Stars praise Austin Butler’s work in Dune: Part 2, which would have been out by now

Austin Butler is one of Hollywood’s biggest up-and-coming movie stars. He’s been in the business for a while, but really got a boost when he played the title character in Elvis alongside Tom Hanks. That role earned him an Academy Award nomination. Now he’s joining the galaxy of stars in Dune: Part Two, Denis Villenueve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel.

Between Butler, Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, and Florence Pugh, Dune: Part Two is a showcase for the next generation of Hollywood super-stars. Then you’ve got veterans like Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Stellan Skarsgård and Dave Bautista bringing their experience to the table, plus a bona-fide legend like Christopher Walken joining the cast as the Emperor of the Galaxy.

Even among this impressive cast, Butler is getting an especial amount of buzz for his role as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, the vicious nephew of the equally vile Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. “I can’t overstate how inspiring it was to me personally,” Chalamet recently said of his costar. “Because here was someone who’s a little older than me, but generationally we’re similar, and I don’t know how he would put it, but his journey was different than mine. But he takes the work incredibly seriously. And I feel like I hadn’t seen that among someone my age, whether it was in drama school or on set, that did take the work that seriously but then after ‘cut’ wasn’t, you know, in some show of how seriously they took it—and instead is this tremendously affable, wonderful man.”

Austin Butler was “nervous” to work on Dune: Part Two

Speaking to Butler for Interview Magazine, Josh Brolin also noticed the actor’s dedication to his work. “I haven’t seen the whole movie, but I’ve seen enough to know that your work was not for nothing. There’s really great actors that don’t seem so great when you see them in person. They’re doing shit, and you’re like, ‘I don’t get it.’ And then you see them on film, and you’re like, ‘Wow.’ Not to reveal too much, but you were always off doing your thing, practicing, focusing. And not in a narcissistic, self-absorbed way. It was like, ‘I’m here to work. Why would I not be working?'”

So Butler sounds intense, but all agree that he’s not intense in an off-putting way. This isn’t a Jared-Leto-gets-way-too-into-playing-the-Joker situation. “I’m always nervous,” Butler said asked about how he felt working on Dune: Part Two. “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 [Villeneuve], 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?The exciting thing about Dune was that it was completely different from anything I’ve done. And it was also incredibly different from Elvis. Denis is one of the greatest filmmakers alive, so the idea of getting to work with him, and then you [Brolin], and all of the cast was so exciting for me. The thing with Denis is, you’ll give an idea, and then his mind will start to percolate, and then he’ll come back with 10 more, and then you’re feeding off of each other’s imaginations."

If not for delays, Dune: Part Two would be in theaters now

The first Dune movie was very good. With how much the cast are talking up Part Two, I have a suspicion that it’ll be even better. And everyone seems to be talking up Butler as the next big thing in movies, so I’m especially excited to see what he brings to the role of a villain like Feyd-Rautha.

Originally, Dune: Part 2 was scheduled to come out in theaters on October 20, 2023, meaning that we could have already seen it. Then it was delayed into November, and finally to March 15 of 2024, which is the current release date.

Dune: Part 2 was pushed to next year because of the writers and actors strikes in Hollywood, which messed with a lot of schedules. The writers strike is now over, but the actors strike continues. Let’s hope the studios and the actors can come to a fair agreement before too long, or we could see yet another delay. In the meantime, movies like Killers of the Flower Moon and the Taylor Swift concert film are still giving people reasons to go to the theater.

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