Harkonnens Laughing / Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgård, Austin Butler Behind-the-Scenes 'Dune 2' Photo

About

Harkonnens Laughing, also known as Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgård, Austin Butler Behind-the-Scenes Dune 2 Photo or Beast Rabban, Feyd-Rautha and Baron Harkonnen Smiling, is a reaction image and series of image macro memes based on a behind-the-scenes photo of actors Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgård and Austin Butler laughing while dressed as Harkonnens on the set of Dune: Part Two. The image was posted to X / Twitter in mid-April 2024 and became the subject of memes comparing the three to typical British pub-goers and other object-labeled items, gaining viral spread over the following weeks as a meme format.

Origin

On April 16th, 2024, X^[1] page @FilmUpdates shared a behind-the-scenes photo from the filming of Dune: Part Two showing actors Dave Bautista (who plays Beast Rabban), Stellan Skarsgård (Baron Harkonnen) and Austin Butler (Feyd-Rautha) laughing while in their Harkonnen makeup and outfits, writing, garnering over 36,000 likes and 4,600 reposts in a week (shown below). The image was reposted to the /r/Moviesinthemaking^[2] subreddit that day, garnering over 5,900 upvotes in the same span of time.

The post inspired memes that day, with many comparing the photograph of the three men to British men at the pub and some comparing the image to the Me and The Boys meme. For example, on April 16th, X^[3] user @neverthetories quote-reposted the post with three quotes you might hear British men at the pub say, garnering over 22,000 likes in a week (shown below, left).

On the same day, X^[4] user @neverthetories quote-reposted the image with a caption following the format of the "simple as" format, garnering over 20,000 likes in a week (shown below, right).

Spread

The image gained viral spread through late April 2024 as an image macro format. On April 16th, 2024, Tumblr^[5] user notswush posted the photo, writing, "It's awesome to see these sweet boys sharing a sensitive giggle," garnering over 10,000 notes in a week (shown below).

On April 17th, Redditor u/asif_zaman21 posted a meme to /r/distressingmemes^[6] using the format, garnering over 500 upvotes in six days. On April 22nd, Redditor u/danruse posted a version of the meme to /r/memes^[7] that gained over 33,000 upvotes in a day (shown below).

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References