Austin Butler has become a breakout star in 2022 thanks to his role in the biopic ‘Elvis‘ by Baz Luhrmann, says his role in the upcoming Denis Villeneuve sequel, ‘Dune: Part Two‘ it has more nuances than fans imagine. Butler trades the late King of Rock’s sequins for a trip to the future Arrakis desert to play the villainous Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen.
A villain who thinks he’s the hero
The character is the nephew of the evil Baron Vladimir from Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel ‘Dune’, and was played by rock icon Sting in the Film adaptation from 1984 from director David Lynch. During a recent interview with Backstage, Butler spoke about his approach:
“It’s that bad boy thing in the world that he doesn’t feel like he’s the bad boy. He feels like he’s the hero of his own story. And that can be kind of difficult with certain characters; with others it’s easier, but you don’t have You have to judge the character, and you have to find a way to feel the motivation towards any of your actions. So, Denis and I had a lot of conversations and we worked it out together.”
another revelation portends a climactic confrontation with Atreideswhereupon Butler also discussed the physical training he underwent to prepare for the role:
“I worked with this…Navy Seal who trained me for months before just to get my body to a place where I would be available to not only be a commanding physical presence, but to do whatever was asked of me.”
Butler seems to have worked hard to differentiate himself from Sting’s Feyd-Rautha, and try to avoid what the leader of The Police achieved, depicting a despicable villain with very few redeeming traits which now seems to have a more complex version.
