Austin Butler Re.veals He Improvised Dune K.iss with Onscreen Uncle Stellan Skarsgård: ‘Game for Anything’

Austin Butler is explaining how that unsettling kiss with onscreen uncle Stellan Skarsgård came about in Dune: Part Two.

At one point in the new sci-fi sequel, Butler’s villainous and sadistic character Feyd-Rautha receives a promotion of sorts from his uncle, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Skarsgård). During the sequence, Feyd-Rautha kisses Baron Harkonnen on the lips in front of a cheering crowd.

Access Hollywood asked Butler, 32, about improvising the smooch: “Oh, yeah. He’s game for anything. He’s the best. … It’s always about how you’re trying to affect somebody else.”

Butler told ScreenRant that he took vocal training to sound more like Skarsgård, 72, for Dune.

“It dawned on me that he would’ve grown up with the Baron, and the Baron being the one who has the most power and how we end up soaking in through osmosis those traits of people that we grow up with, but particularly those that we admire in some way,” he told the outlet.

“I was working with Tim Monich, who’s sort of the godfather of dialect coaches, and he helped me to really hone in on Stellan’s voice and what he does in the film,” Butler explained.

“It is also just figuring out how his childhood shapes him into who he becomes,” the Oscar-nominated Elvis star added. “When you’re raised in brutality, you have a necessity for violence in order to be able to survive, so I think that ends up changing the way that his mind is.”

Dave Bautista plays another member of the evil Harkonnen family, Butler’s character Feyd-Rautha’s brother, Rabban, a.k.a. The Beast. In one scene, Feyd-Rautha forces Rabban to kiss his feet as a sign of dominance.

“That scene was so wild because I have so much respect for dyou,” Butler told Guardians of the Galaxy alum Bautista, 55, in an interview with USA Today.

Bautista added of the scene, “A lot of actors would be like, ‘I don’t want to do that.’ But I thought it was so great. This is when I get to show who Rabban really is. He’s just a coward. Right then, he’s put in his place. You might have a moment where you actually feel sympathy for such a despicable character. So, yeah, I loved that scene.”

Dune: Part Two is in theaters now.