It’s safe to say that the spirit of Elvis Presley has found a permanent home in Austin Butler; given the unprecedented depth of work that the 31-year-old put into bringing the rock and roll icon to life in Baz Luhrmann‘s Academy Award-nominated Elvis, we wouldn’t be surprised if every thought Butler has is now accompanied by an inescapable Mississippi twang.
But with Dune: Part Two gearing up for a release this year, the actor is nevertheless more than ready to expand his range with his portrayal of Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, the nephew of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, and equipped with all the despicable cunning that the Harkonnen bloodline tends to house.
Unless you’ve seen Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, it might be hard to imagine the soft-spoken Butler as a Machiavellian scoundrel, but with the transformation, the actor has undergone, buzzcut and all, he just might disappear into the role more effectively than one would think, and Luhrmann is all too ready to watch him do it.
During an interview with Variety at the Met Gala, Luhrmann shared his thoughts on that first look we got of Butler’s bald-headed villain role, calling it a “cleansing of the creative palate,” and otherwise affirming his place as one of Butler’s biggest cheerleaders.
Indeed, from Disney star to Elvis Presley to one of the most imposing sci-fi villains of the year, Butler seems to prove himself as a dramatic Swiss army knife at every turn, and we can’t wait to see what roles (and haircuts) he continues to tackle over the course of his career.
Dune: Part Two will release in theaters on Nov. 3.