Austin Butler Had To Establish A Boundary For Dune That He Didn’t Have With Elvis

“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,” Butler explained. However, he added that doing the same thing with Feyd “would be unhealthy for my family and friends.” Director Denis Villeneuve, also present for the interview, laughed as he added that Butler embodying Feyd-Rautha for the whole shoot would be unhealthy for him as well. While Butler doesn’t explicitly say his time as The King was tough on him, he previously told Variety that he didn’t see his family for 3 years while filming the Baz Luhrmann film.

“I was prepping with Baz, and then I went to Australia,” he said in the Variety interview with Janelle Monae. “I had months where I wouldn’t talk to anybody. And when I did, the only thing I was ever thinking about was Elvis. I was speaking in his voice the whole time.” He also described the experience to GQ, saying, “You can lose touch with who you actually are. And I definitely had that when I finished Elvis — not knowing who I was.”