Politixia
Oscar nominated actor Austin Butler went full method actor for his role as Elvis in Baz Luhrmann’s super successful 2022 biopic of the iconic singer.
The 31 year old actor, who recently paid tribute to the late Priscilla Presley, spent three years learning everything about Elvis’ life to step into the shoes of the late king of rock ‘n’ roll and absolutely nailed the star’s signature drawl for the role.
However, fans were shocked when – long after filming wrapped – the star seemed to keep up the new accent.
Austin won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture in January 2023 for the role and despite a very emotional speech, all anyone could talk about was how much he still sounded like his character.
Some fans speculated that Austin made have made the creative decision to accept the award “as Elvis” but others branded the move “cringe” and thought it was too much.
One twitter fan wrote, “I find his new voice insufferable” whist another added that they “can’t believe he’s still using the voice.”
However, Austin’s voice coach was quick to hit back at the fans trolling the star and explained that it’s difficult to just “shut down” something you’ve been working on for so long – especially as so much filming took place during the Coronavirus lockdowns.
Professor Irene Bartlett worked intensively with Austin and not only defended him still having the voice years later, but added that it could “be there forever.”
Austin later addressed the voice controversy on the podcast WTF with Marc Macron where he linked his lingering accent to the social anxiety he used to suffer from.
“I spent three years doing nothing else but trying to understand his mind and sing like him and speak like him,” the 31 year old shared, before adding, “being such a shy kid, having the tools to get on stage as Elvis, I had to learn certain bits of myself.
“So I think habitually certain things are linked to a feeling of being able to go out in front of a ton of people. I think certain things might trigger that feeling of confidence that I had as Elvis.”
Whatever the reason, it looks like Austin, who used to date Disney star Vanessa Hudgens, will be stuck with the drawl for the time being – and clips of Austin’s voice before will continue to go viral as fans reel at the differences.
One TikTok, which features the before and after of Austin’s voice transformation, has attracted more than 50,000 likes.
Some commenters defended the star and put part of the change down to aging, whilst others joked that the “dude really thinks he’s Elvis huh.”
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