Elvis may have been released six months ago but Austin Butler will not let us forget how much trauma he imposed on himself for the role. This time he’s revealed he severed relations with his family and friends for it, even though literally no one asked him to.
Butler spoke to Janelle Monae for Variety‘s Actors on Actors show when he said he “didn’t see my family for about three years”. Excuse me?
“I was prepping with [Elvis director Baz Luhrmann], and then I went to Australia. I had months where I wouldn’t talk to anybody. And when I did, the only thing I was ever thinking about was Elvis,” Butler said.
“I was speaking in his voice the whole time.”
I mean, he kinda still is from the video.
But back to not seeing his family for three years: Austin Butler was officially cast as Elvis in July 2019, AKA a time that was pre-COVID. Are you telling me he couldn’t even Zoom with them?!
It’s also worth nothing he and Vanessa Hudgens broke up in 2020 after *eight years* together. It was a shock at the time and chalked up to just a schedule issue: she was filming The Princess Switch 2 in Europe and he was filming Elvis.
I was always suss about this because ending a nearly decade-long relationship over scheduling conflicts seemed strange, and now I’m convinced it was because she probably got sick of dating a guy who method-acted Elvis Presley 24/7. You and me both, sis.
This isn’t the only wild thing we’ve learned about the star’s method-acting.
Butler revealed earlier this year that Baz Luhrmann brought executives into a room to “heckle” Butler while he sang as a recreation of real life crowds booing the real Elvis.
“They were making fun of me and stuff while I was singing,” he told VMAN magazine.
“When we were filming this moment, when Elvis first goes on stage and he’s getting heckled by the audience, I knew what that felt like.
“I went home in tears that night. I really did.”
Why is it always white male stars specifically that prattle on about emotionally traumatic method-acting which affects all their relationships?
Do they realise crying on set, punishing themselves and pushing away their loved ones is not a flex?
Or maybe he’s just gunning for that Oscar nom.
