Austin Butler has confirmed that one of his stand-out moments from the recent Dune sequel was improvised.
The Oscar nominee plays Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, the nephew of Stellan Skarsgård’s villainous character, in Dune: Part Two, which is in cinemas now.
Despite the two characters being related, at one point they’re seen sharing a kiss in front of a cheering crowd – which Austin has revealed was not in the script.
During an interview with Access Hollywood, correspondent Emily Orozco asked the Elvis star about the “improved” kiss, to which he responded: “Stellan Skarsgård? He’s game for anything. He’s the best.”
Asked whether he likes “shocking” his co-stars, Austin replied: “It’s always about how you try and affect somebody else.”
Before Dune, Austin was best known for playing the lead in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic, for which he used Method acting, including an accent that was apparently hard to shake off long after filming came to an end.
However, he took a rather different approach when it came to his performance as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen.
“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,” he previously told the LA Times.
“With Feyd, I knew that that would be unhealthy for my family and friends. I made a conscious decision to have a boundary.”
Austin also worked closely with a vocal coach to help work on his character’s voice, which he wanted to sound like Stellan’s character’s to help demonstrate how influenced by his uncle Feyd-Rautha is.
Dune: Part Two is in cinemas now.