Zendaya Was Afraid Of Timothée Chalamet Smelling Her 'Vile' Breath

Zendaya's acting career is definitely on the rise right now. The star is currently one of the lead characters, Rue Bennett, in the HBO massive hit series "Euphoria." She previously starred in the "Spider-Man" trilogy, "Dune," and "Malcolm & Marie."

"Dune" saw her play Chani, Paul Atreides' love interest. Paul was played by "Little Women" actor Timothée Chalamet. The Denis Villeneuve adaptation was released in late 2021 and had the best reception. The movie went ahead to be the second most nominated film in the Oscars with ten nods.

In a recent interview, Zendaya talked about her time auditioning for her role in "Dune" and the one prevalent fear she had. The 25-year-old revealed that due to a dentist appointment at that time, she was afraid of a scene that could make Chalamet get a whiff of her "vile" breath.

In an interview with W Magazine, Zendaya recalled the first scene with Chalamet in the "Dune" audition room and how scared she was. The actress revealed that she had just taken out her wisdom tooth, and she was worried that the result would be a foul breath.

In the Thursday published issue, she said, "I had just gotten my wisdom teeth taken out. My biggest fear was that my mouth would be vile, and then I would have to do a scene with Timothée where we have to be really close, and he would smell my possible dry socket breath."

Her fears ended up being unfounded as the scene went without a hitch. The surgery didn't result in a dry socket, and Chalamet didn't smell her "vile" breath. Zendaya went on to act beside the "Little Woman" actor as Chani in "Dune."

This isn't the first time Zendaya is talking about her audition incident. In October, the Disney alum spoke about it during an interview on "The Late Show," which she did with Chalamet. The actress told Stephen Colbert that she just got her wisdom teeth taken out not long before the chemistry read with Chalamet. That was her first time meeting the actor.

The "Euphoria" actress admitted, "I was nervous. I did have this fear that I was gonna get a dry socket. That was my biggest fear, is that if I get this dry socket thing, what if I have this horrible breath, and I come to the meeting, and we have these intimate scenes between Chani and Paul… and my breath is just reeking." Zendaya added, "But it didn't happen, and here we are."

When talking about filming the movie, Zendaya mentioned that she felt a lot of pressure because of how rich the text was. She was afraid she wouldn't do justice to the script. The actress said, "But it's so much more than just a book to a lot of people; it's a whole world that they've been able to escape to for years.

The 25-year-old and Chalamet also talked about their time filming and how they became fast friends on the sci-fi epic set. In a People interview, Chalamet said, "She was like a breath of fresh air. She had a great energy."

The duo also added that they hoped to continue their friendship while navigating Hollywood. Zendaya said, "I'm just so grateful that this experience has been with this guy because he's massively talented but also such a good person. We've been able to have fun and become great friends."

"Dune" was based on the 1965 novel written by Frank Herbert. The sci-fi follows a young nobleman Paul, played by Chalamet, on his journey away from his home planet of Caladan. After facing betrayal and the death of loved ones, the character journeyed through Arrakis, a harsh desert world, with his family.

The nobleman was forced to figure out his destiny and seek help from the Fremen people after an attack on House Atreides on Arrakis. This ushered in his meeting with Chani (Zendaya), part of the Fremen people.

Zendaya as Chani is a mysterious girl that occasionally haunts the dreams of Paul. Although the two barely had a meeting in the first part of "Dune," they will apparently get closer to each other and fall in love in the course of the entire story. "Dune" is available on HBO Max.