How Austin Butler Became Feyd-Rautha in ‘Dune 2’

Austin Butler might have garnered major attention for his transformation into Elvis Presley in Oscar-nominated 2022 film Elvis, but he inhabits a much different character in the upcoming Dune sequel Dune: Part Two.  

Butler plays Feyd-Rautha, the nephew of villain Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, in the new movie, a role once made famous by Sting in David Lynch’s 1984 Dune adaptation. In Dune: Part Two, Butler looks unrecognizable as Feyd-Rautha with snow-white skin, a bald head, no eyebrows, and alien-like eyes. He opened up about the dramatic physical transformation in a new interview with Esquire. 

“I found it very liberating to be able to look in the mirror and not see myself,” he said. “It was exciting to get to do something completely different from anything I’ve done.” 

Butler went on to describe just how he had to be convinced to take on the appearance in the movie. “Very early on, [director] Denis [Villaneuve] told me that he said that his vision for Feyd was to be physically imposing,” he recounted. “Then he set me up with Duffy Gaver, who is this incredible physical trainer who had worked with Brad Pitt for Troy, and he helped me put on size. I just did whatever he said.”

“There was also a lot of knife training,” Butler added. “I was doing kali, which is Filipino stick fighting and learning how to fight with knives, so I did that for many months before we started filming.”

You can see Butler in his out-of-this-world character when Dune: Part Two hits theaters March 1.