‘Kind of role everyone dreams of’: Josh Heuston on his big Hollywood break

Model turned actor Josh Heuston on his newest role, making moves in Hollywood, and Heartbreak High’s much-anticipated second season.

If Josh Heuston’s frequent flyer points were stalled during Australia’s Covid-prompted border closures, they’re certainly getting a run now.

The Sydney-based model and actor has been jetting between home and Hungary’s capital city of Budapest, where the Heartbreak High star recently filmed the first episode of his latest project.

Just weeks ago, it was announced the 26-year-old had been cast in one of Hollywood’s buzziest new projects – the upcoming HBO Max series Dune: The Sisterhood.

It’s a prequel to Dune, the big-budget film franchise starring Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet (part two hits cinemas this year) based on the 1965 sci-fi novel written by Frank Herbert.

Heuston, who is due back on set in March, tells Stellar In Summer that the series “is basically set 10,000 years before Zendaya and Timothée’s Dune. It’s everything that leads up to that”.

Josh Heuston: ‘This is the kind of role everyone dreams of.’ Picture: Damian Bennett for Stellar

Per HBO Max, Dune: The Sisterhood “will follow the Harkonnen Sisters as they combat forces that threaten the future of humankind, and establish the fabled sect known as the Bene Gesserit”.

In the show Heuston will play Constantine, the illegitimate son of the emperor. “I’m torn between what I want to do and, I guess, seeking the respect of my father,” Heuston says of his character.

Heuston surmises he landed the role, in part, because the team behind the series had seen him on Netflix’s hit Heartbreak High, but he admits that locking in the job was never a sure thing.

After sending an audition tape, “I was put on hold. And then a few weeks later, they were like, ‘Yeah, everything is locked in, fly out tomorrow.’”

He confesses that receiving the phone call confirming he had booked the part was

a shock.

“This is the kind of role everyone dreams of… and to have that opportunity, and for it to happen so quickly, you kind of have whiplash. I landed at night and the next morning I went to the table read with 40-something cast members.

“You work really hard for an opportunity like this and when you get it, it’s like, oh, it’s happening now. If I do well, it will open some doors. I try not to think about it too much.”

Josh Heuston, centre, starred in Stellar’s cover shoot about the next big Aussie stars to watch. Picture: Steven Chee for Stellar

After Dune: The Sisterhood wraps, Heuston will return to Australia to shoot the second series of Heartbreak High, reprising his role as bad boy Dusty.

“When you’re in-between roles, you’re kind of thinking about when your next [job] is going to be,” Heuston muses.

“I finished Heartbreak in February and didn’t work as an actor [again] until just recently. The goal is to have projects you really love.

Given that he now has two of them in play, Heuston is all too happy with his busy schedule.

“It’s like a dream come true, really.

“This is the kind of role everyone dreams of... You work really hard for an opportunity like this”