Austin Butler in Dune: Part Two
He rose to fame by playing the part of a glamorous rock star to perfection. Now comes the biggest challenge of his career. Role as a sociopathic villain with an adventurous sense of style in a tense film adaptation of a wild sci-fi novel.
That was the situation Sting found himself in in 1984 when he donned the intricate codpiece of the villain Feid-Rautha in David's casually funny retelling Lynch of Frank Herbert's 1965 classic Dune. As it turns out, this is also the scenario that Austin Butler encountered.
After being nominated for an Oscar as Elvis Presley, the actor took on the role of Fade in the second installment of Denis Villeneuve's Dune, the trailer for which has just been released. But the character has undergone a fade to grey, and that's the biggest departure in the adaptation, which was faithful enough to Herbert's convoluted novel. Rauta is the cruel prince of the evil House Harkonnen. Imagine Joffrey from Game of Thrones crossed with Russell Crowe from Gladiator.
Such a villain should theoretically be easy to bring to the screen. At least compared to the giant sandworms and telekinetic nuns of the Dune universe.
Villeneuve, however, takes risks in his view of Routa. Herbert describes Feyd as “a dark-haired youth of about 16, with a round face and sullen eyes”. Later we read of his “dark hair… in tight curls that looked absurdly cheerful against the backdrop of sullen eyes.”
To be fair, this isn't Sting in magical underwear like in Lynch's version, but neither is the description of Grimdark's killer fighting in the gladiatorial pit in the Dune: Part Two trailer. The new Fade is worthless, an exact copy of the corpulent Baron Harkonnen, while every effort has been made in the book to emphasize how dissimilar the two are in appearance.
No one stays up all night thinking. how Dune fans will react to risky costume choices. However, Villeneuve seems to have gone out of his way to explain his Fade Routine decision in a recent conversation with Vanity Fair.
“Austin Butler brought something between a psychotic and a sociopath to the screen. serial killer and Mick Jagger,” Villeneuve said.
Serial killer Mick Jagger would be plenty – even for Dune. But Butler stated that his Fade Rout is more than just a villain (as he is presented in the trailer).
“You have to not judge the character and find a way to really feel motivated for any of your actions, so we talked a lot and worked it out together,” Butler said. “Denis is so thoughtful and doesn’t miss anything,” he said. “His attention to detail is amazing.”
Pants: Sting in David Lynch's 'Dune'
Besides the new Fade, the trailer doesn't reveal much about the new film beyond what we already know. Dune: Part One was a success, earning $400 million on a $165 million budget, despite being released at the very end of the pandemic. The sequel, which fills the last half of the novel, was soon greenlit and, judging by the new promo, will remain faithful to the source material.
In particular, Zendaya will play a big role in the role of Chani, the beloved of the film's hero Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet). In the first part, she appeared to Paul mostly in a dream. He only saw her in the flesh when the Harkonnen overthrew his father, Duke Leto, and Paul and his mother Jessica fled to the wilds of the desert planet Arrakis (also known as Dune).
“I didn’t have much time to find out who she was,” the Euphoria star said. “It's still two young people who are trying to grow up, fall in love and leave to be a warrior for their people.”
Like the novel, Dune: Part Two will be filled with epic battles. Paul, an outsider, is poised to play a major role in the politics of the desert-dwelling Fremen who dream that one day a prophet will lead them to salvation. They come into conflict with the Harkonnen, who want to control Dune, the galaxy's only source of a magical potion known as “Spice” or Melange. “An action-packed, epic war film,” is how Villeneuve described Dune: Part Two, contrasting it with the “more contemplative” part of the first.
In the book, Paul rides giant sandworms that cross Dune. , securing the status of the savior of the Fremen. Chalamet does the same in the trailer: the actor says the scenes were filmed with practical effects on location in Abu Dhabi.
Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya in Dune: Part Two
There will also be an extended cast with Christopher Walken as the Galactic Emperor, Shaddam IV and Florence Pugh as his daughter, Princess Irulan. Stellan Skarsgård returns as the abominable Baron Harkonnen, alongside Javier Bardem as the Fremen leader Stilgar and Josh Brolin as former master-at-arms Paul Gurney Halleck. Herbert's film sparks controversy over a Dune sequel, Dune Messiah, as originally intended. This subtle novel provides a sharp response to the myth-making qualities of the original Dune. It portrays Paul in an unheroic light and suggests that the worst fate that can befall a society hungry for a messiah is his coming. Also, Dune will not have a small-screen spin-off, and plans for an HBO Max prequel series were canceled in March due to a reshuffle at parent company Warner Bros.
Whatever happened to the franchise, one fact is certain . . Dune will be one of the biggest blockbusters of the season when it releases on November 3rd. After a long wait, Villeneuve is back to spice up our lives.
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