In partnership with Louis Vuitton

The strange dislocation that follows the end of a long shoot is something actors rarely articulate well. It’s not quite exhaustion, not quite relief – more like stepping out of one reality and finding the one you were in previously now feels a little different, uneasy even. For actor Josh Heuston and co-star Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, fresh from filming the second season of Dune: Prophecy, that feeling is where their conversation begins.

“How is it being back in Australia?” Boussnina asks chirpily, as both actors pop into our video call – Boussnina backgrounded by her home in Copenhagen and Heuston from his in Sydney.

“It’s been really good – I’ve been going most days to the beach,” Heuston replies. “I’m soaking up as much sun and ocean time as possible after our nine months in Budapest.”

That contrast – Budapest to beach, structured set life to unstructured freedom – becomes a recurring undercurrent of their conversation. The pair circle around the oddness of suddenly having autonomy again after months of tightly scheduled production. “No one is telling me what to do today and that’s so weird,” Boussnina admits.

Heuston laughs in recognition. “We’ve got free will back, but we don’t know what to do with it.”

It’s a familiar paradox for actors: the very independence they work toward can feel disorienting when it finally arrives. Heuston jokingly describes waking in the middle of the night, convinced he’s missed a call sheet – his body still operating on production time, even as real life resumes. Yet beneath the adjustment period is something more reflective. Returning home, he says, has a grounding effect – one that cuts through the abstraction of global sets and fictional worlds. “It’s always refreshing coming home… you kind of just get brought back to being an older brother or a son, which feels more natural.”

Still, the question of “what next?” never quite recedes. If anything, it intensifies with experience. Boussnina points out that when she first met Heuston – nearly four years ago – he was already in the throes of a successful career in fashion, modelling and acting. But now, she suggests, the scale has shifted entirely. "Are you still thinking: what am I going to do next?" Boussnina asks.

“You know, I’ve got the same level of certainty, but now with more experience to make more informed decisions,” Heuston explains, before undercutting his own response with a laugh: “But that’s also backed by extreme imposter syndrome, anxiety and fear about making the right decision... Maybe I’ve picked the right projects by chance and maybe that won’t keep happening. But I feel like I’ve always gone with intuition or instinct.”

That instinct has led the 29-year-old across genres with fluidity. He headed to Cannes Film Festival last May for the premiere of his horror film Dangerous Animals, he's wrapped on the second season of HBO's sci-fi prequel series Dune: Prophecy, and he's currently promoting his newest project, Off Campus (which premieres 13 May on Prime Video), based on Elle Kennedy's bestselling hockey romance books. Again and again, Heuston’s choices reflect a willingness to move laterally rather than settle into a fixed identity. “I’m so indecisive and I like to do everything,” he says. “I just go with whatever feels natural, in a way.”

Boussnina frames this as fearlessness – something she openly admires not only in his acting but in ventures outside of it. She recalls, with amusement, “Like opening a café in Australia while we were in Europe.”

“I guess I make fearless decisions, in a way, but I’m still feeling the fear," Heuston responds. "I try to do fearless things while being fucking terrified.”

It’s a line that encapsulates his philosophy: not exactly the absence of fear, but a refusal to let it dictate his choices. Failure, for Heuston, becomes a necessary condition of growth. “If I’m not failing at certain things, then maybe I’m not taking a big enough risk. And you know me," he nods to Boussnina, "I enjoy some very risk-taking behaviour. Whether that be doing a stunt or going for a role – like with Off Campus, where I'm singing and playing guitar and there's an eight-song album. I loved it and spent hours and hours practicing and performing. Even with the stunt training on Dune, we had no idea what we were doing and then all of a sudden you've got a 160-beat piece of choreography under your belt. I just wing it and hope for the best.”

That appetite for risk extends directly into his scene work. He describes taking on roles that push him into unfamiliar territory – whether that’s singing, performing stunts, or stepping into emotionally demanding material. The appeal lies precisely in the discomfort. "When I was doing the screen testing for the live-action Tangled, the director, Michael Gracey, at one point told me to just throw it all out the window and see what came out. It made me think that, the more roles I get and the more actors I watch perform, the more I'm giving myself permission to have a scene that's horrible."

There is, however, a discipline beneath the spontaneity. Heuston outlines to Boussnina his preparation process that is both methodical and collaborative: reading scripts repeatedly, consulting myriad acting coaches, and seeking input from a wide circle of trusted voices. Even then, he acknowledges the element of chance. “I feel like you’ve just got to roll the dice a lot of the time.”

