Austin Butler: I just like authenticity. I like not having to put on a facade

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Austin Butler and Josh Brolin are both in Dune: Part Two. Since it was originally set to be released on November 3, Interview Magazine lined up Brolin to interview his costar for a feature. They did the interview and photo shoot, and then the SAG-AFTRA strike happened. The new release date is March 15, 2024 (I guess no one’s worried about the Ides of March), but Interview decided to go ahead and run their piece now as previously scheduled. After getting through the seemingly requisite bro-adulation of each other — plus a very strange segment where Brolin says he almost canceled that morning because he had “an urge to create chaos before intimacy” — Austin had some things to say on his soaring career and how he relates to people. A few noteworthy moments:

Brolin asks if he’s around men or women more, and which company he prefers: That’s really interesting. When I was growing up, more by women, because I grew up very close to my mom and my sister. I found myself able to open up to women quicker, and once I started hanging out with men who were more like you [Brolin], who could open up to me quicker, I started to realize it’s not about gender at all. It’s about human connection. That’s what I’m craving. Some people, whatever their gender is, have a shell around them. I’m realizing I just like authenticity. I like not having to put on a facade.

Tom Hardy is actually funny: Tom Hardy surprised me. I pictured him to be this grizzly bear, always serious. And really, he’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. He’d be joking around until action is called, and then go into being the most intense guy I’d ever seen. It reminds me of the stories I heard of [Marlon] Brando, talking to the camera operator until the moment action is called. I learned a lot from Tom.

On how he feels about his career: I feel incredibly grateful, because I’ve been plugging away at this since I was a kid. I’ve had these dreams for so many years, of getting to work with my heroes, and now a lot of that’s coming true. And to be able to delve into these characters that are compelling, and challenging, and scary, has been such a magical time in my life. The thing that I’m now having to come to terms with, and figure out how to process, is when you go out in the street and you are the one being observed. One of my favorite things used to be sitting at a coffee shop and just observing human nature. Now when I’m looking out, people are looking back. … When you’re the one being perceived, how can you perceive the authenticity of the world in a way that serves what you love to do, which is the art?

He doesn’t want to react to fame by closing himself off: My fear is that your world can become smaller. That suddenly, when you’re out in the world, you’re not looking people in the eyes as much when you’re walking down the street, because you’re closing yourself off in some way, and then you end up only feeling comfortable in rooms of people that you already know. I want to be able to be around people that I don’t know and feel like I’m really taking in the human condition. That’s been my meditation lately. How do you keep expanding your world rather than closing it down?

[From Interview Magazine]

Remember how, as part of his Oscar campaign last year, Austin Butler kept speaking in the Elvis Presley accent, denied he was doing it, then sheepishly walked it back when he was called out on it? Yeah, that’s the same guy who’s now saying he likes authenticity and not having to put on a facade. And the same guy who praises Tom Hardy for being a real person on set, and then using his training and technique to drop into the character for just when the cameras roll. Bless him, Austin comes off as so earnest that I think he truly does not see the gap between his words and behavior. That happens to be the kind of “observing of the human condition” I relish in: watching people contradict themselves! But Austin is young, and he does seem to have a very good work ethic, if a little extreme. He might benefit from not talking about his process so much, and letting his work speak for itself. In this case, though, I get it that Brolin was asking specific questions.

Meanwhile I have a question of my own: what the hell is the concept behind the photo shoot here? The images range from him holding a saxophone in different bathroom locations, to a jarring close up with long drops of water rolling off his face (at least I hope it’s water), to his sitting on a sparse bed holding two oranges and wearing a t-shirt with casualty numbers from the Vietnam War. Someone please tell me what I’m missing.

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photos credit: TE / Avalon and JPI Studios / Avalon

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