-Austin, we love you.
Thanks for coming back to the show.
-I'm so happy to see you.
-This is our 10th anniversary of our "Tonight Show."
-Congratulations. -Thank you, bud.
-That's so exciting. -I was gonna ask you,
what were you doing 10 years ago?
Do you remember? -10 years ago,
I was living in New York. I just moved to New York.
I was doing a show called "The Carrie Diaries."
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Oh, yeah. That was like --
-It was a "Sex and the City" prequel.
-That's right. -Yeah.
-Wow. -Yeah. And so I was just
loving New York and living here,
but always having these dreams
of playing certain types of characters and --
And my dreams have all kind of come true lately.
-I mean, "Dune." Congratulations on "Dune 2."
Can I just read some reviews real quick?
They say, "A triumph," "Incredible filmmaking."
"I feel like I understand how everyone felt seeing 'Star Wars'
for the first time back in 1977."
Uh, "The scale is dynamic,
and Butler's portrayal is wildly hypnotic and menacing."
"This is greatness on every level."
-Wow. Wow.
[ Cheers and applause ] That's wild.
-That's pretty cool. -That's wild.
-I mean, look at you. It doesn't even look --
Look at you. -Look at that.
-Oh, my gosh.
-Look at that. -That is --
It's frightening. It's frightening.
You're scary in this. -Demonic look.
-It really is.
You do a fantastic job. I heard that the director, uh,
told you that -- described your character
as "a psychopath swordmaster mixed with Mick Jagger."
-Right. [ Laughter ]
-I don't know the Mick part, but...
-Yeah, you don't see Mick in that dude.
-No, I don't see -- -You know, the interesting thing
was Mick was gonna play the part in Jodorowsky's "Dune,"
which they called "the greatest film never made."
And so -- and then Sting obviously played the part
in David Lynch's. -Oh, that's right.
-Yeah. -Have you -- did you ever --
-I met him last night.
-You met Sting? -I met Sting last night.
He came to the premiere. It was so surreal.
-He came to the premiere of "Dune"?
That's awesome that he did that!
-I was -- My mind was blown.
-He's a cool dude, man. -He's the best.
-Did you -- What did you -- -He's so cool.
-Did you introduce yourself?
-Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he came up afterward,
and he was so, so lovely and just debonair.
-Oh, he's a stud. -And I asked him --
I asked him about it, and he said he still has
the codpiece from the original one.
He said he's gonna dry-clean it
and let me wear it if I want to.
[ Laughter ] -Did he really?
That's a good dude.
How did you -- how did you get into your character?
I mean, it looks like you just kind of went mental.
-Yeah, yeah. It was --
I mean, the thing with a villainous character --
I never played a character quite like it,
and I didn't want to judge him. So it was a lot of, you know,
imagining what his childhood was like and --
And, thankfully, seeing the first film,
you know, Stellan Skarsgard's character, the Baron,
-Oh, he's so creepy. -He's so amazing.
-It's -- It's the -- Honestly, it's sci-fi
on the next level, by the way.
-So he became kind of -- Yeah, I just imagined
what would it be like growing up with him
as my father and... -But you're fantastic.
And the action is awesome, and the acting is just --
You're fantastic. -Thank you.
-You've seen the premiere.
I'm assuming last night you watched, or...?
-I didn't watch last night, actually.
-You didn't? -No, I was so jet-lagged,
I kind of needed to go nod off. -Yeah. Are you going --
Do you plan on watching it?
-Yeah, I watched it. I watched it in Mexico City.
-Oh, you did. -And that was surreal.
There was 4,500 fans in the audience.
-Going crazy. -And they were screaming.
And I'd never been in a movie
with that many people before. It was incredible.
-Are you one of those actors that will just show up randomly
and just stand in the back, you're like, "Cool"?
-Yeah, I did that with "Elvis." I'd like, put a hat on
and go in the back. And it was --
-It's fun, right?
-When you feel it with an audience, it's the best.
I can't wait to see this in IMAX.
I haven't seen it in IMAX yet.
-Well, I saw it on the screen.
Everyone who was at the screening went crazy.
But you and your co-star Zendaya, you both got your --
-She was supposed to be here tonight.
-I know, she's sick. -She's sick.
Her voice is completely gone.
She said to send love. -I felt so bad, yeah.
-She was such a trooper,
showing up at the premiere last night.
You'd never know she was sick. She's such a queen.
-I know. But you guys met on the Disney Channel.
-Well, we kind of overlapped at that time.
-Oh, you never met. -But we --
I think she reminded me of it the other day.
I'd completely forgotten.
But we did this "Teen Vogue" thing together as kids.
-Yeah. -And she brought that up to me.
So you kind of met there? -Yeah.
-It's so funny you brought that up
because we actually found this. -Oh! How about that!
[ Laughter ]
I haven't seen this. I haven't seen --
-Get ready, get ready. It's really good.
It's from a "Teen Vogue" photo shoot.
It's Austin Butler and Zendaya doing interview
by "Teen Vogue" in 2012. Take a look at this.
-Oh, God.
♪♪
I'm Austin Butler.
-Hey, it's Zendaya, and welcome to my "Teen Vogue"
Young Hollywood shoot.
-Probably could be cast as any iconic role.
-That's, like, impossible.
-I could be the first American James Bond.
I would do it with a British accent.
[ Laughter, cheers, applause ]
-Dude, yes!
You should be the first American James Bond!
We love it! -That's crazy.
That's crazy. -Dude, I love that that's --
-What was I thinking? -That was your --
That was your dream back then. You wanted --
-I grew up loving James Bond. -Me, too!
You got to do James Bond! -No, he's gotta be British.
-Come on! -He's gotta.
-No, no, no, no. Change it up, man.
You can do whatever you want to do.
You're Austin Butler, man. I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's Austin Butler and Timothée Chalamet
in "Dune: Part Two." Take a look at this.
-May thy knife chip and shatter.
-[ Grunts ]
-Ooh! -Ooh.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-You're good. You're fantastic.
Austin Butler, everybody!
"Dune: Part Two" is in theater and IMAX this Friday.
Mark Ronson joins us after the break.
Stick around, everybody. It's fun.