Standing at 6’4, Jason Momoa has always leaned into tough and intimidating roles.
But in order to be a good actor, you have to challenge yourself with each role.
In a recent interview with IndieWire, the 42-year-old revealed that playing Duncan Idaho, a mentor to young Paul ( Timothée Chalamet) in “Dune,” not only allowed him to tap into his sensitive side but also to honor his real-life son.
Momoa explained that while preparing for a major combat scene in the film, he trained weapons-based martial arts in Kali.
While the rugged “Game of Thrones'' actor has done his fair share of fight scenes, he wasn’t familiar with the self-defense practice, which his 12-year-old son Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha Momoa practices.
"We had to fight numerous people, so a lot of training went into that last battle scene. We did a bunch of stuff, like Kali. I never really learned that. My son does that," he revealed.
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"There’s definitely these intimate moments where I’m signaling to my son," Momoa explained of the Easter egg he snuck into the scene.
"That’s a Kali move, where you put your hand on your heart and put it on your head. That’s to Timothée in the movie, but that’s to my son in real life,” he added.
The actor also revealed that he was drawn to the role of Duncan because he was a role model for Chalamet’s character.
In fact, he drew on his very own childhood role models to get into character.
“Those men that come in your life, and they go on these journeys, whether they’re mountaineers or skateboarders, they go on these adventures, and they come back and tell them, and you just idolize them,” Momoa said.
“That’s what I really felt like Duncan was to Timothée’s character. That’s what I wanted to embody when playing this role,” he added.
Momoa also revealed that he was starstruck by Javier Bardem on the set of the film.
He noted feeling simultaneously “underqualified and privileged to be there.”
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“[It] was definitely when we were all together, when Javier walks in and we meet Stilgar. It’ll go down in my top-five moments because I got to work with those heavy hitters,” Momoa explained to Entertainment Weekly.
“I never stood and acted with that level of talent before,” he added.
The “Aquaman” actor even joked that he was ““definitely the sh******* one in the whole room, and I was really afraid that they’re going to find out. We were all very close, they were so sweet. But when the scene starts, he’s a whole different dude.”
“Dune” stars an ensemble cast including Chalamet, Bardem, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, and Zendaya.
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