Stephen Colbert interviews Dune's Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya on Arrakis

Stephen Colbert’s Dune fandom is only exceeded by his vaunted love for the Lord Of The Rings books/films, so when the Late Show host tells people that Denis Villeneuve’s film represents “the perfect adaptation” of the Frank Herbert sci-fi classic, you know he’s not just blowing sand up anyone’s butt. With Dune stars and fated onscreen lovers Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya in studio for a sit-down about the first half of Villeneuve’s planned (and supposedly, for sure happening) two-part epic, Colbert first gushed to his guests about the “awe-inspiring, big and beautiful movie.” And some gushing was called for, as Colbert, thanks to the miracle of green screen and sound design, spoke to the pair right in the windswept dunes of the planet Arrakis.

“Does anyone have anything they’d like to promote?,” bellowed a lonely Colbert as he wandered the empty wastes, before finding Chalamet and Zendaya, looking crisp and cool in a couple of director’s chairs, awaiting his questions. It might not be ideal to conduct the usual chat show chit-chat while a howling wind echoes emptily around you, but Colbert plowed ahead greedily, asking the duo about everything from just how stifling those neck-to-toe stillsuits were in the Jordan heat (very), to how they kept things loose while portraying arguably sci-fi’s most portentously meant-for-each other couple. (Fart jokes, mostly.) Zendaya also recounted the worrying indignity of the dreaded Hollywood “chemistry read,” noting that Chalamet “already had the job” when the Spider-Man and Malcolm & Marie star had to prove she was truly the Chani to Chalamet’s Paul Atreides. (Thankfully, recent wisdom tooth surgery hadn’t given her “stink mouth.”)

Colbert, as is his way, then made the young stars sit still for some trivia questions about what can only be assumed is the host’s fourth favorite book. Thankfully, his quiz this time was less about abstruse Dune minutia, and more about how much the 25-year-old actors know about stuff that happened way before they were born. Playing a game he called “Duner Or Later,” Colbert asked if certain well-known things were invented before or after the publication of Herbert’s source novel. (In 1965, Chalamet noted, acing the first fact right out of the gate.) Doritos, Spider-Man (as a character), Star Wars, Stephen Colbert (as a living human)—the dewy duo did pretty well, even if neither of them seemed to know what a dune buggy was. Man, it’s like the pair (born in 1995-1996) never sat down of a Saturday morning to watch reruns of 1973's Hanna-Barbera cartoon Speed Buggy, somehow.

Dune opens in theaters today, or, if you want to break Denis Villeneuve’s heart, on various streaming services.