Austin Butler felt “the terror of the challenge” during discussions with director Denis Villeneuve about Dune: Part Two.

In a conversation with Josh Brolin for Interview magazine, the Elvis actor revealed that he always feels “incredible pressure” to give his best performance before he starts every movie – and he felt the terror of the Dune sequel from early on in the casting process.

“I’m always nervous. I always feel an incredible pressure,” he shared. “Even if the material doesn’t really require it, I feel I need to do the best that I possibly can. That sets a bar, and then I’m always afraid that I’m going to miss something.

“With Dune it was interesting, because I met with Denis, and we got along very well, and started talking about the character. At that point, we didn’t even have a script, but as we started talking about (his character) Feyd (Feyd-Rautha), my imagination started running, and I started to feel the terror of the challenge.”

The 32-year-old noted that he put himself under “so much pressure” and “questioned (his) own ability” to nail his portrayal of Elvis Presley in 2022’s Elvis but the terror made him “work really hard” and this was rewarded with critical acclaim and an Oscar nomination.

“It means I’m now able to see that terror as a separate thing, and not let it rule me, and instead look at it and go, ‘I see you. I hear you. I’m not going to let you cripple me,'” he stated. “And then it becomes this jet fuel that makes you wake up at four in the morning with your heart pounding, and you go, ‘Okay, let’s get to work. Let’s start working on the voice. Let’s start working on the body. Let’s start working on the text.'”

Butler and Brolin star alongside Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and Florence Pugh in Dune: Part Two, which will be released in March.

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