Does Austin Butler Suppose He Sounds Like Elvis?

Austin Butler appears to be slowly distancing himself from his function as Elvis Presley. The actor spent the final a number of years immersed in the whole lot Elvis main as much as the discharge of the Baz Luhrmann-directed biopic in 2022. Because the movie now makes its means by the award-season circuit, questions have swirled round Butler’s enduring dedication to the function — particularly, his continued use of the late rock icon’s distinctive accent.

In an look in a Feb. 3 episode of “The Graham Norton Present,” Butler mentioned that he felt briefly “self-conscious” when his publicist informed him individuals on-line had been speaking about his much-discussed drawl, however he is engaged on it. “I get rid of the accent, however I’ve in all probability broken my vocal cords with all that singing,” the actor mentioned, per Leisure Weekly. “One music took 40 takes.”

Butler is about to look in Denis Villeneuve’s second “Dune” film because the villainous Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, who definitely should not have an Elvis-esque accent. Luckily, in response to costar Dave Bautista, Butler metamorphosed into somebody totally new for the function. “I do not know who this man was, but it surely’s not Austin Butler,” Bautista informed USA At present of Butler’s efficiency. “It isn’t Elvis. His voice is totally different, his look is totally different. The whole lot about his demeanor is terrifying.” Bautista went on to explain the real-life Butler as “simply the sweetest man you may ever meet.”

Butler’s Elvis accent was particularly current on the 2023 Golden Globes, the place Butler’s portrayal of Presley in “Elvis” earned him the award for greatest efficiency by an actor in a movement image, drama. Forward of the present, Butler insisted that he did not assume he nonetheless sounded very like the King of Rock and Roll. When requested about his lingering accent, Butler informed E! Information that the accent was “exhausting” for him to speak about. “I can not actually replicate on it an excessive amount of. It is simply this course of — I do not know the distinction,” he admitted. Following his win, he added that he personally did not hear the similarity anymore. “I do not assume I sound like him nonetheless, however I assume [it must be] as a result of I hear it so much,” he mentioned within the press room by way of Selection. “I typically liken it to when someone lives in a foreign country for a very long time,” he continued. “I had three years the place [Elvis] was my solely focus in life, so I am positive there’s simply items of my DNA that can at all times be linked in that means.”

Regardless of his feedback, it got here as no shock that Butler thanked Presley in his Golden Globes acceptance speech — his newfound affectation in tact. “You had been an icon, and a insurgent, and I like you a lot. You might be remembered, and I’ll always remember.” On the sound of the music taking part in him off, Butler joked, “You can a minimum of play ‘Suspicious Minds’ or one thing.”

Butler beforehand addressed his tendency to slide into Elvis’s accent in a June interview with Leisure Tonight, saying it was one thing he could not management. “At this level, I preserve asking individuals, ‘Is that this my voice?’ as a result of this seems like my actual . . . It is a kind of issues the place sure issues set off it,” Butler mentioned. “Whenever you stay with one thing for 2 years and also you do nothing else, I believe that you could’t assist it. It turns into a fiber of your being.”

The accent was additionally obvious on the 2022 Met Gala. Butler attended the occasion with Priscilla Presley. In a purple carpet interview with La La Anthony for Vogue, the accent was noticeable. His sometimes deep voice this time bore a torpid Southern drawl, which is uncommon for Butler, who was born and raised in Southern California, removed from Presley’s Memphis. Upon additional investigation, the accent can also be current in different interviews after Butler was solid in “Elvis,” together with on the “As soon as Upon a Time in Hollywood” premiere in 2019.

Butler hasn’t but said if he took a way strategy to the function, an all-consuming approach beforehand utilized by Daniel Day-Lewis, Hilary Swank, and Jared Leto, amongst others. Butler did, nonetheless, isolate himself throughout a pause in manufacturing as a result of pandemic and turned his residence right into a kind of Presley temple with partitions of photographs. “Until I immerse as a lot as I presumably can, I’ll really feel like a fraud,” he recalled pondering within the Might 2022 difficulty of Vogue.

Luhrmann implied the accent was at all times there, lurking beneath the floor. The director informed Vogue, “From the second I met Austin, he was carrying one thing of Elvis with him. He had a touch of the swagger, a contact of the sound.” Tom Hanks, then again, apprehensive Butler and Presley may develop into too entwined. (Hanks portrays Presley supervisor Colonel Tom Parker within the movie.) “Making a movie, particularly this one, is an all-in, relentless marathon. The physique and psyche tackle a heavy burden,” he mentioned. “An actor’s soul advantages from some day by day detour.”

Along with nailing Presley’s talking voice, Butler additionally needed to handle singing (sure, that is actually him singing all through the movie). To arrange, Butler did vocal teaching practically seven days every week for a yr earlier than filming started. “Once I started the method of this I got down to make my voice equivalent to his,” he informed The AU Overview. “That was my objective, that in case you heard a recording of him and heard a recording of me, you would not have the ability to inform the distinction.”

Vanessa Hudgens, who dated Butler for eight years, as soon as mentioned he was born to play the function. In a 2019 “Reside With Kelly and Ryan” look, Hudgens mentioned she first realized the resemblance when Butler sang alongside to a Presley Christmas music on a drive at some point. She informed him, “I do not know, however we have to determine how one can play Elvis. I do not know how one can get rights or what we do, however you could play him. It’s your calling.” The next month, Butler discovered Luhrmann was engaged on a biopic. Hudgens added, “You need to watch out with what you say, as a result of issues occur.”