Austin Butler recalls first time seeing himself as villainous Feyd-Rautha while promoting highly anticipated sequel Dune: Part Two on talk show

Austin Butler said it was ‘wild’ when he first saw himself in makeup as his villainous Dune character on Wednesday’s episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers on NBC.

The 32-year-old actor portrays Feyd-Rautha in the upcoming highly anticipated sci-fi sequel Dune: Part Two. 

‘The first time I saw myself in the makeup, I was in the middle of the Elvis press tour and we were in London and I took a break from doing the junkets,’ Austin said.

‘They brought me up to a hotel room and did that to me. I had been in this whole other world and I thought ”I don’t know about this. This is going to be wild.” Then once I wrapped my head around it and leaned into that, it became the most fun I’ve ever had,’ he added.

Seth, 50, asked him if he stayed in character while filming like he did for his 2022 biopic Elvis.

Austin Butler said it was ‘wild’ when he first saw himself in makeup as his villainous Dune character on Wednesday’s episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers on NBC

‘You’ve got to set some boundaries,’ Austin said.

Seth told him there was a high level of excitement about Dune: Part Two, which is scheduled for release in theaters on Friday.

‘It’s been so cool to go around the world and feel the excitement,’ Austin said.

Austin said ‘It was a dream come true’ to be included in Dune 2.

‘I would have done catering on this film,’ Austin said. ‘I loved the first film so much.’

Seth said he heard that Austin didn’t audition for the movie but had coffee with the director Denis Villeneuve, 56. Austin said going into the meeting he didn’t know if he would get the part.

‘I truly didn’t know,’ Austin said. ‘I didn’t know which direction it would go. I didn’t know him and Elvis hadn’t come out yet. Baz [Luhrmann] had shown him a few scenes, that sort of thing.’

Austin said he had ‘never been just offered something and so I thought this is probably not going to go my way.’

The 32-year-old actor portrays Feyd-Rautha in the upcoming highly anticipated sci-fi sequel Dune: Part Two

‘The first time I saw myself in the makeup, I was in the middle of the Elvis press tour and we were in London and I took a break from doing the junkets,’ Austin said

‘They brought me up to a hotel room and did that to me. I had been in this whole other world and I thought ”I don’t know about this. This is going to be wild.” Then once I wrapped my head around it and leaned into that, it became the most fun I’ve ever had,’ he added

‘I would have done catering on this film,’ Austin said. ‘I loved the first film so much’

Austin said they had a wonderful meeting.

‘And very quickly we saw that we liked to work in a similar way,’ Austin said. ‘Then he said ”I’m going to go home and dream on this meeting.” And then he went home and he dreamed on it and then he called me and said ”will you join me on Arrakis?”’

Austin said Denis called him about three days later.

Austin said he remembered going to see Star Wars before he could read with his uncle. He said when they re-released the 1970’s films in the 1990’s that he watched them and still felt moved.

‘The same feeling that I got going as a child and watching that is the way I felt watching Dune for the first time,’ Austin said. ‘It’s really extraordinary. You’ve got to see it on IMAX.’

Austin has been promoting Dune 2 ahead of its release and earlier this week gushed about meeting English rocker Sting, 72, at the New York City premiere.

Sting played Austin’s character Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in the 1984 film Dune by director David Lynch. 

Austin has been promoting Dune 2 ahead of its release and earlier this week gushed about meeting English rocker Sting , 72, at the New York City premiere on Sunday

‘It was so surreal. …My mind was blown,’ Austin said of meeting Sting.

Austin said that Sting came up afterward and was ‘so lovely and just debonair’.

‘He said he still has the codpiece from the original and is going to dry clean it and let me wear it,’ Austin said.

The 1965 novel Dune by the late sci-fi author Frank Herbert is the best-selling science fiction novel of all time and is the source for the film adaptations.