Austin Butler Never Broke Character While Filming Elvis

Elvis, a music biography directed by Baz Luhrmann, was released in theatres by late June and was an immediate box office success. Austin Butler’s performance in a lead role garnered widespread acclaim from both critics and fans alike. Luhrmann gave an insight into how Butler was able to pull off such a fantastic portrayal of the music great.

Luhrmann spoke with New York Post and talked about why the film was a massive success. The Oscar-nominated director revealed, Butler never broke his character while filming. He was devoted to his craft 7 days a week for almost two years.

Austin never broke character. He was in character 24/7, 7 days a week for two years. I never heard him actually speak as Austin Butler until about three weeks ago. He’s finally shed the shell. He was so devoted to melding his spirit with Elvis’s.

Luhrmann also talked about how he learned the ability to “sell well.” Which he described as one of the two important factors responsible for the movie’s success. He said that movie’s main focus was “all about the sell.”

There are two great American gestures, I think. The two that really fascinate me are the ‘big sell’ – the ability to sell well, and the other is the gesture of the new. Particularly 50s, 60s, 70s – the ‘new.’ Elvis represents the new. He happened to be in one of the few White Houses during his life, and in the Black community and absorbing the Black community and mixing it with country. Colonel is the big sell, an evil genius. I had cracked the colonel thing about five years ago and I was just feeling that one of them is getting wildly out of balance with the other in our own culture

Adapting the music legend’s style took a massive toll on Butler. After the film had wrapped its shooting, the actor was hospitalized and was bedridden for a week. The film grossed $286 million worldwide against its $85 million budget making it the second-highest-grossing music biopic of all time.

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