Since Austin Butler‘s star turn as Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann‘s “Elvis” last year, the actor has struggled to shake the singer’s iconic accent. But EW experiences that on Friday’s episode of BBC One‘s “Graham Norton Show,” Butler confirmed he’s lastly leaving it behind.
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“I am getting rid of the accent,” Butler confirmed to Norton, “but I have probably damaged my vocal cords with all that singing.” Butler described how taxing his time performing as Elvis was: “one song took 40 takes.” Butler’s flip as Presley drew main important acclaim final yr, and a few latest awards buzz, too. Luhrmann’s biopic not too long ago obtained Best Picture nom for this yr’s Oscars in January, and Butler bought one for Best Actor. But almost three years after Butler started taking pictures “Elvis,” he nonetheless retained the singer’s deep baritone voice.
That’s in all probability on account of Butler’s intensive analysis to prep for the position. “I’d hear him say a certain word and I would clip just that bit out so I knew how he said that word,” the actor instructed EW in an interview final yr. “I created my own archive of how he said every word and every diphthong, and the way that he used musicality in his voice.” But Butler didn’t count on he’d nonetheless sound like Presley years after filming ended. Butler’s sonorous, Elvis-like lilt has been the butt of plenty of playful jokes because the movie’s launch, together with his latest internet hosting gig on “Saturday Night Live.”
Butler wasn’t the one “Elvis” star to have an accent within the movie. Tom Hanks additionally needed to recreate the voice of Presley’s supervisor, Colonel Tom Parker; solely he didn’t have all of the audio like Butler did to rifle by way of. Butler cherished engaged on the movie with Hanks. “I had no idea what it was going to be like meeting someone you have admired for so long,” Butler instructed Norton of his co-star. “You hope they would be warm to you, but you never really know. He is such a master of his craft, and I was intimidated, but the first time I met him, he gave me the biggest bear hug and joked about how nervous he was. When I said I was terrified, he said, ‘And, nobody knows what Colonel Parker sounds like, but everyone knows what Elvis sounds like!’”
But now Butler strikes onto new film roles, like his flip as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen within the upcoming “Dune: Part Two,” out this November. Butler’s “Dune” co-star Dave Bautista not too long ago mentioned Butler is “terrifying” as Paul Atreide’s nemesis, a a lot totally different character than Elvis Presley. One surmises the Feyd-Rautha position helped Butler lastly shake his Elvis accent for good.