Dune 2 Star Says Temperatures Reached 110 Degrees And People Passed Out On Set

Dune: Part II takes place in a hot desert, and the filmmaking experience was similarly scorching, it seems. Austin Butler, who joins the cast for the sequel as Feyd-Rautha, said in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly that temperatures reached 110 degrees on the soundstage and that people passed out due to heat-related exhaustion.

“It was 110 degrees and so hot,” Butler said. “I had the bald cap on, and it was between two soundstages that were just these gray boxes of 200-foot walls and sand. It became like a microwave. There were people passing out from heatstroke. And that was just my first week.”

Despite what sounds like unpleasant conditions, Butler said this environment helped bring everyone together. “There’s something so humbling about being in such an uncomfortable environment,” he said.

Butler’s Feyd-Rautha character was recently added to Call of Duty as a playable Operator, alongside Timothee Chalamet’s Paul Atreides. You can watch Butler and Chalamet 1v1 each other as their Dune characters on the fan-favorite multiplayer map Rust.

Dune: Part II releases in theaters on March 1. It was originally expected to be released in November before Warner Bros. opted to delay the film due to the Hollywood strikes. It’s projected to make as much as $80 million in the US alone for its first weekend.

In addition to Butler and Chalamet, Dune: Part II stars Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Florence Pugh, Javier Bardem, Christopher Walken, Stellan Skarsgard, Lea Seydoux, and Charlotte Rampling. Denis Villenueve returns to direct.