Austin Butler Reflects on ‘Elvis’ Journey, How He Learned to Embrace Auditions and Early Acting Years: ‘I Was Cripplingly Shy’

In November, Austin Butler was in Cincinnati filming Jeff Nichols’ movie, The Bikeriders. He was filming a scene co-starring Tom Hardy and Michael Shannon that involved Shannon delivering a two-page monologue. Butler found himself lost in the moment, watching his fellow actor. “Jeff called cut and Mike leaves,” Butler recalled. “And Tom turns to me and says, ‘It doesn’t get any better than this.’

Butler says Hardy was referring to Shannon’s performance, which he says, “wasn’t even watching an actor, he was watching a person living in front of you.”

The 31-year-old actor could also refer to the past year of his life, where his career went from roles on shows like “Zoey 101” and “The Carrie Diaries” to a bona fide, world-famous movie star. thanks to his turn in Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Elvis’. And not just any movie star, but the kind of old-school throwback to the Golden Age that’s becoming increasingly rare in Hollywood, where his talent is recognized as much as his star quality.

“I have to be honest, I just feel so lucky,” Butler says of the whirlwind months since “Elvis” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to a rapturous response in May before it hit theaters in June, earning nearly $300 million at the checkout.

If there was any doubt about the love for the film and his performance, screenings and industry events are still packed, despite the film being available on HBO Max and other platforms.

Since then, Butler has won a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe, been nominated for both a SAG Award and an Academy Award, hosted the Christmas episode of “Saturday Night Live” and landed a role in the highly anticipated “Dune: Part Two.”

By now, Butler’s story of landing the life-changing role of Elvis Presley is pretty well established. How the piece went on, working with movement, dialect and singing coaches just for the audition. How a major turning point happened late one night when he was thinking about his mother, who, like Presley’s, died when he was in his 20s. Dressed in a bathrobe, Butler sat at a piano and recorded himself singing “Unchained Melody” in her honor. He had already sent an audition to Luhrmann, but his agent urged him to send one as well, and this video caught the director’s attention. How it was a five-month process before landing the role. And then how production shut down right before filming due to the COVID pandemic, but Butler stayed in Australia to work on the role.

His meticulous preparation for the part was also discussed at length, as was his deep affection for Presley’s ex-wife, Priscilla Presley, and daughter, Lisa Marie, who died hours after Butler won the Golden Globe. Even today, weeks later, Butler still seems to be struggling to figure it out.

“He had the biggest laugh,” says Butler. “The biggest, warmest and most sincere laugh – he didn’t put it on. It felt great when you made her laugh.”

So Variety wanted to talk to Butler about a few other things — how he dealt with rejection on the long road to “Elvis,” some of his favorite moments of the past year and an adorable co-star dog.

The audition process for “Elvis” lasted five months. Were there periods of time when you assumed it wasn’t happening, that they had been with someone else?

I knew from the start that Baz doesn’t just do auditions, he also does workshops. So I knew it was going to be a process. I was able to keep my head down and focus on the job and try not to get too invested in making it a part of me.

I learned so much during that time — like the day of the screen test. He changed everything that day and rewrote the scenes I thought I was going to do. I had this scene ready and he said, “We don’t have time, we have to get someone else in here to do a screen test right after you. So we have to overcome you.” And I suddenly felt like it wasn’t mine. But then what I realized about Baz, and acting in general, is that you really do your homework and then you can change it. And sometimes things end up happening that you didn’t expect and even if it’s not that perfect thing you imagined when you were working on it in your bedroom, you find something new and exciting.

I know this is part of the job, but when a director mentions, “I’m seeing someone later today,” what does that do to you mentally?

You know, I think actors are just inherently insecure. And as many times as we’ve heard no, or that someone else is better for the job… you always have to deal with that little voice in your head that says you’re not good enough or that someone else would be better. So for that week of silence, I had to do my own therapy and say, “Even if it doesn’t work out the way I want, I got to work with one of my favorite filmmakers for five months.”

