When director Denis Villeneuve’s sand-swept sci-fi epic Dune hit theaters in 2021 fans of Frank Herbert’s original 1965 novel quickly noted one key character who was missing in action: Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen. A foil to the hero Paul Atreides the scheming nephew of the villainous Baron Vladimir Harkonnen Stellan Skarsgård wasn’t even mentioned.
A Dune devotee himself since his teenage years Villeneuve never had any intention of giving
short shrift to Feyd-Rautha who serves as a kind of dark mirror to the
messianic Paul played in the film by Timothée Chalamet. Quite
the opposite.
The idea in the first film was to
try to stay as much as possible on Paul’s perspective to let
the reality unfold through his eyes he
says. This was why I brought in
Feyd-Rautha as late as possible. I loved the idea of keeping some major
firepower for the second film.
In Dune: Part Two which hits theaters March 1 Feyd-Rautha finally receives his
much-anticipated introduction with Austin Butler — hot off his
Oscar-nominated turn in Elvis —
stepping into the role. Memorably if campily
played by a spiky-haired winged-codpiece-wearing
Sting in director David Lynch’s misbegotten 1984 adaptation Feyd-Rautha here is transformed into something
far more disturbing: a ghostly hairless killer whose psychotic ruthlessness
matches his ambition to rule the desert planet Arrakis.
One of the Great Houses vying for dominance in the sprawling Dune universe
the Harkonnens are a cunning and
savage people who prize strength above all
with Feyd-Rautha plotting to
replace his older brother Rabban Dave
Bautista and perhaps the Baron himself.
In the second Dune installment
we see much more of their violent dystopian planet of Giedi Prime which
orbits a black sun. Villeneuve and cinematographer Greig Fraser present the
Harkonnen world in stark black-and-white
a contrast to the noble Atreides’
verdant home planet of Caladan and the desolately beautiful Arrakis inhabited
by the fierce and resilient Fremen.
The goal was to capture that feeling
that you are in a different space and time
says Villeneuve who
worked with returning screenwriter Jon Spaihts to distill the novel’s expansive
narrative to its essence. I really
wanted to dive more into the Harkonnen culture and Feyd was my principal
vehicle to be able to go deeper.
A would-be heir to the throne who killed his own mother Feyd-Rautha
bald and eyebrow-less with black
teeth and eyes like a shark is particularly bloodthirsty in his pursuit of
power. Among the film’s major set pieces is a gladiator battle in which
Feyd-Rautha who seems to take a kind of sexual pleasure in
inflicting pain shows off his knife-wielding abilities and his
coldheartedness — a pivotal moment in his rise to consequence.
The Times spoke with Villeneuve and Butler over Zoom from Paris about the
challenges of bringing one of sci-fi literature’s most famous baddies to life
on the screen the thrill of playing against type and why
baldness is sexy at least if you’re a
Harkonnen .
VILLENEUVE: I had first seen Austin in [Quentin Tarantino’s
2019] Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood and I was impressed with the way he handled
that kind of wannabe dark and villainous character [of Manson Family member Tex
Watson]. Then [director] Baz Luhrmann shared with me some clips from Elvis and I was absolutely blown away. To portray
such an icon as The King and be able to disappear into the character — I needed
that kind of actor. Feyd needed to be that kind of charismatic figure with a
strong sex appeal. And I knew Austin had that.
Did I know that Austin would be able to go that dark I was
wishing. But when we started to do the first camera tests it was
an explosion of joy for me because it was beyond my expectations.
BUTLER: In our first conversation we talked about him being physically imposing.
The strength of Feyd makes Paul stronger and vice versa — it’s like playing the
greatest tennis pro that you possibly can. For me that meant putting on weight
and learning knife-fighting so I worked with a kali [sword] instructor for
months before I ever got to Hungary.
It was about finding the brutality and making him as vicious as possible. I
spent a lot of time daydreaming about what it would be like to grow up in that
environment with the Baron as your father figure. Learning about cultures
throughout time that have had this brutality brought it to a human place where
I realized: I’m not just playing someone you can write off as psychotic and
evil. I had to see through his eyes.
VILLENEUVE: The thing with him being less chatty — it’s the same with the
Baron. I will say that the thing that I felt didn’t age well in the book is the
Harkonnen. I wanted them to be threatening and dangerous and taciturn and
less talkative and mustache-twirling.
VILLENEUVE: No. If I had been Austin’s friend I
would have been like Do it.
You have to pull yourself out of Elvis. It was a total transformation. He looks nice
and gentle now. But when the camera was on him
his aura was shifting his
eyes were different his voice was different. There was a shift of
persona that was phenomenal for me to see. It was like discovering a new
species of animal.
We tried to go as close as possible to the limit of being too far. There’s a
lot of sensuality there. I think that the Harkonnen are trying to be as
disconnected from nature as possible. Their world is an artificial plastic
world. I like to think that for them
hair is vulgar and to
remove everything and become hairless is sexy for them.
Some of my friends on the team and I used to say: If there’s a party you
want to be on Giedi Prime. That’s where the party is.
BUTLER: We had most amazing hair and makeup team. I almost don’t want
to speak on it too much because I don’t want to take the mystery away from it.
But it’s such a gift as an actor to look in the mirror and not see yourself
because you can completely just suspend disbelief and enter into that world.
There’s no trace of Elvis in Feyd’s voice but there is a lot of Stellan
Skarsgård. Are you imitating him How did you find your way to a version of the
Baron’s voice
BUTLER: There was a period where I just thought I’d use my own
voice but something felt too contemporary about it. Then one night it dawned on
me that Feyd grew up with the Baron as his vision of power and something
sparked in me. I said to Denis What
do you think of this He
said Let me
go home and dream on it. The he came back the next day and said yes.
That ended up being such a key for me because our voice is the fingerprint
of our soul in a way. It changes the rhythm of how you think and how you
breathe. So much of that locked in for me when I started finding that voice.
How did you establish the right chemistry with Timothée Chalamet Austin had
you two ever met before this
BUTLER: We knew a lot about each other and we have mutual
friends and colleagues. But the first time that we met was in Hungary in the
stunt-rehearsal room. We basically said hello and then got down to work on the
fight trying to kill each other.
VILLENEUVE: [Laughs] That’s the best way to meet. The thing is we did
some readings by Zoom because everybody was all over the planet and I wanted to
hear the words just before locking everything. And I did feel that there were
some sparks between both actors. And I mean
they’re professional. It’s their
job to get along.
