Austin Butler | Explain This
Austin Butler | Explain This
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00:00 Be honest, is there an Elvis song or album you still listen to today?
00:04 I listen to so much Elvis still.
00:07 People always said, you know, you're gonna be so tired of it by the end
00:09 because that's all I would listen to, but it's really timeless and I love his music.
00:13 I still listen to it now. It makes me very happy.
00:15 Hey, I'm Austin Butler and Esquire has asked me to explain some things.
00:21 So let's dive in.
00:28 What was your first reaction to seeing yourself in character for Dune Part 2?
00:32 What was the physical process for you?
00:34 I found it very liberating to be able to look in the mirror and not see myself.
00:38 It was exciting to get to do something completely different from anything that I've done.
00:41 And the physical process for me was very early on,
00:44 Denis told me that he said his vision for Fade was to be physically imposing.
00:50 They set me up with Duffy Gever, who is this incredible physical trainer
00:53 who would work with Brad Pitt for Troy, and he helped me put on the size.
00:56 I just did whatever he said, you know.
00:58 There was also a lot of knife training.
00:59 I was doing Kali, which is Filipino stick fighting and learning how to fight with knives.
01:03 So I did that for many months before we started filming.
01:06 You and Florence are the two newcomers to the Dune franchise.
01:10 From the original cast, who are you most excited to work with?
01:13 I can't name just one person.
01:15 I was so excited to work with everybody.
01:16 I was such a fan of that film and Denis.
01:18 Denis is just one of the greatest directors to ever live.
01:22 And I created such a great relationship with everybody on set.
01:26 How do you get into the mindset to play Fade?
01:29 For me, it was very early on not judging him.
01:32 And instead, seeing from the inside the world as though everything I'm doing is the right thing.
01:37 Which can be a tricky thing to justify behavior that on paper would seem evil.
01:42 And the way he spoke and finding his voice was really a key in for me.
01:47 Rumor has it that Timothy Shalmick has sold to you for advice on his singing to play Bob Dylan.
01:52 We're very good friends and we're always talking to each other about creative things.
01:55 And we had fun kind of talking through the creative process.
01:58 And I told him things that helped me and I think he's going to crush it with that.
02:02 I'm so excited.
02:03 You hosted SNL.
02:04 Any chance on taking on a comedic role?
02:07 I had a lot of fun on SNL.
02:08 That was a dream of mine for many years.
02:11 And I watched it with my mom when I was growing up.
02:13 So that was a really special moment.
02:15 And I love comedic films.
02:17 So who knows?
02:18 Yeah, I don't know.
02:20 Do you ever take a souvenir from set after you wrap a project?
02:24 Yeah, I do.
02:24 I, I, what have I taken?
02:26 For bike riders, I took my leather jacket.
02:28 I took the jean vests from Elvis.
02:31 I have the leather jumpsuit rings and things.
02:33 I take from Dylan.
02:34 Took some knives.
02:36 Some of the knives that we used to fight with.
02:37 I love having pieces that you can remember a special time in your life.
02:41 All right, so this says there are a ton of sites that talk about your personal style.
02:45 What is the one piece of clothing you can't live without?
02:48 A good pair of boots, great jacket, and probably a good white t-shirt.
02:52 It's one of those.
02:54 What drew you to this role after working in Australia, which is Masters of the Air?
02:58 And I was thinking about this the other day, because I finished Elvis.
03:01 I'd been working on that for three years.
03:03 I had no idea what was going to happen, if people will even watch the film or like the film.
03:08 And I felt very sad, you know, to have that chapter coming to a close and to have something
03:14 else that I could pour that creative energy into.
03:17 And just to be around people that I've always admired, like Spielberg and Tom, and it was
03:21 a wonderful way of transitioning, you know.
03:24 And just learning a lot.
03:25 I had such a great time.
03:26 You are known for your character research.
03:28 Can you explain your research for this role?
03:31 This was an interesting one, because I didn't have as much time as I would usually desire
03:35 before.
