Dune the novel is well-known for its intricately complex world, a large part of it is the landscapes and the visuals of sand dunes. To capture the right look, the production went to great lengths that involved shooting in temperatures excess of 100 degrees. Timothee Chalamet, who plays Paul Atreides, revealed some tidbits about filming early morning to capture the beautiful dusk visuals that bounced light off in a surreal manner on camera.

It was really surreal. There are these Goliath landscapes, which you may imagine existing on planets in our universe, but not on Earth.

But Chalamet also lays out some of the precautions taken by the production team, including halting shooting if the temperatures exceeded 120 degrees.

I remember going out of my room at 2 a.m., and it being probably 100 degrees. The shooting temperature was sometimes 120 degrees. They put a cap on it out there, if it gets too hot. I forget what the exact number is, but you can’t keep working.

Despite the heat, most of the cast had to be in stillsuits, elaborate suits worn by the characters in the hot planet of Arrakis that protects them from the external heat. The suits help preserve the body’s moisture, even converting droplets of air exhaled during breathing and in the process, become life-saving. For the cast in real-life though, they caused a lot of pain that, Chalamet hints, might have helped translate into a more effective performance.

In a really grounded way, it was helpful to be in the stillsuits and to be at that level of exhaustion.

Chalamet’s first look still kicked off the Dune frenzy from yesterday and there’s been a flurry of reveals today. We’ve gotten our first set of hi-res images that reveal looks at each of the characters, as well as Villeneuve’s promise of making two films out of the first book. We also learn about some of the changes Villeneuve has made in adapting the source material.

Dune hits theaters on December 18, 2020. There are currently no plans to deviate from that release date.