Dune: Part Two's Austin Butler Names The Dark Knight Stars As His Inspiration

Dune: Part Two was released in theaters last weekend, and it's has gotten rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. The film is currently up on Rotten Tomatoes with a 93% critics score and 95% audience score. The film features the return of Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Zendaya as Chani, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen, and Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban. The film's new characters include Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan, Léa Seydoux as Lady Margot, and Christopher Walker as Emperor Shaddam IV. Recently, Butler spoke to NME and revealed he took inspiration from Gary Oldman and Heath Ledger when playing the villain.

"I've always been inspired by Gary Oldman in many of his roles. Léon: The Professional, or True Romance, or The Fifth Element," Butler shared. "And you know, we've talked about Heath Ledger a lot, the sense of play that he had. And like I say, it's not the specific things, but it's more general inspiration."

Who Is Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in Dune: Part Two? 

Butler plays Feyd-Rautha in Dune: Part Two, the favored nephew of Baron Harkonnen, leader of the rival house to House Atreides. In the books, he is more cunning than his brutish brother, Glossu "Beast" Rabban, and he ultimately becomes the primary antagonist to Paul Atreides. In an interview with Backstage, Butler spoke about the narrative approach to his iconic villain and teased that he thinks he's in the right.

"[We] really try to dig into the humanity of [the character]. It's that thing of the bad guy in the world doesn't feel like he's the bad guy," Butler explained. "He feels like he's the hero of his own story. And that can be a hard thing with certain characters; with others, it's easier, but you have to not judge the character, and you have to find a way to feel the motivation towards anyone of your actions. So, we had a lot of conversations and crafted that together."

"Denis is so thoughtful, he doesn't miss anything, and his attention to detail is remarkable," he said. "Denis is amazing; he's such an incredible director. The energy on his sets is amazing, everyone trusts him so much, and it's such a well-oiled machine, and he's a master of the craft."

Dune: Part Two is now playing in theaters.