Austin Butler On Improvising Creepy Kiss In ‘Dune: Part Two’

In an interview with Access Hollywood, Austin Butler confirmed that his on-screen kiss with co-star Stellen Skarsgård in Dune: Part Two was improvised. The duo play Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen and Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, respectively, who are nephew and son. 

The kiss was unexpected to movie-goers, given the relationship between the characters, but it reaffirms Feyd-Rautha’s devotion to his uncle and his desire to be him. Butler said of Skarsgård when asked about the kiss, “He’s game for anything. He’s the best…it’s always about how you’re trying to affect somebody else.”

Skarsgård told Variety that acting with Butler in Dune: Part Two was hilarious. “I laughed so much because it was so obvious that he really enjoyed being evil,” the actor said.

Butler has become infamous for his method acting style when he adopted Elvis’ way of speaking for multiple years on and off camera when shooting the biopic titled after the singer. There must be merit to it because he was nominated for an Oscar for his role in the film. He reportedly dialed his method back for playing Feyd-Rautha. 

“I’ve definitely in the past, with ‘Elvis,’ explored living within that world for three years and that being the only thing that I think about day and night with Feyd, I knew that that would be unhealthy for my family and friends.” Butler told the Los Angeles Times. 

Butler continued, “I made a conscious decision to have a boundary. It allowed for more freedom between action and cut because I knew I was going to protect everybody else outside of the context of what we were doing. That’s not to say that it doesn’t bleed into your life. But I knew that I wasn’t going to do anything dangerous outside of that boundary, and in a way that allowed me to go deeper.”

The director, Denis Villeneuve added: “When the camera was on, it was like you were possessed. When the camera was off, you were still maybe 25 or 30% Feyd. Just enough to still be present and focus but removed enough that you didn’t kill anybody on set.”

Dune: Part Two, the Warner Bros film, is now playing in theaters nationwide.