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Austin Butler went so method to play Elvis in Baz Luhrmann’s film. Austin was so subsumed by the role that he ignored his family, ended up in the hospital, and continues to do his Elvis impersonation when he speaks. Much has been made of him continuing to talk like Elvis so long after completing the film, the latest occurrence being during his Golden Globes win speech. According to Austin, he doesn’t think about it and he doesn’t hear it and he’s actually not doing it anymore. Lol, okay.
Austin Butler, 31, disagrees with fans who think he still sounds like Elvis Presley, after transforming into the King of Rock and Roll for Baz Luhrmann‘s movie. Austin won his first Golden Globe on January 10 and was mocked online for talking like Elvis in his acceptance speech. The actor was asked about his voice change later in the press room, and he said, “I don’t even think about it. I don’t think I sound like him still, but I guess I haven’t noticed ’cause I hear it a lot.”
Austin further told reporters, “I think, I often liken it to when somebody lives in another country for a long time, and I had three years where that was my only focus in life, so I’m sure that there’s just pieces of my DNA that will always be linked in that way.”
Austin’s been open about the great lengths he went to in order to play Elvis for the 2022 biopic. In December, he revealed to Janelle Monáe for a Variety interview that he “didn’t see my family for three years” while he was preparing for the role.
“I had months where I wouldn’t talk to anybody,” he shared. “And when I did, the only thing I was ever thinking about was Elvis. I was speaking in his voice the whole time.”
Austin further told reporters, “I think, I often liken it to when somebody lives in another country for a long time, and I had three years where that was my only focus in life, so I’m sure that there’s just pieces of my DNA that will always be linked in that way.
He is still talking like Elvis. Is this going to be his schtick forever or just for the duration of awards season? Maybe it’s part of his Oscar campaign. I’ve seen him in a couple of things before and his voice is not that deep and the cadence is not like that. His real voice sounds like he looks, a floppy-haired blond dude from California. But I guess saying that he doesn’t even think about it just shows how ingrained Elvis is in his DNA. He truly changed for this role, Oscar voters take note. Anyway, this is such a pretentious, eye-rolly, affectation at this point. Also eye-rolly: the awkwardly over-the-top PDA with Kaia Gerber. The age difference is the early version of that old cliche and it’s weird how she somehow seems to only date the buzzy guy of the moment. I also find it a bit rude that he referred to Vanessa Hudgens, whom he dated for like 10 years, as the “friend” who encouraged him to play Elvis. Stop with the Vanessa Hudgens erasure and namecheck the woman who encouraged you to take the life-changing role!
Austin Butler responds to those that say they still hear traces of Elvis' accent in his speaking voice:
“I had three years where that was my only focus, so I'm sure there's pieces of him in my DNA and I’ll always be linked.” pic.twitter.com/qj3jCDzktS
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) January 11, 2023
photos credit: BauerGriffin/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images and Getty
Maybe the truth is that his family avoided him because he couldn’t drop the act. I watched him on some show when he was promoting the movie and the accent was still very obvious. It irritated me to no end.
I’m not impressed with any method actor. Brendan Fraser isn’t pretending to struggle to walk, Colin Ferrell isn’t pretending to be a clingy friend. And if you’re going to permanently embody a character make it someone decent, not a man obsessed with his mother who marries a barely teen and holes her up in his room for weeks on end. Also Austen is a royal douche for not acknowledging Vanessa.
THIS!
Keep in mind that “method” acting as it is referenced in relation to Jared Leto etc isn’t actually method acting. And using an accent in real life isn’t method acting… it might be working and practicing a dialect to help it come across natural and effortless when it comes time to perform. I haven’t heard him in interviews, but as someone who has moved around the US and easily & unintentionally picks up vocal patterns from the regions I’ve lived in, I can see where an accent or cadence that’s been used repeatedly for a very extended period of time might become a natural habit that one isn’t even really conscious of, so I give him the benefit of the doubt.
I could only get through 5 seconds of his acceptance speech clip due to second hand embarrassment.
You are better than me. I’ll implode if I click that vid. The eye roll will be the catalyst.
Whatever happened between Austin and Vanessa that he won’t even say her name? They were together for a long time.
I heard rumours that he cheated on her but I don’t know if that’s true.
The Elvis voice is cringe at this point. It seems this breakout role has gone to his head.
This kind of reinvention and reintroduction to the public would’ve worked pre-Internet, now it just looks weird because people can see through it. Clearly, he has deepened his voice and added the swagger because it works for him. But people are smart enough to see it.
I saw his GG speech and it was embarrassing.
I still say AB is a one trick pony in this role, method actor or not.
His relentless Oscar campaign reminds me so much of Lady Gagas for house of Gucci… and we all saw how that turned out
He actually addressed the voice change too during his SNL monologue when he hosted recently but mostly talked about his mother’s death and how it affected him, so very touching. But I was giggling when he mentioned it because dude, your voice HAS changed and it was the only reason I watched the monologue, I wanted to know if he would address it. I had looked him up when he was promoting Elvis because so many people talked about his voice change and I wasn’t familiar with him (still haven’t seen the movie). His voice pre-Elvis is noticeably higher and he’s still going around with this unnatural deep voice that is not his. He reminds me of high society people in the late 1800s, early 1900s who did that whole fake Mid-Atlantic accent (you can hear that in old classic movies notably) because they thought they sounded so posh speaking in a quasi British accent.
Did Vanessa Hudgens break up with him because he ignored everyone while he was filming Elvis? That would explain a lot and can’t blame her if that’s the case.
His voice after three years may be different for a while. I do think he will actually have to work on not doing a southern drawl. He did have a fairly similar voice IMAO without the southern part. As far as clingy I think that Kai is clingy. I feel sorry for her, don’t think that will last long. She seems to initiate all the hugs and kisses. He even brought his sister vs her to the awards. As far as Vanessa they dated for a long time and perhaps just mutual. Maybe he didn’t mention her because she didn’t want him to who knows….any break up after 9 years is going to be rough. He seems like a nice guy, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt. I think method acting is a rough way to go on any film. It seems to have destroyed other actors.
He wrapped on Elvis years ago. There’s really no reason for it now other than he’s been faking so long he’s too embarrassed to stop. No other actor keeps an accent like this. Not even the most method, insufferable ones.
I cannot roll my eyes hard enough.
Vanessa, you dodged a huge bullet here, uh huh uh huh.
From your mouth to Kaia Gerbers’ ear.
Maybe he just doesn’t drop character until the DVD commentary!😜
Yes to your Tropic Thunder reference! If I could post a GIF I totally would 😂
I predict this is going to be an Adrian Brody situation where the front runners split the vote and the young guy ends up winning.
I don’t get the hate. It’s a real and rational experience.
The mouth and vocal cords are muscles. We have muscle memory. Professional singers train to adapt these muscles to improve sound, quality, range and pitch. Most singer’s voices change throughout their careers.
But also, when you live in another country or have friends with accents, you DO absorb it. You don’t even realise you’ve changed. Just ask any British or Australian actor who’s moved to LA or played too many American roles – the accent seeps in, your mouth and muscles adapt, and the accent stays. Until you re-train it all a different way. Same with dancers and athletes.
Austin trained his mouth and vocal cords for several years to sing and speak in a specific way. What did you think was gonna happen?
It’s true – I lived overseas for nearly four years, and my natural accent started to sound wrong to me. It became a mix of both accents, but six weeks after I moved back home I was back to normal.