Emily Watson’s upbringing in a cult-like group helped prepare her for Dune: Prophecy

Emily Watson has explained that her upbringing in a cult-like group helped prepare her for ‘Dune: Prophecy’ because she understands “the feeling of young lives being controlled and a sense of appropriation”.

Saturday, November 9, 2024 9:00 AM

Saturday, November 9, 2024 9:00 AM

Emily Watson’s upbringing in a cult-like group helped prepare her for Dune: Prophecy

Emily Watson’s upbringing in a cult-like group helped prepare her for “Dune: Prophecy.”

In HBO’s prequel series to the “Dune films,” Emily, 57, plays Valya Harkonnen, leader of a controlling religious cult, and she admitted that growing up in the School of Economic Science cult was a similar experience.

She told Vulture: “It’s actually in my wheelhouse. I felt like young lives were being controlled and a sense of appropriation. People end up in those places because they have some kind of damage. That was my way into it. thought, I grew up with people who had that kind of presence.”

The SES is a global group that adheres to traditional gender roles and conservative sexual mores and has faced allegations of physical abuse as part of its strict disciplinary policies.

Speaking about what she was taught in the SES, Emily said: “No sex outside marriage, marriage for young women is encouraged to older men, live at home until married or with a family. We were told that ‘women can hold hands’. to change the world,” which I absolutely believe to be true. But then we were encouraged to become mothers, nurses and teachers.

“Needless to say, I wasn’t a very good student and didn’t do any of the above. I was protected from it partly because my parents were emotionally removed from it. We were a very strong unit as a family. Probably all religions have this, but when people get power – and when you have power over children – it can so easily get out of hand. The day school was very new, and it was a very new organization that they had no idea about business started in the ’40s. My father joined when he was 18, so I think in the late ’50s. There are still things I’m grateful for, but there were a lot of things that weren’t right. We all wanted to be normal We felt like we were on the outside looking in because we were going to this strange setup.”

However, she did take some positives from her time in the group.

Emily said: “I learned the idea that there is a unifying force of love in everything and that everything is a version of that. I can also concentrate, really hyperfocus. I have one of those slightly strange brains.” , possibly because I learned to concentrate out of fear.

“Doing your best meant you were OK. There was a great discipline to be in the present moment and connected to your senses, which is hugely helpful as an actor.”