Léa Seydoux in Dune: Part 2 (2024)

‘Dune: Part 2’ star Léa Seydoux named this Czech classic as her favorite childhood film

Dune: Part 2 continues to dominate the worldwide box office more than a month after release, with a total worldwide haul now approaching $700 million (16.4 billion Czech crowns). With a surprisingly small number of summer blockbusters on this year’s docket, Denis Villeneuve‘s film is likely to be one of the year’s highest-grossing films by the end of 2024.

At the film’s premiere in France, social media personality Étienne Ça had the chance to interview some of the stars of Dune: Part 2, and posed one particular question that has drawn a lot of interest: what was your favorite movie as a child?

Timothée Chalamet, who plays protagonist Paul Atreides, offered up the Pixar classic Monsters, Inc.; Austin Butler, who stars as flamboyant antagonist Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, named every child’s favorite film, the Sergio Leone western The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (and was called out as pretentious for his cinematic acumen.)

Léa Seydoux, who stars as Margot Fenring in Dune: Part 2, chose a film that will resonate for those across Europe, and especially in the Czech Republic: the 1973 Christmas classic Three Wishes for Cinderella (Tři oříšky pro Popelku).

@daetienne

Et vous ? C'était quoi votre film préféré petit ? 🎤 Avec le cast de Dune 2 !

♬ son original – Etienne

Seydoux was born and raised in Paris, where the Czech classic is known as Trois noisettes pour Cendrillon. While notably popular in Central Europe and Scandanavian countries (a 2021 remake was produced in Norway), the Czech Cinderella tale clearly has an enduring popularity across the continent.

Directed by Václav Vorlíček and starring Libuše Šafránková in the titular role, Three Wishes for Cinderella (sometimes directly translated as Three Nuts for Cinderella) is an adaptation of Czech author Božena Němcová’s Bohemian spin on the classic Cinderella legend.

Featuring a memorable winter atmosphere, costumes by Oscar-winner Theodor Pištěk (Amadeus), and a classic soundtrack by Karel Svoboda including a central theme sung by Karel Gott, Three Wishes for Cinderella is one of the most enduringly popular Czech films ever made, and a Christmastime staple not only in the Czech Republic, but across Europe.

Seydoux has starred in some of the most noteworthy films of the 21st century. A rising star in the mid-2000s when she filmed The Last Mistress for Catherine Breillat and On War for Bertrand Bonello, she broke out for English-speaking audiences after being cast in a small but memorable role by Quentin Tarantino in Inglourious Basterds.

She followed up that film by working with director Ridley Scott on Robin Hood, Woody Allen on Midnight in Paris, Wes Anderson on The Grand Budapest Hotel, and opposite Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, while giving one of her most acclaimed performances in the French-language drama Blue is the Warmest Colour.

More recently, Seydoux starred opposite Daniel Craig in the last two Bond films, Spectre and No Time To Die. While another sequel to Dune has yet to be confirmed by director Villeneuve or Legendary Entertainment, work on a screenplay has reportedly begun. Expect Seydoux’s Margot Fenring to have a more prominent role next time around.

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Jason Pirodsky

Jason Pirodsky has been writing about the Prague film scene and reviewing films in print and online media since 2005. A member of the Online Film Critics Society, you can also catch his musings on life in Prague at expats.cz and tips on mindfulness sourced from ancient principles at MaArtial.com.

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