to see

[@Tmtrnr22]

Absolutely criminal if we don’t get to see her again. I know Denis cut out a lot of the less important aspects from the book but he‘s not yet added a major character or scene, so it’s not entirely probable we‘ll get jessica in part 3.

[@salamanderoffire7770]

This woman is one of my favorite actresses right now. She is jut cool, humble, fun, talented, beautiful, and all the game. I have loved her since the White Queen, and she just gets better and better

[@thebrandonsalad]

Absolutely wonderful interview, Rebecca was such a delight. Very fun!😁

[@sirtmannondaloose]

BOYS!!! Another great interview. I love Rebecca Ferguson, she’s such an incredible actress. I loved dune pt 2 just watched it for the second time last night. Keep up the amazing work guys.

[@michaelclark8831]

I love Rebecca Ferguson letting her hair down. I hate how her character was peed on in mission impossible 7. Great interview 👍🏿

[@TCReyes]

She’s so charming and funny

[@aayushtamu]

Amazing interview boys🤌. It would be amazing if you guys also get a chance to interview editor Joe Walker, writer Jon Spaiths, production designer Patrice Vermette, the sound design Richard King and finally the Visual Effects supervisor Paul Lambert. I guarantee you guys that they would be amazing guests to discuss about the masterpiece that is Dune Part 2.

[@ReelBlend]

Love these ideas

[@alexanderclaylavin]

Joe Walker has worked on a lot of different movies

[@nevbarnes1034]

"Your pitch was too forced." I don't know if this was intended, but that was a great _comedic_ moment.

[@loganastrup6870]

I’ve loved her since mission impossible rogue nation

[@system0fadowner251]

Just found your channel and loving the interviews. Pretty wild to me that a channel under 20k subs gets so many incredible interviews so keep it up 👍

[@ReelBlend]

Welcome! Hit that sub button and help us hit 20k? 😉 More to come on Dune so stay tuned. Hans Zimmer next week!

[@MrMarshmelloBoi]

She should come back in Mission Impossible 8. Don't fuck with us Rebecca! We are all awaiting your return to the franchise.

[@dboygamer8184]

Ilsa is dead

[@Teaspooncat]

@@dboygamer8184 Unless she isn't

[@arun-it9gr]

​@@Teaspooncatno dude she was killed off.. as in "Ethan hunt wife disappeared"

[@Teaspooncat]

@@arun-it9gr Wife disappeared? What do you even mean? If that's what happened she could easily make a return. But what we really witnessed in the film.. If McQ (or who ever is the director for the films after the next one, if there even is any beyond that and Ilsa is still gone at the end of m:i8) and Tom wanted to bring her back one very plausible way would be to reveal the death was faked and actually someone else got stabbed wearing an Ilsa mask. It could even be just some rando and no, it wouldn't be contrived at all and I'll explain it. What however is contrived, unrealistic and makes no sense is the writing for Ilsa and regarding her. First of all, do you for real think the way Ilsa supposedly died adds up considering what we know about her? This woman who during her time in mission has seemed an expert shooter no matter what the gun is; appeared proficient in a knife fight and has shown to be very capable in hand-to-hand combat? At this point anyone sensible naturally would expect Ilsa to know her way around any weapon. A deviation to that would be illogical. Yet that's what they went with bcs there's no way Ilsa - who has been established as someone intelligent, a stellar fighter, the female Ethan Hunt - picks up a sword and is somehow totally oblivious to the fact you're not supposed to fight with it at close range (which is obvious even to an amateur).. Does it make sense to you? To me it's clear as daylight Ilsa would know how a sword is used correctly and would win like it's child's play (especially if it's a person with a knife she's dueling against). Also, her signature move may be the killer thigh move but come on! You wouldn't attempt it in that situation simply bcs you shouldn't need to but it's also not smart using a sword. Terrible terrible lazy writing if that's really how they chose to off her. The more I think about it while writing, the more convinced I am that she's alive. The opposite just makes so much less sense.

