While preparing to play Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s movie Elvis, he underwent an intense process to master the role by learning to dance like Elvis, play guitar like Elvis, and, of course, speak like Elvis.
And after years of preparation, filming, and doing press for the movie, Austin has been teased relentlessly about the “Elvis accent” that just won’t seem to go away.
Austin is now starring in the Apple TV+ series Masters of the Air, where he plays an Air Force pilot who fought during World War II. So, it’s safe to say he probably doesn’t need an Elvis accent for this project.
In an interview with Stephen Colbert, Austin revealed that he started working on Masters of the Air just a week after wrapping Elvis and it was hard shaking off the persona.
“It was almost too fast,” Austin said after explaining how quick the jump was to working on a new project after immersing himself in Elvis for three years total.
Austin explained that coming out of the movie was tough for various reasons, one of them being he was “just trying to remember who [he] was.” He added, “I was trying to remember what I liked to do, all I thought about was Elvis for three years.”
He added that he even needed to work with a dialect coach and said, “I had a dialect coach just to help me not sound like Elvis.”
And because of COVID-19 restrictions, he took that short time in between projects to study for his new series, “And then I flew to London, and at that time it was COVID, so I was quarantined for 10 days. I thought, ‘Alright, just pour all this energy into learning about World War II,’” he said.
If there’s one thing about Austin Butler, it’s that he *will* commit to the role.
Watch his full interview here.
And stream Masters of the Air when it debuts on Apple TV+ on Jan. 26.
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