‘Dune: Part Two’ Star Stellan Skarsgard Laughed Seeing Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha: Butler ‘Really Enjoyed Being Evil’
variety.comMichaela Zee When “Dune: Part Two” star Stellan Skarsgård saw Austin Butler as the cruel and sadistic Feyd-Rautha for the first time, he laughed. “I laughed so much because it was so obvious that he really enjoyed being evil,” Skarsgård told Variety at the “Dune: Part Two” premiere Sunday night in New York City.
Butler’s Feyd-Rautha is the younger nephew and heir of Skarsgård’s Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, who originally appeared in Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 sci-fi epic “Dune.” Butler studied Skarsgård’s voice performance in the first chapter to bring his version of Feyd-Rautha to life. “It was like hearing an echo,” Skarsgård said of Butler’s voice in the film. “It was very, very precise.” Set on the desert planet Arrakis, “Dune: Part Two” resumes the story of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), who joins forces with the Fremen to wage war against House Harkonnen.
The second chapter stars Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Léa Seydoux, Dave Bautista, Charlotte Rampling, Souheila Yacoub, Javier Bardem, Christopher Walken and Skarsgård.
Anya Taylor-Joy, who attended the U.S. premiere in New York City, will also appear in the sequel in an undisclosed role. Walken was already familiar with the world of “Dune” before working on Villeneuve’s sequel, as he had read Frank Herbert’s seminal 1965 sci-fi novel when he was young, as well as watched David Lynch’s 1984 film adaptation.
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