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Elvis is attracting a lot of attention at this year’s Academy Awards. With eight nominations, including Austin Butler for Best Actor, it would be a shock for the Baz Luhrmann biopic not to win in at least one category. Butler is one of the favorites to win his particular award, but the performance came at a cost.
It’s hard not to notice that the 31-year-old actor still speaks a little bit like the famous rock ‘n roll singer. That has largely been treated like a harmless curiosity. But Butler felt a genuine, emotional connection to the late singer, and needed help moving forward into new projects.
Austin Butler struggled after spending so much time inhabiting Elvis Presley
Butler went for the full method acting approach to playing Elvis Presley. He made a shrine of photographs and obsessively listened to Presley’s music. He spoke almost exclusively in the singer’s voice, going as far as spending hours walking along a beach practicing Presley’s unique laugh.
It paid off, with a hugely positive critical response and a bevy of nominations. Butler won the Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture at the Golden Globes for his efforts. During his speech, and even while being interviewed on the red carpet, the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actor still had flashes of Presley’s mannerisms.
It endeared him to viewers. But BuzzFeed reports that this was the final stage of moving on from his character. When filming wrapped, Butler became depressed at the idea of separating from his character. He fell ill, and was hospitalized with a viral infection. He was, in a sense, mourning the loss of someone he never truly knew, but came to know intimately through his work.
Tom Hanks offered this advice on mentally separating from demanding projects like ‘Elvis’
Method acting has lately been associated with aimless antics like Jared Leto sending his co-stars a dead pig while playing The Joker in Suicide Squad. Butler is a reminder of the other side of method acting: allowing actors to craft truly transformational performances by immersing themselves in their characters. The results his efforts brought to the screen are obvious, but the toll this approach took on his mind and body was too much.
Thankfully, Butler had veteran actor Tom Hanks among his co-stars — and now counts him among his close friends. The Greyhound star told his younger lead that, from experience, the way to handle mourning the end of one character is to quickly pick up another. Butler took that advice and scheduled a project that would see him making a clean break with Presley as soon as possible.
“So I flew to London and started filming. It was great advice from Tom. Without it, I could have gone into a depression,” Butler said according to The Mirror.
Austin Butler took Hanks’ advice and has major projects lined up
Butler will revisit his time as Presley one more time, at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony. He will have two major projects under his belt well outside of the Elvis story when he says that final goodbye. He took Hanks’ advice and chose work so different that it will likely help him move forward.
First, he’ll reunite with Hanks in Masters of the Air, a miniseries for Apple TV+. The World War 2 fighter pilot drama is the latest spiritual successor to Band of Brothers. Hanks, alongside director Steven Spielberg, is the executive producer of these epic miniseries.
Then, Butler will make his cleanest break from Elvis yet. The Independent reports that he is throwing himself fully into his role as the villainous Feyd Rautha in Dune: Part Two. The character is a pure sociopath, with none of the warmth and charm Presley had. While it might seem like an odd choice for Butler to cope with his depression, it’s certainly a pointed way to take Hanks’ advice.
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