In an interview with VMAN, Austin Butler shed his Elvis Presley persona and got candid about the filming experience. He specifically reflected on his first visit to the RCA Studio B in Nashville, where the King recorded many of his songs. Butler had been told by producers that the visit was meant to be very casual and fun, but Butler was quickly met with a different experience: “We got down there and it was not that at all.”
According to his recount of the day, all the executives from RCA were gathered to watch Butler perform. “‘I want you all to sit facing Austin,'” he recalled Baz Luhrmann saying. “And he told them to heckle me. So then they were making fun of me and stuff while I was singing.” The treatment seems cruel, and Butler even admitted that he cried following the experience. However, he ultimately saw it as helpful.
“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,” he explained. Apparently, this technique is not unusual for the esteemed directly. Butler shared that Leonardo DiCaprio, who starred in Luhrmann’s take on “Romeo + Juliet,” warned the actor: “Baz is gonna push you in ways you didn’t know somebody could.” Apparently, the grueling work paid off. Elvis’ daughter Lisa Marie Presley has come forward as a fan of the film, calling for Butler to get an Oscar.
Nicki
