If there’s one thing I know about Robert Pattinson, it’s that he’s going to fully transform for whatever part he’s playing. Sometimes that’s through his voice. Other times it’s his entire look. Now, as we approach the release of Dune: Part Three on the 2026 movie schedule, he’s revealed the funny request he had for his character transformation, and it’s very on brand.
With the exception of Dune: Part Three, obviously, I’ve seen every movie Pattinson has released this year. While looks essentially like himself in each, his voice is radically different from performance to performance – he’s British in The Drama, American in The Odyssey and doing an impeccable impression of Chris Hansen in Primetime. This highlights his tendency to really go for it with his performances, lean into the transformations and make some odd and bold choices. He’s about to do that in the new Dune movie too, which is clear in the trailer, but it’s also obvious from the request he had for director Denis Villeneuve, as Pattinson told Empire:
I went into it being like, ‘I want to look like an alien,’ and initially Denis was saying, ‘Well, I think he’s got to fit in with everybody. I think he just looks like you. He’s normal.’ I was a little bit disappointed.
For context, Pattinson plays Scytale in Dune: Part Three. He’s an assassin who is also described as a “shape-shifting ‘Face Dancer’.” The story also notes that his character is from the “genetic-meddling Bene Tleilax people.” That sounds quite alien-like to me, and that’s what the actor wanted. So, it makes sense for both this book-to-screen adaptation in general as well as the actor’s clear adoration for an unexpected makeover.
At first, as he said, he wasn’t going to get that, though. While Dune is a big sci-fi epic, a lot of the cast really didn’t have to change much about their physical appearances to play their characters. However, big transformations have happened; just take a bald Austin Butler in Dune: Part Two as an example. And eventually, Denis Villeneuve realized Pattinson needed a dramatic change in his look too, as the Twilight actor recalled:
It wasn’t even that far before I started shooting; he sent me an email saying, ‘I’ve had this idea of a look.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay! This is very much not like a normal guy at all.’
As you can see in the image above, The Batman star is rocking a very short bleach-blonde haircut and no eyebrows. It is very different from his day-to-day look, and it is quite “alien” like. Explaining why he wanted this dramatically different look, the actor said:
It’s like he’s grown in a lab. There’s a little element of a baby about him, which I really, really liked.
While we’ve seen Robert Pattinson go bleach blonde before – he did it in the film Good Time – this new look is so different from anything we’ve seen him go for. However, that’s what’s so on-brand about it. The man loves a big and bold choice, and I love that he requested this one for Dune: Part Three.
Now, to see him in action as Scytale, you can catch Dune: Part Three in theaters on December 18.
