Austin Butler's Dune performance was partly inspired by The Dark Knight star Heath Ledger

Dune: Part Two opened last weekend to glowing reviews and big box office returns. Fans showed up in droves to see the continuing story of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) as he fought to avenge his family, who had been violently stripped of their rulership of the desert planet of Arrakis. Along the way, he had to overcome many challenges, including resistance from a knife-wielding bald psychopath named Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, played by Austin Butler.

The Dune movies are stacked back to front with great performances from big-name actors, but Butler's work stands out; there's a reason people always want to play the villain. They have more fun.

Speaking to NME, Butler cited some of his inspirations in the role. “I’ve always been inspired by Gary Oldman in many of his roles,” the actor said. “Léon: The Professional, or True Romance, or The Fifth Element.”

Oldman was well-known for his villainous roles for years, at least until he played against type as Comissioner Gordon in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. Speaking of those movies, Butler also cited Heath Ledger — who playe the Joker in 2008's The Dark Knight — as an inspiration. “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.”

Ledger died in 2008 at the age of 28. It's interesting that Butler says he took "general" inspiration from Ledger's body of work, because if there's one Ledger performance you think of when watching Feyd-Rautha in Dune: Part Two, it's his work as the Joker. That's one of the great villain performances of the past few decades. Maybe Butler's Feyd-Rautha can join him in that pantheon.

Christopher Walken on playing the Emperor in Dune: Part Two, auditioning for Han Solo in Star Wars

Dune: Part Two features many great actors of different generations. On the young end, you have up-and-comers like Butler. And then you have a living legend like Christopher Walken returning to acting after a couple years off to play Emperor Shaddam IV, the ruler of the entire galaxy.

“I had, of course, seen the first ‘Dune’ a number of times," Walken told Variety. "I loved it, and I admired [Villeneuve’s] movies. ‘Arrival,’ I thought, was wonderful. And to be with all those terrific actors —Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin, Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh and Stellan Skarsgård—and to go to Budapest, which is a beautiful city. And of course, that’s what I do for a living. It was only, I think, three weeks. So, everything about it was attractive.”

Walken doesn't appear onscreen for long in Dune: Part Two, but he makes every moment count, and having an actor of his calibre on board adds greater weight to a movie-going experience that already feels very hefty. I mean, it's Christopher Walken; the guy's done everything.

Although there were a few things he missed out on, including the role of Han Solo in the original Star Wars movie, which is wild to think about. “Yes, I auditioned for it," he said. "And if I’m not mistaken, my partner in the audition was — I think this is true — it was Jodie Foster … I think we did a screen test. I’m not sure we did a scene. Maybe we just sat in front of, in those days, those old videotape cameras … I did audition for ‘Star Wars,’ but so did about 500 other actors. It was lots of people doing that.”

Jodie Foster was reading for Princess Leia and was actually offered the part, but had to turn it down because she was already committed to a Disney project, probably the 1977 movie Candleshoe.

Candleshoe didnt age quite as well as Star Wars, but both Foster and Walken did alright. Dune: Part Two is in theaters now!

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