The 'Elvis' actor had his own vision as he was tasked to play 'psychotic' villain Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen originated by Sting in the first-ever 'Dune' movie.
- February 14, 2024
AceShowbiz - Austin Butler refused to copy Sting and wear winged underwear playing Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in "Dune: Part Two". The "Elvis" star portrays the "psychotic" character in Denis Villeneuve's second film of a two-part adaptation of the 1965 novel "Dune" by Frank Herbert, and as much as he loved the former Police frontman's leather-like trunks in David Lynch's 1984 movie, he wanted to do something different.
Feyd-Rautha is Baron Vladimir Harkonnen's (Stellan Skarsgard) youngest nephew and planned successor of House Harkonnen.
In an interview with Total Film magazine, Austin said of introduction to the menacing character, "Denis described him to me as having a psychotic nature, but yet there's something sort of seductive about him as well. And he's hungry for power."
"I started thinking, well, 'how did he grow up? What would his voice sound like? How would he breathe? How would he move?' That was the real fun, where you start filling in all those details, and putting meat on the bone."
The former Disney star, 32, said he couldn't spend too long in character, like he did when inhabited the late King of Rock and Roll, because it's not a "healthy" place to be. He explained, "With Feyd, I didn't think it would be healthy to live in that head-space 24 hours a day."
"So l created rituals around it in the hair and make-up chair where I could start shifting my mind over. That allowed more freedom to feel that I could go further in the film, because I knew that it wasn't going to get out of hand. Once you know that, then it's so much fun, because he's so different from me."
"There's a challenge in that, but there's something liberating about immersing yourself in this other way of being. There were possibilities that don't exist with other characters that were very fun to explore."
Asked if he requested the winged pants, he replied, "I think he did them so much justice that I had to do something completely of my own [laughs]. How do you follow that? I think he looks great in them... I love that movie, and I love Sting as a musician and as an actor. I feel honoured to be embodying this role that he had the opportunity to."
