BAZ BAMIGBOYE: Rebecca Ferguson brings her Mission Impossible spice to sci-fi classic Dune

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The mighty male stars Timothee Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem may all leave their mark on the desolate, desert landscape in the science-fiction epic that is Dune.  But it's Rebecca Ferguson who dominates the movie.

She plays the complex Lady Jessica Atreides, described as 'a spiritual concubine soldier of the female order of the Bene Gesserit'. 

That's a mouthful, but suffice to say it's a pivotal role. However when I started to raise the subject of how important it was for a woman to have a part that's not window dressing, Ferguson cut me off in my prime.

'I'm not being ironic,' she sighed, 'but I don't go in with my genitals in my hand. I don't sit there in a room thinking: 'I've got a vagina'.'

The mighty male stars Timothee Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem may all leave their mark on the desolate, desert landscape in the science-fiction epic that is Dune. But it's Rebecca Ferguson who dominates the movie

Ferguson cited Isla Faust, the skilled operative she plays opposite Tom Cruise in the Mission Impossible franchise, as well as Jessica, in director Denis Villeneuve's Dune.

'I have been blessed to create these roles, in these big movies. But I don't pat myself on the back and say 'F*** me, Rebecca; you've really battled all those penises.'

'I think Mission was very much ahead of its time for creating an equal to Tom's Ethan Hunt. I felt that in both Mission and Dune, I have been given characters that serve a purpose, despite gender.'

She adds that in any case, Villeneuve's vision was to heighten the roles of the women in the film, who also include Charlotte Rampling and Zendaya. 'I was given the space to act freely, without thinking about my gender.'

I have some issues with the 155-minute film, and that's not even including the fiendishly complicated plot.

Rebecca Ferguson plays the complex Lady Jessica Atreides, described as 'a spiritual concubine soldier of the female order of the Bene Gesserit'

Based on Frank Herbert's novel, it tells the story of Paul 'Muad'Dib' Atreides (Chalamet), a possible messiah, bred by Jessica — who was herself part of a breeding programme to produce such an heir. 

It also chronicles the power struggle on the planet Arrakis, over control of a spice that fuels interstellar travel and psychic powers. And it ain't a spice that you can rub on a chicken before it goes in the oven, that's for sure.

Herbert's novel has never been a holy grail for me. However, Villeneuve and his writers have made it much more 'graspable and relatable', to use Ferguson's words, than David Lynch's stoned-out 1984 version. But man, it's long! And so much sand!!

Still, even I can see it looks glorious on the big screen — and Ferguson provides more heat than the desert, particularly during her interactions with Chalamet, Isaac, Momoa (who's great, by the way), and Bardem. 

Based on Frank Herbert's novel, it tells the story of Paul 'Muad'Dib' Atreides (Chalamet), a possible messiah, bred by Jessica — who was herself part of a breeding programme to produce such an heir

I loved it when Lady Jessica leaned in and sniffed Bardem's character Stilgar.

'No one asked me to smell Javier — I did it in the moment,' she told me, adding with a smile: 'How long has he been in the desert, you know?'

She didn't care to analyse her relationship with Chalamet, or at least not to reduce it to simply playing his mother. 

'I think Jessica's far more than that. I got to go on a journey with a brilliant young actor,' she said.

If the new Dune, which has its premiere in London on Monday, works at the box office, then Warner Bros will bankroll a sequel.

If the new Dune, which has its premiere in London on Monday, works at the box office, then Warner Bros will bankroll a sequel

Meanwhile, Ferguson and her family have moved from their home in Sweden to London while she films Wool, a television adaptation of Hugh Howey's dystopian novel about people living in an underground silo to protect themselves from a toxic environment.

She's also a producer of the drama, which just started filming in a temporary studio built on the site of an old refrigerator depot in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.

It has very green credentials, Ferguson said proudly.

'We're recycling everything we can, and establishing food programmes locally.'

She arrived straight from the set of MI 7, which was shot here and across Europe for nearly a year during the pandemic.

Ferguson will start work on the eighth MI film once the yarn runs out on Wool.

Ferguson didn't care to analyse her relationship with Chalamet, or at least not to reduce it to simply playing his mother

Pride and Joy with karaoke Austen

Sitting in a rehearsal room in front of Christina Gordon, as she fires off stern rebukes, in the guise of Jane Austen's beady eyed aristocrat Lady Catherine de Bourgh, is too much. The speech is being delivered in Gordon's native Glaswegian accent, like a music hall turn.

I confess, I groan inwardly when I'm told that such and such a show, film or telly programme is hilarious, and I must see it. It had been a tough day, and I wasn't really in the mood for a laugh. But laugh I did.

Gordon and her cast mates Isobel McArthur, Hannah Jarrett-Scott, Meghan Tyler, Tori Burgess, Annabel Baldwin and Leah Jamieson were rehearsing McArthur's adaptation of Jane Austen's 18th-century class-ridden romance Pride & Prejudice, re-titled Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of).

It's the (*sort of) bit that started to make my chest hurt, as I tried, vainly, to keep a gale of laughter from erupting.

The troupe first performed the show at Glasgow's Tron Theatre three years ago. They toured during the early part of 2020; and I caught up with them in Oxford. It turned out to be the last theatre production I saw before the first lockdown.

Gordon and her cast mates Isobel McArthur, Hannah Jarrett-Scott, Meghan Tyler, Tori Burgess, Annabel Baldwin and Leah Jamieson were rehearsing McArthur's adaptation of Jane Austen's 18th-century class-ridden romance Pride & Prejudice, re-titled Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of)

Now, for its third iteration, it's getting a West End run, at the Criterion Theatre (with previews starting tonight [Friday]).

McArthur told me it was important to create more opportunities for female performers. Plus, she couldn't resist the notion of them performing a romantic classic text for a Glasgow audience.

She read Austen's masterpiece for the first time when she was 28, and was struck by the fact that it was 'so funny'. 'Then I watched all the television and film adaptations, and they were so unfunny,' she recalled.

The idea of a sort of karaoke Pride & Prejudice made sense, once Gordon and Jarrett-Scott, both trained singers and musicians, joined the company.

Between the seven of them, they play 34 main characters, including (of course) Mr Darcy and the Bennet family.

And they sing a range of songs — including Kiki Dee and Elton John's Don't Go Breaking My Heart and Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out For A Hero.

Producer David Pugh said initially, artists were reluctant to grant the rights to their songs. But they released them, once they saw how'd they'd be used.