Austin Butler on First Meeting Timothée Chalamet for “Dune 2”: 'Got Down to Work ... Trying to Kill Each Other'

"We knew a lot about each other and we have mutual friends and colleagues," Butler said of meeting Chalamet in an interview

Austin Butler and Timothée Chalamet were fast (onscreen!) enemies.

Asked about how they established chemistry on the set of Dune: Part Two during an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Butler, 32, said, "We basically said hello and then got down to work on the fight, trying to kill each other."

But they weren't exactly strangers before beginning production on the upcoming sequel, either. As the Academy Award nominee recalled, "We knew a lot about each other and we have mutual friends and colleagues."

"But the first time that we met was in Hungary in the stunt-rehearsal room," Butler added of Chalamet, 28.

"That’s the best way to meet," said director Denis Villeneuve with a laugh.

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Related: All the Out-of-This-World Looks from the Cast of 'Dune: Part Two': See the Photos!

Villeneuve, 56, explained that, as part of their preparation, they "did some readings by Zoom because everybody was all over the planet and I wanted to hear the words just before locking everything."

"And I did feel that there were some sparks between both actors. And I mean, they’re professional. It’s their job to get along," he added in his and Butler's conversation with the outlet.

Dune: Part Two will "explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides (Chalamet) as he unites with Chani (Zendaya) and the Fremen while on a path of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family," according to an official synopsis.

"Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee," the synopsis adds.

In the second trailer for the movie, the galaxy's emperor (Christopher Walken) enlists Butler's Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in getting rid of Paul before he and the Fremen reclaim Arrakis.

A major battle rages throughout the desert planet, and the trailer ends with Paul declaring himself the "Duke of Arrakis" — and hints at a duel between him and Feyd-Rautha.

And while Butler, with his titular role in Elvis, previously "explored living within that world for three years and that being the only thing that I think about day and night," that wasn't the case for his Dune: Part Two character.

"With Feyd, I knew that that would be unhealthy for my family and friends," he said. "So I made a conscious decision to have a boundary. It allowed for more freedom between action and cut because I knew I was going to protect everybody else outside of the context of what we were doing."

"That’s not to say that it doesn’t bleed into your life. But I knew that I wasn’t going to do anything dangerous outside of that boundary, and in a way that allowed me to go deeper, I think," Butler added.

Dune: Part Two is in theaters March 1.

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