03:36 So I had about a week off between finishing Elvis and starting Masters of the Air.
03:42 Thankfully, when I arrived in London, I had quarantine time.
03:46 So I was locked in a hotel room by myself, and I re-watched Band of Brothers and The
03:50 Pacific.
03:51 And then we went straight into boot camp.
03:53 And so that was also incredibly helpful, because we had time of getting to bond and learn about
03:58 the time period and physically get into that space.
04:01 So that was my research.
04:03 Did you have any flight training for Masters of the Air?
04:05 And if so, what did it entail?
04:07 So what we had were flight simulators, and we had cockpits, and we had pilots who taught
04:13 us everything about the cockpit.
04:15 So by the end of it, I felt as though I could take off and land an airplane.
04:19 But when you're in a B-17, it sort of feels like you're in a tin can.
04:23 And then you're imagining flying through the sky and flak and being shot at.
04:27 And sometimes only one in three men would come back.
04:31 Then they go to dinner in London at night.
04:33 And so the psychological toll of that juxtaposition is sort of unfathomable.
04:39 These men were so, so brave to go up there.
04:41 You were with an ensemble cast in this series.
04:45 What was the vibe on set when the cameras stopped rolling?
04:47 There was a brotherhood on set.
04:49 We were all in boot camp together.
04:51 From that first day at boot camp, everybody just got very close.
04:55 And it was a fun set to be on.
04:57 We know you had a 12-hour audition for this movie.
05:00 Tell us something we don't know about what happened in those 12 hours.
05:03 I was doing this play, The Iceman Cometh, in New York.
05:06 I flew on my one day off to meet Quentin in LA.
05:09 The audition itself didn't last 12 hours.
05:12 At a certain point, he gave me the job.
05:13 And then he said, but now I need you to read the script.
05:15 So that way, you know if you actually want to do it.
05:18 And it was more just about he wasn't going to email the script.
05:21 You know, it was very confidential.
05:22 So the audition itself lasted for quite a while.
05:25 I had three other meetings that day.
05:27 And I didn't have my phone because they take your phone away from you.
05:29 So that's why my agent was worried.
05:31 So I just missed all these other meetings.
05:33 And then I finally called them.
05:34 And I told them that I got the part and that I had just read the script.
05:37 So by that point, they were happy.
05:39 I think the biggest takeaway from being directed by Quentin is
05:43 he instills such a trust.
05:45 And you know how wonderful of a director he is.
05:48 And to be able to surrender completely to a director in that way
05:52 is very freeing and incredibly fun.
05:54 And on top of that, he makes the set such a wonderful place to be.
05:57 The Bike Riders is releasing this summer.
06:00 What was it like working with Jeff, Jodie, and Tom?
06:03 I've been a huge fan of Jeff Nichols, Jodie Comer, and Tom Hardy.
06:08 It was a real joy to get to collaborate with them on this.
06:11 We just had the time of our lives.
06:12 It was really fun.
06:14 Did you already know how to ride a motorcycle before filming The Bike Riders?
06:17 I knew how to ride, but I trained a lot for this
06:20 because I'd only been on contemporary bikes before that.
06:23 So this was, you know, we're all on bikes from the '40s, '50s, '60s.
06:27 And they ride very differently.
06:29 And they don't really want to stop.
06:30 And so I had to train a lot for that.
06:33 But I mean, what's better than that?
06:34 It was so much fun.
06:35 What motivated you to join the cast of The Iceman Cometh on Broadway?
06:39 That was such a no-brainer for me.
06:40 I moved to New York when I was 20, and I used to see 14 plays in two weeks.
06:46 I would go constantly.
06:46 I'd go back to the same play and watch it over and over.
06:49 And I was really obsessed with it.
06:50 And then in this case, it was working with Denzel Washington,
06:54 with George Wolfe, with David Morse.
06:56 It was such an incredible cast.
06:58 The opportunity to get to work with all of them was--
07:00 I knew that I was going to learn so much.
07:02 Thanks for watching.
07:03 I hope I explained some things.
07:05 Have a great day.
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