‘Heartstroke’ in Zendaya's 'Dune' survival story? She says it was part of it
Zendaya says making Dune got downright scary at one point — a jolt you won’t see coming.
On location in the deserts of Jordan, Zendaya pushed through long days in Dune ’s heavy stillsuit and made a choice she now calls a mistake: she cut back on water so she wouldn’t have to wrangle the suit for bathroom breaks. The dehydration caught up with her, and she says she wound up with heatstroke while filming as Chani.
The issue wasn’t sand and sun alone — it was the stillsuit itself. Zendaya told W Magazine that getting out of the elaborate costume for a bathroom break was a whole operation. When asked if she’d been drinking enough water, she recalled her own sheepish answer:
“No, I thought I was being smart. So lesson learned.”
She described phoning her mom from a bathroom floor because she felt so bad, only to be met with the obvious question about hydration. By her own account, she hadn’t been drinking, worried the suit would make even a quick pit stop take too long.
Chani’s look, by design
Costume designers Jacqueline West and Bob Morgan built Chani’s wardrobe to function like survival gear disguised as fashion, with meticulous detailing meant to live in the landscape rather than pop against it. Zendaya arrived straight off intense training for Challengers , and her gear on Arrakis was engineered with the same kind of precision.
- Stillsuits constructed from 100-plus custom pattern pieces.
- Functional-looking components and textures designed to blend into Jordan’s rocky terrain.
- Color palettes lifted from the desert itself.
- Flowing wraps and gauzy layers added to soften the Fremen world and bring a romantic note to Chani’s silhouette.
- An upgraded sandworm-riding suit featuring extra armor for protection.
One practical snag remained: getting out of the stillsuit could take at least 10 minutes — the production reality that led Zendaya to limit her water intake in the first place.