Zendaya has admitted to feeling like she might not be “cut out” for fame.
During a screening event held in New York City for Dune: Part Two, which featured a Q&A with the cast, they were posed a question about whether they saw parallels between the warnings of Messianic cult followings depicted in the epic sci-fi film and the state of modern celebrity fandoms.
In her response to the question, Zendaya opened up about the pressures of fame, emphasising that she would like to be seen as a “person” above all.
“I feel like, often, I am not cut out for that part of it,” she began. “I do love my job, I’m so grateful. I love doing the work, I love being on set, I do love moments like this — don’t get me wrong — but I am terrified of that part of it, often.”
She continued: “I was a shy kid, always have been, and so this part isn’t natural — that is a huge reason why fashion became important to me because it became like armor to pretend to go out and do the job.”
“So I don’t know if I, either, can fully relate, but I definitely understand what you’re saying, and I think that’s what’s terrifying to me,” she concluded. “I would like to be a person and for people to see me as that first. I don’t necessarily know if I want or can handle all of that or want [that] — some people that’s part of it, they enjoy the power that comes from it, and I don’t know if that’s for me.”
Director Denis Villeneuve recently confirmed that Dune: Messiah will be his final film for the franchise.
However, the director’s also said that despite Messiah being his third film, it’s not to be considered a trilogy, as Dune and Dune: Part Two made up the first book in the series, and Messiah will be a sequel – effectively rendering it two entries across three films.
Villeneuve said to Vanity Fair: “It was really a pair of movies that will be the adaptation of the first book. That’s done and that’s finished. If I do a third one, which is in the writing process, it’s not like a trilogy. It’s strange to say that, but if I go back there, it’s to do something that feels different and has its own identity.”