Is Timothée Chalamet Going Bald?

The news came to me by way of my favorite gossip blogger, Lainey Liu, the brilliant mind behind laineygossip.com. Referencing my previous joke about his ancient Italian grandmother witch costuming, she referenced rumors that he’d buzzed his head for Dune: Messiah. The eagerly anticipated sequel to Dune Part Two allegedly began production this week in Hungary. As Lainey points out, Zendaya was scoped on location in Budapest amid rumors of the sequel officially kicking into gear.

Funny enough, Zendaya made news as she landed in Budapest for reasons entirely unrelated to Denis Villeneuve’s cinematic ambitions. Instead, a fan uploaded a video of the star kissing a dog on the street. The caption on TikTok read: “Pov: your dog just licked Zendaya’s mouth.”

Watch her smooch some puppies below:

Back to Timmy — there’s no book description that describes character Paul Atreides as shaving his head. In fact, the only description I know of about Atreides’ locks concerns the hue, which is “coal-colored.” It would be one of many other stylistic departures on visionary Villeneuve’s part, like the bald and pasty Harkonnen clan, or that spooky creature in the first movie viewers still don’t have answers about. (I’m still of the mind that it’s Dr. Yueh’s wife after twisted experimentation courtesy of the Baron.)

Still, it’s hard not to notice that tiny slip of his neck in pap shots from his walk-about with Jenner, which show a fresh buzz cut. If he’s not gone bald for the role, they’re maybe putting him in a wig. The new film's title, Dune: Messiah, certainly calls to mind images of long-haired locks on some guy that’s been nailed to a cross. In Dune terminology, that’s like being eaten alive by a sandworm.

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