[@arun-it9gr]

@@Teaspooncat what we actually see is Iilsa getting beaten up a lot by males who were her peers in terms of training and experience.. the part about testosterone and weight class and muscularity overwhelming even peak training is what we observed with Ilsa Faust.. No, a permanent love interest doesn't suit Ethan's character.. he has to be shown to lose his women, so that the audience will see the magnitude of his sacrifice.. the way the wife from 3rd movie had to go away.. and then make cameos in 4th and 6th.. If at all she is shown alive in the end, it will be as in cameo appearance where they ride off into the sunset or something.. when I saw that love chemistry smiling in the gondola I knew that she's gonna die in the movie..

[@0skim0]

She was one of my favourite actors in the movie

[@prberg2]

Really fun episode! Rebecca was wonderful. Fun chat about your Oscar pics. Congrats on 20K subscribers! Love the show guys.

[@emjbelle]

Wow Rebecca is so cool, love her even more

[@Dr.Restitution]

I feel like DeNiro has been overlooked for his performance in Killers of the Flower Moon. Downey Jr was fantastic but because of how high our expectations are from a DeNiro performance, a lot of people are not appreciative of how he continues to evolve as an actor. He did so much in the film, he was manipulative, charismatic, evil, conflicted. He displays all of these emotions on all lvl’s from a menacing gaze to literally spanking DiCaprio. Not to mention how perfect his accent was. I feel like people are shocked Downey is a great actor, which is carrying the hype of his award tour. But he’s been a great actor his whole career lol

[@michaelbailey8850]

It might be my favorite DeNiro performance ever which is crazy to say

[@Dr.Restitution]

@@michaelbailey8850 I can understand it. I feel like he used all his skills in this role. However, DeNiro in Godfather pt. 2 is probably my favorite performance ever. Period. Hahaha

[@sirtorchington]

Helll yea I love her!! She’s not “lucky enough” to work with incredible filmmakers…she’s so fuckin talented so naturally that shit came along!

[@halfalligator6518]

love her energy. I can see she has as lust for life and having a laugh. Also... it's so cool when these talented stars we admire don't have ridiculous ego's and above everyone. I can't see Tom Cruise doing a 30 minute interview with a medium sized youtube channel. Subscribed!

[@percyweasley9301]

I'm into 16 minutes and Already WHAT AN INTERVIEW and personality she is!.. Love her since the White Queen. From Assam, India...😄😄❤❤

[@BreezeTalk]

She’s so smart

[@mythdusterds]

I enjoyed the interview with Rebecca and hearing how silly she could be.

[@TheStarBlack]

This is what ADHD looks like if you're lucky enough to be able to channel it into a successful career! She's amazing!

[@seemsuncertain]

I’m getting caught up as I’ve had a few busy weeks. Congrats so much on 300 episodes gents and here’s to 300 more! I’ve been listening since AwardsBlend on 1/8/18 as I’ve been following Kevin since his days on WJFK. My favorite show I watch/listen to every week. DUNKIRK!

[@DarkPhantomSky]

Gotta love the tendency of English actors to be so honest.

[@Tmtrnr22]

Wonderful interview!

[@konstantinospapakostas2217]

This amazing woman is so effortlessly COOL it's MINDBLOWING... I'm not even talking about the obvious beauty but her being so candid and immediate and funny and fun and just.... uh... freagin golden...

[@abbyofgail_]

This interview made me love her more!!

[@NickBorodai]

Rebecca is gorgeous woman. I'm adore her when I saw her the first time in MI Rogue Nation. She is very positive and kind woman.

[@sakshilanka6870]

I'm in love with her accent!!!

[@Angie_4738]

I just love enjoy watching her speak.

[@mahwashajaz1483]

i loved watching this so much

[@monkeegyrl6788]

I loved this interview with Rebecca! She reminds me of me In her spontaneity. Wanted to hear more of u guys analyzing the interview afterwards

[@ZuckerbergsAi]

wow some of the best interviewers of all time linked up???? crazy

[@litneyloxan]

Is that even a word? I'm gonna go with it 😂 love that

[@iosebdzamukashvili5360]

Im in love with her!

