FEBRUARY 29 • 2024 | 51
J
N

CHALAMET’S MOMENT, 
SANDLER SOARS TOO, 
MUCH MORE

Dune, Part 2, opens in 
theaters on March 1. Part 1, 
released in 2021, got very 
good reviews, and it got 10 
Oscar nominations, includ-
ing best adapted screenplay 
(co-written by Eric Roth, 
78) and best picture. Hans 
Zimmer, 66, won an Oscar 
for his score. 
Awards were just the 
cherry-on-the-top: Dune, a 
sci-fi action film, cost $165 
million and earned $405 
million in theaters, alone. A 
sequel was always the wish 
of the film’s director. But 
Warner Bros. waited until 
the receipts piled up before 
greenlighting a sequel in 
October 2021. 
The success of Dune, Part 
1 was a huge career boost 
for the film’s star, Timothée 
Chalamet, now 28. Before 
Dune, he was in a few “rel-
ative” hits, but they weren’t 
blockbusters. Also, these 
prior hits were “talky” smart 
films and certainly not action 
flicks. Chalamet starred in 
one of these “smart” films 
(Call Me by Your Name), and 
he had a supporting role in 
the other two (Little Women 
and Lady Bird).
Chalamet followed Dune 
with Wonka, a musical 
(2023). It cost $125 million 
and made over $600 mil-
lion. I can envision Chalamet 
saying to himself, “I am the 
king of the world!” Right 
now, he’s an uber-popular 
song-and-dance man, and 
he’s a more-than-credible 
action star. That’s a very 
rare combo.
Here’s a capsule summary 
of the premises of the Dune 
films: A monarch “gives” the 

control of a desert planet 
to the noble Atreides fam-
ily. The planet is the only 
source of an invaluable 
product. The Atreides family 
is almost destroyed by evil 
conspirators. Paul Atreides 
(Chalamet) survives and 
allies with the natives of this 
planet. In the sequel, Paul 
seeks revenge against the 
conspirators (Warning: Feb. 
29 is the last day Dune, Part 
1, will stream on Netflix). 
Chalamet is about to 
start filming A Complete 
Unknown, a bio-pic about 
Bob Dylan, now 82. The 
title references a line from 
Dylan’s hit “Like a Rolling 
Stone” (1965). Chalamet 
plays Dylan from age 19 
(1960) to 1965. He’ll sing 
Dylan songs in his own 
voice. 
This film is another chal-
lenge for Chalamet. Can 
he make a film about Dylan 
another hit? Well, to that 
end, Chalamet is doing his 
research. On Jan. 19, he 
went to Hibbing. Minnesota, 
Dylan’s hometown, and talk-
ed to high school students 
(Hibbing is a mining town 
near Duluth). 
Adam Sandler, 57, anoth-
er box-office king, is starring 
in a sci-fi action/drama film, 
too! (Rare when the Jewish 
stars align like this.)
It’s titled Spaceman, and 

it’s based on a novel by 
a Czech writer. Sandler’s 
co-stars include Carey 
Mulligan, Isabella Rossellini 
and Paul Dano.
Here’s the plot, as report-
ed by Deadline: Hollywood: 
“An astronaut [Sandler], sent 
to the edge of the solar 
system to collect mysterious 
ancient dust, finds his earth-
ly life falling to pieces. He 
turns to the only voice who 
can help him try to put it 
back together. It just so hap-
pens to belong to a creature 
from the beginning of time 
lurking in the shadows of his 
ship.” 
Sandler has proved he 
can do drama quite well. 
He was very good in The 
Meyerowitz Stories and 
Uncut Gems. 
Elsbeth, a CBS drama, 
premieres on Feb. 29 (10 
p.m.). Carrie Preston plays 
Elsbeth Tascioni, a com-
petent attorney who is 
on the autistic spectrum. 
This condition allows her 
to make unique, valuable 
observations. Tascioni was a 
character in The Good Wife 
(a TV series) and its spin-off, 
The Good Fight. In Elsbeth, 
Ms. Tascioni joins forces 
with the NYPD to catch bad 
guys. 
Linda Lavin, 84, will guest 
star in the seventh episode 
of Elspeth (March 17). Lavin 

is best known as the star of 
the TV series Alice. More 
recently, she co-starred in 
B Positive, a CBS come-
dy series (2020-22). She 
can sing, and she was a 
Tony-winning star of the 
Broadway musical stage.
Elsbeth was created by 
and is written by Robert and 
Michelle (Stern) King, 62. 
The Kings, a married couple, 
were the creators of A Good 
Wife.
The ABC series Not Dead 
Yet recently (Feb. 7; 8:30 
p.m.) began its second sea-
son. It stars Gina Rodriguez 
as Nell Serrano, a journalist 
who writes obits for a pop-
ular magazine. The ghosts 
of the persons whose obits 
she is working on appear 
before her and help her 
write their obits — then 
disappear. 
I hadn’t watched a Not 
Dead Yet episode before 
I stumbled on the second 
season premiere episode 
on Hulu (all episodes on 
Hulu the day after ABC 
broadcast). I found it amus-
ing, and I thought Brad 
Garrett, 63 (Everybody 
Loves Raymond) was very 
good as the magazine’s 
nasty owner, Dusty Rhodes. 
The Rhodes character was 
introduced in this episode 
and will appear many times 
in the second season. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

GEORGES BIARD

Adam 
Sandler

HOLLYWOODFILMACADEMY 

Timothée Chalamet 

GREG HERNANDEZ 

Linda Lavin

