Elvis Presley is one of the most beloved rock singers of his generation. Australian director Baz Luhrmann took it upon himself to accurately depict who he was and chose the right actor to play him in Austin Butler.
Butler has quite an impressive resume for someone of just 32 years of age. Before he played Elvis, he did two films with Ashley Tisdale; Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure and Aliens In The Attic. He was in Yoga Hosers with Lily-Rose Depp and Harley Quinn Smith and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Austin is next due to appear in the sequel to Dune as Feyd-Rautha, a villainous role Sting initially portrayed in the 1984 film. However, the character is not as evil as Christopher Walken’s Emperor.
Butler’s portrayal was applauded by Elvis’ now-late daughter Lisa Marie, his ex-wife, Priscilla, and granddaughter Riley who were all sceptical at how accurate the film would be to Elvis’ life. Austin did a ton of study into how the singer moved and spoke. Even after the film finished production, he still spoke like Elvis, as he had been speaking like him for months. It took him a couple of years to lose the accent.
When he took the role of Elvis, his then-girlfriend, Vanessa Hudgens, encouraged him to take it, sensing it would be the role of a lifetime. When it was mentioned in interviews, Austin said a “friend” told him to take the part. While it is not our place, was their break up that hard that he had to omit in giving Vanessa credit for advising him to take the role of a lifetime? We may never know the answer to that question.