[@onil1325ms]

She’s the best

[@vanessanishimura969]

Jacob is one of the best child actors, he always does amazing in every movie that he is in

[@victorcarpentier4550]

What an incredible interview 301 and everyone should be watching the KZbin to see Jake and Kevin dress up and Sean wearing a t shirt lol

[@ellovero4665]

God she is such a breath of fresh air.

[@chrissinger24]

I had never heard of her until the Dune films to be honest but I’m so enjoying binging her past interviews.

[@user-yd9nm5ng6n]

She just makes smile 😅 4 each & every interview ;big-up baby girl

[@victorcarpentier4550]

Dune month 🎉🎉🎉🎊🎊🎊

[@josemunoz3834]

What happened with the reelblend episode 300 poster?? I need it

[@brianj436]

rebecca is a real livewire

[@ribcagesteak]

Ferguson is a babe and is absolutely delightful!

[@compactreview]

Go for it, algorithm!

[@chili_hot_sauce]

i wonder what role did she took the tape for, is it the newly announced movie Mercy with Chris Pratt?

[@cwilliamsnfl]

Great episode! I think Fraser would win Cinematography if Dune Part Two came out last year. And I don't think it would be close. There's one specific shot that wipes the floor with everything in Oppenheimer (as someone who thinks Oppenheimer is also a masterpiece). He did stuff I've legitimately never seen. Love Hoyte, but it's a good thing Dune was delayed! Now they'll both be winners.

[@cliff_boof9799]

What shot are you talking about?

[@Tmtrnr22]

@@cliff_boof9799there are so many good ones but one that really stood out to me was that birds eye view shot of paul walking through the fremen crowd. He probably either means that one or the one where you see Paul walking in front of a shai hulud in the background and out of focus.

[@JasmeenBraich]

Love your Oscar predictions! I wrote them all down as well as mine so as the oscars happen I can see who is winning :) Hoping I can beat Jake haha

[@drewweiss4384]

I’m assuming the recent movie audition she is referring to is either Mike Leigh or Yorgos Lathimos. I could be wrong, just a prediction!

[@ATerriblepurpose]

Have to remember to come over here to like. I get stuck in the walled garden of Spotify.

[@RobPerreault]

Great to see some solid input. I would agree with her 100%. Just wish that Alia was born and stayed truer to the book... Amazing talents on the silver... \m/

[@worldview3182]

Goddess

[@GyvonJante]

McCarthy is the jewel of DC when it comes to cinema!

[@brumplum]

Unlike everyone else, I'm, not commenting on the (great) interview but the Oscar noms rundown and in particular the nitpick about the speed with which Monk seems to write "My Pafology" in American Fiction. I really enjoyed the film when I saw it last month to the extent that I'm currently reading Erasure, the original book on which it was based (it's written in the first person and in my head, it's coming out in Jeffrey Wright's voice). In that, Monk effectively writes My Pafology in the course of a single night and does a tiny bit of editing. Buuuut.... The whole of "My Pafology" is 80 pages long (the whole text is reproduced in Erasure, which is 294 pages all told), and the pages aren't exactly dense. So if anything, my gripe with the film is not that he writes the book so quickly but that the prop copies of F**k (into which we never get a peek) that we see are considerably thicker and look like they are maybe 300 pages long. So yeah, he could certainly write an 80 page manuscript in a week (especially as most of it is dialogue), I just wished the movie showed how insubstantial it is a tome. Actually I highly recommend Erasure to all fans of the film, it's not a case of being better than the movie, it's just very different and treats the various topics in a very refreshing way, and the film definitely deserves the praise for adapted screenplay.

[@babbisp1]

Dirty talk 5:26 12:54 15:42 16:59 17:54 22:11 27:23 31:03

[@GyvonJante]

Kevin McCarthy is the jewel of DC when it comes to cinema!

[@nightrider8519]

1:14:25 lmao

[@BreezeTalk]

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@LTPottenger]

She could talk about sandblasting and make it sound absolutely riveting, good thing she doesn't turn her powers towards evil!

