Austin Butler refused to get his head shaved for ‘Dune 2’ so he wouldn’t wreck the look of ‘The Bikeriders’ film.
Austin Butler refused to get his head shaved for ‘Dune 2’ so he wouldn’t wreck the look of ‘The Bikeriders’ film
The ‘Elvis’ actor, 32, plays biker Benny Bauer in the new movie, and its makers almost ran into trouble as just before the project started filming as before the star could start to work on the project he had to wrap up his work on ‘Dune 2’ as villain Feyd-Rautha – who sports a smooth scalp.
Filmmaker Jeff Nichols, 45, told The Hollywood Reporter about how Austin helped him out: “We had a conversation, and I was like, ‘Look, man, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.
“It’s ‘Dune: Part Two’. ‘Dune’ was one of my favourite movies of 2021. But our character really doesn’t work with a shaved head.’
“And, fortunately, he fought for that for us.
“It’s not like I got on the phone with (‘Dune: Part Two’ director) Denis Villeneuve and was like, ‘Hey, please don’t shave his head.’
“Austin worked it out for us, and I love him for that.”
‘The Bikeriders’ also saw British actor Tom Hardy, 46, put on a mid-west US accent – which he fears he didn’t get right.
He said about his portrayal of gang leading bike Johnny: “I’m not sure that I did nail (his voice.)
“One of the things that I hold myself to, as a principle, is that you’ve got to make an effort to create a vocal silhouette, as well as the physical silhouette.
“Accent work is not about phonetics or being accurate, to me. It’s about conjuring an atmosphere from a place which is authentic.”
Tom said he did think he got Johnny’s weak inner character correct though.
He added in a chat with Variety he felt Johnny’s inner weakness was on show in a scene early in the film when he is seen watching ‘The Wild One’ with his wife and children and imitating its star Marlon Brando’s tough guy character as he tries to start his biker gang.
Tom said: “I thought that was very sad. This is a grown man with kids, copying a young, genius actor in a very provocative movie that he’s got a connection to. “It’s like singing Justin Bieber songs in the shower. Pick someone: Amy Winehouse, Ian Brown, Jimi Hendrix… mimicking an icon, going, ‘I identify’, but not having your own personality.”
