Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2024: Austin Butler in Dune Part II

Austin Butler did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Feyd-Rautha in Dune Part II.

Austin Butler takes upon the role of Feyd-Rautha the psychotic and competent nephew of chief overt villain Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård), a role famously played by Sting in the 84 film, which much derided overall though many still take pleasure to this day in his repeated use of “I WILL KILL HIM”, so there was a little bit of an expectation going in with this character as the chief rival to Paul Atriedes (Timothée Chalamet). Which fittingly cast fellow musician biopic actor in the role, and general up and comer in Austin Butler. I previously praised Butler for what he did in Elvis though I didn’t love the film overall, he was good and particularly had a very strong presence as a performer, something that even carried over to his otherwise severely underwritten role in The Bikeriders from 2024. And on the immediate surface, Butler offers the goods as Feyd-Rautha, right from the outset as Butler’s bald look is most striking and he adds on top of that another very daring vocal performance, this time going for a severe impression of Skarsgård just as he did for Elvis in Elvis. A great choice though as he just naturally fits right into the Harkonnen without seeming like an accent just for the sake of it, he really breathes life into the character through it. Amplifying the character all the more is the physical bravado he brings in every moment of his performance, as he very presents Feyd-Rautha who is someone who wants to present himself as the force of violence and destruction. Walking and just handling himself as a man who loves every bit of violence he sows. Something that Butler accentuates potently in each of his scenes, from the opening where he casually kills a few women to test out his knife, and before that even his speaking on what he could remove with such a frankly sexual overtone to every moment of Butler’s delivery of these descriptions. He makes Feyd-Rautha the proper villain in every sense, taking the moment of killing one of Paul’s allies with noting that the execution will be pleasure with such sincerity and perhaps more than a bit of physical arousal. Offering the ideal foe to Paul in the final fight, where I have particular affection for tossing Paul’s line back to him of “May thy knife chip and shatter” as though he is living his absolute best life before the fight. 

All of that would make for a good version of the character alone, finding his own way to bring to life his sadism in a less over the top but still very blunt way akin to Sting’s however with more depth even within that. But there is more to this performance than just depicting his villainy, as good as Butler is at that. Rather Butler doesn’t make him pure evil, not that what he shows him to be good, but doesn’t make him a black hole. As there’s even some vulnerability that Butler shows quite effectively, from his anger when the Baron setup a situation where he could be killed where Butler brings real vulnerability behind that, or in that gladiatorial game beforehand where he almost gets killed, Butler’s fantastic in the moment where the man has the knife on him, and in Butler’s laughing about it, there’s genuine fear glimpsed in him before he turns it around at the last minute. But Butler goes further by going as far as he can in terms of the idea of honor within the character. Something Butler consistently emphasizes that grants more nuance to the character than just another evil man, even if he is that. As in that gladiator fight, when he kills the spy, or even his own reaction to the end of the final duel, each time Butler’s delivery is with absolutely utmost honesty in his respect. He genuinely cares about the idea of honor and his eyes of someone who sees value in a real opponent or fighter. I love particularly the moment where in the original film Feyd-Rautha pestered Paul over Chani calling her his pet which Sting delivered with an extra bit of psychotic hectoring. Butler handles differently and in an intriguing way as he makes the whole moment weirdly genuine when he asks “any special attention for the pet”? Butler presents it as Feyd-Rautha very odd being yet in his deranged mind respectful offer to his opponent. As much as the character is this force for evil, and Butler delivers on that impactfully each second he’s onscreen, Butler does find nuance within the evil, creating life within the role beyond the specifics of the character in this narrative.