Fans have praised the casting of the House Atreides characters in the Denis Villeneuve-directed sci-fi epic Dune: Part Two, with many citing that Timothée Chalamet and—SPOILER ALERT—Anya Taylor-Joy both strongly resembled their onscreen parents, played by Rebecca Ferguson and Oscar Isaac. But funnily enough, Ferguson recently revealed that Chalamet’s resemblance to another member of her family is causing funny confusion in the Ferguson household.
While chatting with Northern Ireland’s U105 radio, the Dune actress—who plays Lady Jessica, Paul Atreides’ Bene Gesserit mother and the newly-appointed Reverend Mother in the critically acclaimed space sequel—told a story about how her young daughter confused Timothée Chalamet for Ferguson’s husband, businessman Rory St. Clair Gainer, when they were shopping for Valentine’s cards:
It’s at Valentine’s Day, right? I don’t even know if you can show this or whatever. And my daughter is in a shop with my husband, I was told this today…she goes up to a card and she goes, ‘This is perfect for mummy.’ It’s a picture of Timothee, who she thought was her dad because it looks like my husband, and it says, ‘Will you Wonka my willy?’ But she doesn’t get it, she’s like, ‘Oh, it’s Willy Wonka! Will you Wonka my willy, dad?’
In her daughter’s defense, after looking up Rebecca’s hubby, many fans took to social media saying that they could definitely see a resemblance between him and the similarly well-coiffed Wonka actor:
- “I can definitely see where her daughter is coming from” – @fiImgal
- “Lol Mr Rebecca Ferguson does look like Timmy” – @Felicity_M2
- “Had to see what Rebecca Ferguson’s husband looked like for his own daughter to confuse them and you know what? Fairs.” – @legolees
- “lol I saw some pics of Rebecca’s husband, Timothee looks a lot like a younger version of her hubby, it all makes sense now!” – @IamLindaW1
- “I googled her husband after seeing this and they might be the hottest couple ever” – @idesofavril
The 40-year-old Swedish actress recently joked during an appearance on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast about her experience playing the mother of the 28-year-old Chalamet:
What does it feel to be Timothée Chalamet’s mum? It’s like [puts an imaginary stake into her heart and makes choking noises] You know. [Laughs] You kind of wanna be an equal to that cool, sexy thing.
Ferguson’s good-natured jokes about Chalamet are no surprise, as the actress has been known to be funny and frank in her interviews, especially during this Dune 2 promo tour. She recently made headlines for recounting how an “idiot” former co-star once screamed her out while on set of a past project, which had Ferguson’s previous colleagues like The Rock and Emily Blunt scrambling to prove that she wasn’t talking about them.
Luckily, it seems she had a much nicer time working with Timothée Chalamet and the rest of the Dune: Part Two crew, despite the quite understandable confusion that it might be causing with her kids. You can see Rebecca Ferguson as the House Atreides matriarch in Dune, which is available to stream with a Max subscription, and its blockbuster sequel, which is out in theaters.