Grimes Says She Was Let Go From Dune Because Of ‘The Communist Manifesto’ Photo
Topics: Grimes, Elon Musk, Film and TV
Daisy Phillipson
Featured Image Credit: Alamy/Warner Bros.
Topics: Grimes, Elon Musk, Film and TV
Grimes has revealed that she was set to be ‘an influencer’ for the recent Dune adaptation, but was let go of the role following The Communist Manifesto photo.
For those not in the know, the 33-year-old singer - real name Claire Boucher - has been outspoken about her fangirl status of the original 1984 sci-fi movie, directed by David Lynch, and the book upon which it’s based.
So much so that her debut studio album ‘Geidi Primes’ was inspired by it, as discussed by Grimes in her recent cover story with Vanity Fair.
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She described how her dad would read Frank Herbert’s book to her when she was four, and years later while attending a Met Gala, she ‘freaked’ Sting out after ‘cornering him’ over his role as Feyd in Lynch’s film.
Grimes even had plans of her own to remake the movie, hoping to remove ‘the more problematic colonialist elements’.
When she heard Denis Villeneuve had beaten her to it, she was excited to say the least, and was even signed on to use her large online following to help with the release, with Grimes explaining, ‘I was basically an influencer.’
It made a lot of sense, given Grimes’ sci-fi inspired art, music and aesthetic - however, things took a turn when she was photographed reading Karl Marx’s The Communist Manifesto in October last year.
Due to the controversy that followed, she was dropped by the studio, and while she was upset, she understood why, telling Vanity Fair, ‘There are things that are deeply not woke in the Dune universe.’
Grimes didn’t take it personally and loved the new film, particularly as she could see her own story through the one playing out on the big screen.
She revealed to the outlet that she saw herself in Jessica (played by Rebecca Ferguson), and her son X Æ A-Xii, who she had with billionaire Elon Musk, in Paul (Timothée Chalamet).
Speaking on Paul’s character arc and how he’s tasked with being a great leader, she said, ‘When I see X, like, I just know X is going to have to go through all this really f**ked-up s**t that sort of mirrors Paul-type stuff. I was just crying my eyes out the whole movie.’
Of course, Dune wasn’t the only topic that was touched upon during the interview - perhaps the most talked about is the revelation that Grimes has had a secret second baby with Musk via a surrogate.
The little girl, named Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, or 'Y', as the parents have nicknamed her, gave herself away by coughing while Grimes was in the midst of the interview.
And the article offered up a double revelation: not only had Musk and Grimes had a second baby, but they were also seemingly back together (sort of) after Musk previously described them as being 'semi-separated'.
She said, ‘I would probably refer to him as my boyfriend, but we’re very fluid. We live in separate houses. We’re best friends. We see each other all the time… We just have our own thing going on, and I don’t expect other people to understand it.'
It's unclear how much time passed between the interview for the Vanity Fair article and its release, but after the news was shared with the world, Grimes took to Twitter to clarify a few points.
Explaining that the story was meant to be ‘about her work’ and not a ‘reveal all’, she asked fans to respect her daughter’s privacy.
In a follow-up tweet, Grimes wrote, ‘Me and E have broken up *again* since the writing of this article haha, but he’s my best friend and the love of my life, and my life and art are forever dedicated to The Mission now, I think Devin wrote that part of the story rly well. Sique - peace out.'
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