Playing the Princess of the whole universe in Dune: Prophecy, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina is poised to become a full-blown celebrity practically overnight. But it didn’t happen overnight for the 33-year-old Dane, who’s been a working actor half her life. Now, as she prepares for life post-Dune, she can finally open up about the role that changes everything
About 20 minutes into the first episode of the long-awaited series Dune: Prophecy, Princess Ynez arrives, literally kicking ass in hand-to-hand combat training with the royal family’s swordmaster (and her some-times-love interest). In that precise moment, a star is born in Danish actor Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, who plays the doe-eyed Princess with scene-stealing panache.
“I’ve never done anything like that before and the character I play is a badass, so I have to look good while doing it,” says Boussnina of the fighting, which is done in a style of combat invented specifically for the Dune universe (or the “Duniverse”, introduced by the two films starring Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet). “I was looking at some of my first videos of stunt training and I was so stiff.” Training – a sort of bootcamp – started a month before filming and continued throughout the one-year shoot in Budapest. Don’t let her small stature fool you – these days if you happened upon Boussnina in a darkened alley, she could probably beat you up if it came down to it. “I became a bit obsessed – now I’ve been doing Muay Thai for a year, three times a week,” she says. “So, you know, if the adrenaline was pumping...”
/Sarah_Sofie_Boussnina_505d5ce270/Sarah_Sofie_Boussnina_505d5ce270.jpg)
33-year-old Danish actor Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, who plays Princess Ynez in the highly anticipated Dune: Prophecy, is poised to be the next big star to come out of Scandinavia. Chequered wool jacket, €710. Caro Editions. Striped polo shirt, €240. Saks Potts. Undershirt, €260. Rick Owens. Photo: Kristine Sokolowski
Though it takes just a few moments of screen time for any viewer (and, given the fervent fandom for all things Dune, there are plenty) to recognise that Boussnina is the next big thing to come out of Scandinavia, this star-making turn didn’t come overnight. In fact, she’s been working steadily for about 15 years. And it’s not like she hasn’t appeared in noteworthy projects – perhaps you saw her in 1864 or The Bridge – but this is on another level. The fly around the world to large-scale premieres (she just attended one in New York wearing an off-the-shoulder Vivienne Westwood gown), get a celebrity stylist and appear on talk shows sort of level. She’s even (much to my chagrin) had HBO-appointed media training.
Landing the role itself, however, did happen overnight (almost). “It was such a quick process, which is not very usual for me,” says Boussnina. When the request came in for her to submit a self-tape, the project was shrouded in such secrecy, Boussnina didn’t even know what she was auditioning for (not unusual, these days). She knew it was a television show and, given the limited information, she figured it was probably something juicy. “I just have to go with a gut feeling, and they said it was a ‘cool thing’,” she says. “Then I read the pages and I was like, ‘OK, this seems really cool. She seems sassy’.”