That’s such a healthy way to look at it.

Yes, I’m saying it now, but I’d be very sad if I didn’t get this. (Laughs) So I was glad it all worked out.

You started acting at such a young age. How did you deal with all the rejection? Especially as a child?

You get told “no” so many times. And early on someone told me something that really helped. They said, “It’s a numbers game. Be prepared to go to 100 auditions before you book one.” So the idea was, I was just going through one of these hundreds to get to one. I also saw this great video of Philip Seymour Hoffman where he said, “Whenever you get a chance to act, it’s about doing your job, it’s not about the role.” So even if it’s an audition, you’re going to play in front of people in a room that someone else paid for. Don’t think of it as getting the job, think of it as doing the best acting you can do. Doing it for work, not for work, really changed my perspective.

When I started being around people who made things, I felt their energy, they were like my tribe. It made me enjoy being there. And then I started learning that it was an art, that you could get better, and it just made me want to work harder.

This seems like such a healthy attitude. have you always had this feeling about the show?

I often talk about being shy and I think people don’t believe me. But I was very shy and it still baffles me that my passion became acting. But I was grateful to acting because it gave me a therapeutic outlet from this shyness. Like, it was so exhausting being in a restaurant as a kid and I didn’t want to talk to a stranger, so I’d whisper to my mom and ask her to order for me. But when I was to write words for myself, words with which I could express feelings through which they would suddenly begin to reveal things within me – and it was in a way that there were no consequences. I could be angry, I could be sad, I was allowed to feel what I wanted

Before “Elvis,” you were such a standout as Manson Family member Tex Watson on “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” — I understand working with Quentin Tarantino was a long-term goal of yours?

Completely. I’ve said this before, but I actually printed out the Pulp Fiction script and read it with my mom when we went to auditions or acting class as a kid. My mom was also big on making vision boards and putting the things you wanted out into the universe, and Quentin was always that person I dreamed of working with. When I did ‘The Iceman Cometh’ I got this audition for the movie, but we didn’t know what the part was. Sometimes you can overthink auditions and preparation, but I didn’t have time for that.

What stage did you audition with?

They actually sent me the scene that Timothy Olyphant does in the movie, it’s in the fictional film of the movie. I had no idea what the movie was so I assumed it was a western. They wanted me to shoot both parts, playing the good guy and the bad guy. So I set up the camera and did the scene with myself at a mark on the wall. I sent it and the next day they said, “On Monday you’re flying to Los Angeles to meet with Quentin.” I went and they took my phone and everything and that’s when I found out I was auditioning for Tex Watson.

Quentin came and most auditions last 10 minutes if you’re lucky. I was there from 9am to 9pm He doesn’t tape auditions, he actually works with you and looks at you. He’s the same way on set, he’s not looking at a screen. I was supposed to have two more meetings that day, and because I didn’t have my phone, my agent was worried. But at the end of the day, Quentin told me I had the part and gave me a hug. Then I got back on a plane and did the project the next day.

You’ve worked with some great actors in that movie, but I’m really hooked on Brandy the pitbull, even though Tex meets a horrible end thanks to her. I am a fan of the breed, although they are often misunderstood.

There were actually two different dogs and they were both so beautiful! My first dog, his name was Jake, he was a pit bull with a bit of a lab and he was the best. I’d take a pitbull any day. I love them so much, they are so sweet.

There was so much love for your performance, including from your peers. Have you met someone you really admire during this process?

Oh, too many to mention. And I love talking to them about our art and our roles, really talking. Or just having fun. What comes to mind is meeting Robert Downey Jr on the red carpet at the Governors Awards. He went and told the photographers, “I want to see how Butler does it.” Then I said it was his turn to take some pictures. Then we posed together and I said, “Let’s do our best Blue Steel look.” So we both did our best Blue Steel for the cameras.