In 2019, Austin Butler heard Baz Luhrmann was making a movie about Elvis Presley. The actor put all meetings and other auditions on hold to focus on #Elvis: “I knew that the only way that I could do it was if I gave it everything that I had.” latimes.com/entertainment-…
While preparing for the role, Butler tried performing “Love Me Tender,” but it didn't feel right. He thought of his late mother, how he and Presley shared that grief, and sang “Unchained Melody.”
“Channeling those emotions just felt true,” he says. latimes.com/entertainment-…
Butler's tape impressed Baz Luhrmann: “It didn't feel like an audition. It felt like a spycam.”
Butler went through several months of Elvis workshops, acting and singing in character, before he won the role. latimes.com/entertainment-…
Butler also got an unsolicited boost from Denzel Washington, his "Iceman Cometh" co-star on Broadway, who cold-called #Elvis director Baz Luhrmann to recommend Butler for the job. latimes.com/entertainment-…
Living and breathing all things Elvis, Butler devoured interviews, documentaries and YouTube videos, even practicing his laugh for hours on solo beach walks in Australia. His goal: “How do you take Elvis... and find out who he really was as a man?” latimes.com/entertainment-…
Butler put his life on pause and spent what ended up being two years pouring everything into #Elvis: "Sometimes that’s unhealthy... I just I knew that this was what I needed to give myself to.” latimes.com/entertainment-…
After production resumed following COVID delays, Butler worked with co-star Tom Hanks, who plays Elvis' longtime manager Col. Tom Parker, by typewriting letters back and forth with Hanks in character. latimes.com/entertainment-…
"Elvis" depicts how the young Presley was influenced by gospel, blues and Black culture from an early age, as well as his friendship with B.B. King. “We don’t have Elvis without Black music and Black culture and Black spirituals,” says Butler. latimes.com/entertainment-…
Butler recalls meeting Priscilla Presley for the first time, before #Elvis started filming: “It dawned on me that these are the same eyes that looked into Elvis’, that he loved her so much and she loved him so much. All of that just hit me like a flood.” latimes.com/entertainment-…
Priscilla Presley was “nervous” to see how the film would depict Elvis. But Butler's "mesmerizing" performance “was more than I ever expected," she told the Times: “He became Elvis.” latimes.com/entertainment-…
After #Elvis ended production, Butler told British GQ he was briefly hospitalized before moving onto his next project: “I thought I might sink into a major depression when I finish[ed] this because suddenly the only thing I have done, now I don’t have." latimes.com/entertainment-…
Butler says he learned “to turn up the volume of my own intuition” from Presley.
Next up: a role in the #Dune sequel, and someday, getting behind the camera. "I love filmmaking. I don’t know what else I would do with my life." latimes.com/entertainment-…
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