Dune: Part Two star Austin Butler explains how he sought inspiration from his on-screen uncle, Stellan Skarsgård, to perfect Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen’s voice.
“I didn’t tell him I was gonna do that, actually,” Butler said in an interview with ComicBook.com. “There was a moment the other day, actually, where he said, ‘I never asked you: how did you sound like me?’ I said, ‘I just listened to a ton of him talking.’ I have an amazing dialect coach named Tim Monich who I worked with, and who Timothée [Chalamet] knows very well. Yeah, so we worked a lot.”
Butler, who earned universal acclaim for his work in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, plays the role of Feyd-Rautha, the future successor of House Harkonnen and nephew of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Skarsgård). The character was previously portrayed by music icon Sting in David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of Dune. The fresh but overwhelming Denis Villeneuve production was something that attracted Butler to the upcoming Dune sequel.
“I’m always nervous,” Butler said to Interview Magazine. “I always feel an incredible pressure. I felt that when I was 12 years old. Even if the material doesn’t really require it, I feel I need to do the best that I possibly can. That sets a bar, and then I’m always afraid that I’m going to miss something. With Dune it was interesting, because I met with Denis, and we got along very well, and started talking about the character. At that point, we didn’t even have a script, but as we started talking about Feyd, my imagination started running, and I started to feel the terror of the challenge. That’s what I’m guided by now: What really scares me?”
What is Dune: Part Two about?
Based on the classic 1965 novel by Frank Herbert, Dune: Part Two continues the story that began in Villeneuve’s 2021 adaption. The official synopsis reads as follows: “‘Dune: Part Two’ will explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a path of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.”
In addition to Butler and Skarsgård, Dune: Part Two stars Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Léa Seydoux, Charlotte Rampling, and Javier Bardem.
Dune: Part Two is scheduled for release in theaters on March 15.
