Elvis Star Austin Butler Reveals Surprising Audition Story for Dune: Part Two
Austin Butler has been having a monumental year, thanks to his starring role in the biopic Elvis. The number of highly-anticipated projects in Butler's filmography seems to only be growing, including him playing Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in next year's Dune: Part Two. As we wait to see what Butler will be like as the iconic villain, the actor is shedding light on the wild process that went into auditioning for the role. In a recent interview with the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, Butler revealed that he actually did not formally audition for the part of Feyd-Rautha, but was chosen by director Denis Villeneuve after the pair met in person.
"Miraculously, no [I didn't have to audition.] Denis was in town, I was in LA at the time, and Denis just asked me for coffee," Butler explained. "We really hit it off and we just talked a lot about how we liked to work. We talked about the part and how I would approach it and then he said, 'You know, I'm going to dream on this.' And then he called me a week later and he said, 'I would like you to join me on Arrakis.'"
Who will be in Dune: Part Two?
Dune: Part Two is also expected to see the return of Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atredies, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, and Zendaya as Chani, with Christopher Walker playing Emperor Shaddam IV, and Florence Pugh playing Princess Irulan.
"We have been hearing in the past few decades that it's not possible to adapt this book, and that it's an impossible task. I think that in the back of the mind of the studio, it's still the same!" Villeneuve told Total Film in an interview last year. "So the first thing was to prove that there was a beautiful, popular movie that can exist, and I think that I proved that – everybody at Warner Bros and Legendary, they are 100 percent behind the project. They feel that it would need a really bad outcome at the box office to not have a Dune: Part Two, because they love the movie. They are proud of the movie, so they want the movie to move forward. And they still did half of it. So, you know, I'm very optimistic."
"I'm writing [Part Two] now, and I feel like I'm eight years old again," he added. "That's very uncommon for me. It's the first time I've experienced it where I'm watching one of my movies, and I have a moment of deep gratitude, of deep joy, and I say, 'Thank you, life, for having allowed me to bring that to the screen.' [laughs] I don't know how other people will feel about it. But me? Denis Villeneuve when he was 14 years old? Thank you."
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Dune: Part 2 is currently scheduled to be released on November 3, 2023.