Tom Cruise’s secret email to Dune star Timothée Chalamet revealed

Timothée Chalamet has lifted the lid on the very unexpected note he received from the Top Gun star ahead of filming his latest blockbuster movie.

Tom Cruise and Timothée Chalamet. Picture: Bryan Bedder/Getty; Angela Weiss/AFP

Timothée Chalamet received some A-list – and very unexpected – advice while filming his latest blockbuster film.

In a new interview with GQ, the actor, 27, revealed that a surprise email from Tom Cruise had landed in his inbox shortly after they met in 2021.

“After I met Tom Cruise, right after finishing the first Dune, he sent me the most wonderfully inspiring email,” Chalamet said.

In it, the Top Gun star – who is famous for his dedication to performing his own high-stakes stunts in films – had included a list of stunt experts, including a motorcycle and helicopter coach.

Cruise - seen here in Top Gun: Maverick - is known for performing many of his own stunts.

“He basically said, in Old Hollywood, you would be getting dance training and fight training, and nobody is going to hold you to that standard today. So it’s up to you. The email was really like a war cry,” Chalamet explained.

The motivation couldn’t have come from a better source: Chalamet, a huge Cruise fan, saw Top Gun: Maverick eight times during filming on Dune Part Two in 2022, even hiring out a movie theatre in Budapest so the cast and crew could watch it together.

“Top Gun was just hugely inspiring to me last summer when we were making Dune,” he said. “Some of the crew were kind of scoffing at going, but I just thought it was one of the greatest films I’ve ever seen.”

Cruise sent him a motivational email after they met. Picture: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

Chalamet revealed he’d watched Top Gun: Maverick eight times. Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP

Perhaps as a direct result of Cruise’s intervention, director Denis Villeneuve told GQ that Chalamet had a new sense of purpose when filming picked up on the blockbuster sequel.

“Action-wise,” the filmmaker told GQ.

“I felt that he was much more trained than in Part One, and ready for the fighting sequences. I was impressed by his level of discipline for Part Two. You know, when you are the lead on a movie, there’s a presence, the way you approach your work and your discipline will necessarily have a ripple effect on the rest of the crew.

“He was the first one on set, always ready. And I was super pleased and impressed with how Timothée really embraced that discipline and became, for me, a real leading actor on this film.”

Chalamet in Dune.

Chalamet has been known for keeping a relatively low-profile since finding fame at 21 through his Oscar-nominated role in 2017’s Call Me By Your Name.

However, his personal life was put firmly in the spotlight recently after it emerged that he was dating Kylie Jenner.

After weeks of speculation, the pair confirmed their relationship with cosy appearances at the Beyonce concert in LA and the US Open in New York last month.

Without specifically referencing his girlfriend and the subsequent media attention, Chalamet admitted he understands the public interest – but reportedly “bristled” at the suggestion that celebrities may not be entitled to privacy.

“I can’t say that this stuff doesn’t matter,” he told the GQ reporter.

“Because my intense fandom has led me to where I am.”

He then poked fun at his own stance, comparing his plight to that of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s polarising relationship with the press.

“This reminds me of that recent South Park episode with the Worldwide Privacy Tour,” Chalamet said, referencing the storyline where the royal couple is seen flying around the world in a private jet and appearing on a talk show with placards demanding privacy.

“Sometimes, people are going to be hella (sic) confused when you say you’re trying to live a private life.”

Originally published as Tom Cruise’s secret email to Dune star Timothée Chalamet revealed