The origins of this career path are, by comparison, almost accidental. When Boussnina asks, "Did you always know that you wanted to be an actor?", he tells the story of a career that began in modelling before landing a small role in a music video – an experience that shifted everything. “I was holding the camera in this field in Queensland and I was just like, ‘Oh my god, this is so much fun! What is this?’” he recalls. The answer, delivered bluntly by the director, was simple: acting. "I just shifted everything I was doing with my life to go in that direction after that one day on set."

From there, the trajectory has been rapid. Yet Heuston admits that it’s often only in moments of stillness – on planes, for instance – that the scale of change fully registers. “You have those pinch-me moments,” he says, describing the surreal experience of travelling across countries for a project first secured years earlier. "Flying to Jordan to film Dune was one of those moments," he reminisces with Boussnina. "We were going to a desert for a role that we booked four years ago, and now we're filming across three countries." Even so, he recognises a tendency to move forward without pausing to reflect. “I sometimes forget to turn around and look at the distance travelled. I’m trying to get better at taking in a moment.”

Both actors agree that their awareness of success seems to have deepened during the most recent season of Dune: Prophecy. Where earlier experiences felt overwhelming, this time there was space for appreciation. “There was a lot more gratefulness and appreciation for it,” Heuston notes, before Boussnina chimes in: "I felt that too. This season felt like – this is our home."

The conversation drifts, as it often does between friends, into lighter territory – fashion, for instance, which Boussnina frames as another form of storytelling in Heuston’s life. His approach is instinctive and deep-rooted here too. “I loved dress ups as a kid. I remember going to Lord of the Rings conventions and putting on the elf ears. Most of my style now is just random stuff that I pick up along the road and put on. Even with mixing designer pieces with thrifted pieces. You know, the first designer piece I ever bought was a Louis Vuitton belt, when I got my first little chunk of cash?"

Boussnina laughs at the coincidence: "How would younger Josh feel about shooting this cover with Louis Vuitton?"

Heuston responds matter-of-factly: "It's a dream, essentially."

What emerges across these topics is a consistent through line: an emphasis on authenticity, even when navigating industries that often reward a more calculated approach. Whether choosing roles, building a wardrobe, or deciding which risks to take, Heuston returns repeatedly to the idea of following what feels natural. Music, for example, plays a significant role in how he prepares for scenes. Boussnina chides him: "When we're on set, we both wear AirPods. Do you listen to music when you're wearing them, or are you just doing it to protect your space?"

"Well... if I answer that, it gives away my trick...", Heuston laughs. "But really, it depends on the scene. Sometimes I just put them in because I don't want to talk. But other times I'm listening to a song to get me into the mood. I have a playlist that I make for every character, and a lot of the time I have a song for every scene." The goal is about immersion, he explains – finding the right "tone and wavelength" before stepping in front of the camera and other actors.

Boussnina has her own pre-scene rituals too – which Heuston recalls: "You have such a particular way of looking at scenes, too. I like how you'll go into a meditation before certain scenes and I'm like, 'Okay, I'll come lay next to you' – and then I get in trouble for fucking up the costume."

As the conversation draws toward its close, the question shifts to the future. Heuston admits a particular interest in the romance genre – something that would allow him to explore a different emotional register. He tells Boussnina that his two favourite films are Candy and Blue Valentine, and notes that he’s drawn to darker, more intimate stories like these, which strip away spectacle to reveal something a little bit grittier, and more human.

"I think you can get a lot of inspiration out of different genres," he continues. "Especially with Dune, it's so easy to get caught up in its grand scale, but when you pare it back it's actually often just two people in a room – which is something you said to me once," he says to Boussnina. "In one of the breakfast scenes from season one, you said 'This is my favourite type of scene, just a bunch of people having breakfast'. Even though we were in this place with a waterfall and with Desmond – who's a space pirate – it's essentially just a family at breakfast."

And maybe that’s what it all comes back to. For all the scale and spectacle that surrounds Heuston's work, the pull seems to be toward something far more human – the kind of moments he describes so simply: people in a room, sharing space, figuring each other out. It mirrors the way he talks about his career, too. Not as something rigid or mapped out, but as an instinctive process shaped by risk, doubt, and a willingness to stay open. The uncertainty, the fear, even the constant searching for what’s next all sit alongside that, not in opposition to it. If anything, they’re part of what fuels him – a reminder that beneath everything, for Heuston, it's still just about connection, presence, and being willing to feel it as it happens.

PHOTOGRAPHY Adrian Price @ SAUNDERS & CO

FASHION Thomas Townsend

TALENT Josh Heuston

GROOMING Fernnando Miranda @ Assembly Agency

PHOTOGRAPHER'S ASSISTANTS Callum Aldrin Smith and Ian Tatton

STYLIST’S ASSISTANT Koby Dulac-Daley

Feature image (left): LOUIS VUITTON jacket. Feature image (right): LOUIS VUITTON top and trousers.