[@user-vd5cw4jw9t]

She is going to be a perfect monza

[@chili_hot_sauce]

sadly enough the project got cancelled...

[@user-vd5cw4jw9t]

@@chili_hot_sauce no it didn't. Most recent articles say otherwise

[@chili_hot_sauce]

really? can you share the article? i didnt see the project on her IMDB page anymore.@@user-vd5cw4jw9t

[@Lu-KN]

16:23 I do not believe you 😍

[@have_studs_will_travel2809]

Chris Hemsworth's nose is a big distraction in the trailers of Furiosa; why isn't there as much chatter compared to Bradley Cooper's nose in "Maestro"? 😅😅

[@Tmtrnr22]

Because it‘s a post apocalyptic movie with abnormal costumes and people… why would they look conventionally attractive and normal? I think it’s a good choice to have that nose because it makes him look less like himself and that way, covered under makeup, he can deliver a performance as good as the penguin in the batman.

[@berfncetin]

Who iş she talking about

[@brandonsmith8653]

Well, that’s an hour well spent😈

[@justhangingaround804]

Dune2 vs Oppenheimer, no! Dune 2 for effects

[@eddieromero9118]

I wonder what’s up with the toothpick…..oral fixation 😅

[@Teaspooncat]

It's to help get through withdrawals after quitting smoking, Love that she has it with her for these interviews because it makes her somehow even more attractive and gives us a sense (at least for me) that she's there to be herself, no pretence

[@ccan_max5285]

Dune dune dune dune

[@babbisp1]

Nts 5:26 12:54 15:42 16:59 17:54 22:11 27:23 31:03 5:15 7:15 8:23 8:53 10:38 10:59 11:43 12:41 14:32 15:15 16:40 18:16 19:02 19:53 20:27 21:14 21:53.. 22:08 22:38 23:06 23:34 24:06 24:53 25:22.. 26:38 27:26 27:44 28:25 29:28 30:03 30:19 30:23 30:53 31:15 32:59 33:16

[@danlaplante]

I am in love w her. And I’m really really gay.

[@arctic_haze]

Rebecca is Swedish. So why is she 200% British in this interview?

[@hadassa5797]

I read somewhere that her mother is British. So I think that's why she has this strong British way to talk😅

[@chili_hot_sauce]

she went to English speaking school before 12 years-old I remembered.

[@joelanthonylim6792]

"I don't know Sean, you seem to shit them out really quickly." - Kovacs, 2024 For Costumes, I'm leaning on Barbie because you guys at CCA are pretty good at predicting it just like CCA gave it to Wakanda Forever which won the Oscar. For Prod Design, I'm also doing Poor Things but Jake's double Barbie thing is safe too because no movie has ever won /just/ Prod Design. Kevin not choosing Oppenheimer and going for Zone of Interest in Sound is the biggest shocker here lol Just a heads up, this documentary slate is VERY harrowing and kinda distressing so I don't recommend doing everything in one sit-through. Like pop a fun movie in between. 20 Days specifically is extremely hard to watch but necessary, so much so in the fests were like "this is a great movie but man idk its Oscar chances because holy crap it's hard to watch" The short films are the hardest to predict. There's a lot of frontrunners but a lot of logical runners up. And Wes Anderson might get his first Oscar soon! Keivn should've shouted out Tenet because of the re-release lol

[@jamievicha1660]

Jake is a great interviewer, but is such a kiss A, lol. He always tells everyone he loves everything they've done, etc.

[@stevenharsono9911]

The most cursed and unforgivable act ever happen in the cinema history is her amazing Ilsa Faust character that we all loved is being killed off/phased out by the Mission Impossible dead reckoning film 💔💔💔💔😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡

[@NT-ku9ui]

Эна сама так решила. Закончить с миссией было её решением.

[@Teaspooncat]

@@NT-ku9ui Rebecca did?? When and where did she say that?

[@alexanderclaylavin]

ok guys act cool