Accent Watch: Austin Butler obviously dropped Elvis voice for Dune, reports Dave Bautista
Dave Bautista says Austin Butler is the "sweetest," but his Dune persona is "terrifying"
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There may be five nominees in the Oscars’ Best Actor category, but there’s a sixth character taking up a lot of oxygen (literally): Austin Butler’s Elvis accent. Ever since Butler started promoting the thing, much has been made about his voice changing to sound like The King. Butler has been forced to acknowledge it time and again, to sit through the jokes all in hopes of obtaining a shiny prize at the finish line. Luckily, though, he has a new character to sink his teeth (or his vocal chords?) into, and co-star Dave Bautista says there’s not a hint of Elvis in there at all.
Butler plays Bautista’s younger brother Feyd-Rautha in the upcoming Dune: Part Two, and the ex-wrestler says Butler is “just the sweetest guy you’ll ever meet”—unlike his character. “I don’t know who this guy was, but it’s not Austin Butler. It’s not Elvis,” Bautista tells USA Today. “His voice is different, his look is different. Everything about his demeanor is terrifying.”
It probably comes as some relief to Mr. Butler to throw himself into a new film, given how long he spent in Elvis’ headspace. The unique nature of the COVID lockdown during shooting (remember when Tom Hanks contracted the virus while they were in Australia?) prolonged the experience, which was reportedly so intense that Butler was hospitalized when they wrapped.
This is also, his vocal coach theorizes, why Butler hasn’t fully shaken the accent. “Because of COVID shutdowns, he was working on it all the time and it’s difficult to switch off something you’ve spent so much focus [and] time on,” Irene Bartlett told ABC’s Gold Coast last month. “What you saw in that [2023] Golden Globes speech, that’s him. It’s genuine, it’s not put on. I feel sorry people are saying that, you know, it’s still acting [but] he’s actually taken [the voice] on board. I don’t know how long that will last, or if it’s going to be there forever.”
So, Butler may remain Elvis in his personal life, but all you Dune heads out there can rest easy knowing the singer hasn’t snuck into that film, too. The man’s a professional after all!
16 Comments
Now i’m trying to imagine some kind of Cecil DeMille-directed version of Dune starring Elvis. That would’ve been something, huh
Elvis as Paul Atreides. Orson Welles as Baron Harkonnen. Charlton Heston as Duke Leto Atreides. Elizabeth Taylor as Jessica. Yul Brenner as Feyd-Rathua Harkonnen. Natalie Wood as Chani.
Actual Deaths in the Knife Fights.
Sammy Davis Jr. as Duncan Idaho
“Leh’mah people go, mama!”
Now I want this to be a musical with Feyd-Rautha suddenly breaking out “Don’t be Cruel.”
Or “Suspicious Minds” whenever the Reverend Mother shows up.
Or pleading with the Harkonnens to not be cruel.
It could at least be in a bloopers reel!
I found myself seeing him deliver Jack White’s “Ka-ra-tay!” speech from Walk Hard just before the big fight with Paul.
Still hoping for a stray “Oh mamaaaa, these sandworms!” or “Thank you, thank Shai-hulud.”
Astounding! An actor changed something about himself in order to more effectively portray the character he was portraying? It’s almost as if he was . . . acting!
Just don’t try that in animation, where we want the onscreen character to seem just like the actor so the audience knows we shelled out a lot for said actor.
Since Sting played Feyd in the Lynch adaptation, I think Austin-as-Elvis-as-Feyd would have been an inspired choice, frankly.
This is his voice on Shannara Chronicles interview. Yes there’s that twang but he definitely didn’t have Elvis voice all the time