Pop Culture

Austin Butler on 'Humbling' 110-Degree Experience of Shooting 'Dune' Sequel: 'Like a Microwave'

Early reactions to the Zendaya-featuring film suggest 'Dune' fans are in for something special.

Austin Butler in a gray suit without a tie on the red carpet
Image via Getty/Han Myung-Gu / WireImage

Mercifully, Dune: Part Two is almost upon us. But first, we have some documented difficulties of the desert variety from Austin Butler, who plays Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in the film.

“It was 110 degrees and so hot,” Butler said of his first week on the set of the Denis Villeneuve-directed sequel, per a recent feature from Christian Holub for Entertainment Weekly. “I had the bald cap on, and it was between two soundstages that were just these gray boxes of 200-foot walls and sand. It became like a microwave. There were people passing out from heatstroke."

The cast is led by Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya but also boasts Rebecca Ferguson, Florence Pugh, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgård, Christopher Walken, Léa Seydoux, Javier Bardem, and more.

According to Butler, the unique shooting circumstances brought everyone together.

“There’s something so humbling about being in such an uncomfortable environment,” he told EW.

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There's a chance we'll be getting one more Dune-related entry from Villeneuve, who previously expressed interest in bringing Frank Herbert's Dune Messiah to the big screen.

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