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a14 people & arts
Wednesday 22 June 2022
‘Elvis’ and Austin Butler feel the temperature rising

By JAKE COYLE ed and more like Elvis’
AP Film Writer breath so that whenever
On the day of Austin But- he’s with her, he’s relaxed.”
ler’s final screen test for “El- Before “Elvis” began shoot-
vis,” director Baz Luhrmann ing in Memphis, Hanks had
threw everything at him. dinner with Priscilla Presley,
Butler had spent five months who then described her
building up to that moment, ex-husband as “an artist as
workshopping the role with unique as Picasso and as
Luhrmann, doing hair and popular as Charlie Chap-
make-up tests, rehears- lin that really only felt truly
ing the songs. Against the himself and at home when
odds, Butler had emerged he was singing.”While a
as the unlikely favorite to more villainous role repre-
land the role over more es- sents a rare departure for
tablished names like Harry Hanks — who tested posi-
Styles, Miles Teller and Ansel tive for coronavirus during
Elgort. But it wasn’t official the film’s Australia shoot,
yet. And during the screen an indelible early pan-
test, Luhrmann flipped the demic moment — “Elvis” is
script. Some of the scenes also typical for the actor in
Butler had prepped went that it grapples with Ameri-
out the window. In others, can history and exists as a
Luhrmann fed him lines standalone drama. “Elvis”
from behind the camera. will be competing primarily
The one minute of “Suspi- with franchise installments
cious Minds” that Butler This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Austin Butler in a scene from “Elvis.” in theaters this summer.
was to perform in a Presley Associated Press “The concept of franchise
jumpsuit stretched to six. now is so much a part of
“I got home and I really what’s fake in the exag- of songs. But “Elvis” also of- to catch on substantially. the entertainment industrial
thought: ‘I don’t think I got gerated land of the much- fers a more youthful, rebel- All of which meant that complex that for me, I just
that. I felt like my hands imitated Elvis hasn’t always lious portrait of Presley as Butler had a lot riding on his don’t think it’s very fun,”
were tied behind my been easy to discern. “El- a product of Black gospel shoulders. For him, it was es- says Hanks. “Everybody
back,’” Butler said in a re- vis,” which Luhrmann co- music, a hip-shaking sex sential to find ways to make knows that I’ve been doing
cent interview. scripted, doesn’t take a symbol in eyeliner and a Presley more human than this for an awfully long time
A week later in Los Ange- standard biopic view of progressive-minded non- superhuman. One resonant so I think they’re going to
les, the 30-year-old actor’s Presley but tells his story conformist whose closely connection for the actor have just as much faith that
phone rang. Luhrmann was through Presley’s infamous controlled career reflected was learning that Presley’s they’ll get all three acts out
calling from Australia. manager, Col. Tom Parker cultural battles of then and mother died when he was of me, and then they’ll de-
“I look at the phone and (Tom Hanks), a former car- now. Butler’s is an electric 23, the same age Butler cide if it was worth seeing
go, ‘OK, this is the mo- nival barker who guided Elvis, not campy nostalgia was when he lost his mom. or not.”
ment,’” says Butler. “I pick Presley to stardom but ex- act, with more Bowie in him And like Presley, an initially Reviews have been large-
up the phone and he was ploited and manipulated than you might expect. timid performer, Butler grew ly positive for “Elvis,” but
very dramatic and down- him until Presley’s death in “I’m not here to tell the up shy. they’ve been glowing for
cast. He goes, ‘Austin, I just 1977. Parker narrates the world that Elvis is a great “I could then go: ‘When I Butler. (In the film, he sings
wanted to be the first one tale, adding a dimension person. I’ll tell you what he feel afraid and I feel like all some songs while Presley’s
to call you and say ... Are about the nature of show is for me,” says Luhrmann. the pressure’s on me and voice is used in others.) The
you ready to fly, Mr. Pres- business and performance. “Everyone has their Elvis.” I’m terrified of falling on my actor reckons he devoted
ley?’” “Baz in the very first meet- “My job generally is to take face, he felt those things,’” two years of his life to the
When “Elvis” opens in the- ing said, ‘Look, this is a story things that are consid- says Butler. “So then I could film, obsessively research-
aters Friday, it will resurrect about two people. There ered either boring or old- go: ‘It’s OK to feel the fear. ing Presley and gradually
one of the most iconic fig- would have never been fashioned or not relevant It’s how you channel it.’” transforming into him. Butler
ures in American music an Elvis without a Col. Tom and shake off the rust, “Elvis” is most moving in its went through daily routines
in the biggest, most be- Parker, and, in his own and recode them” says second half, in the Vegas wondering how Presley
dazzled film to ever try to mind, there would have Luhrmann, maker of the section of the film, when did them. When the movie
capture the King of Rock never been a Col. Tom modern-day “Romeo + Ju- Presley was often reach- wrapped, Butler struggled
‘n’ Roll. And it will propel Parker without Elvis,” says liet.” “Not to change them, ing artistic highs on stage to let go.
Butler, an Orange County, Hanks. “As soon as he said just to retranslate them so during his 1969-1976 run at “Suddenly it was me brush-
Calif., native best known that, I thought, ‘Well, this is their value is once again the International Hotel but ing my teeth, now it’s me
to this point for playing Tex going to be new turf, and present.” was increasingly trapped doing these mundane
Watson in Quentin Taran- worthy of the Baz-maximal- Presley’s value to contem- by Parker (who refused to things. It was a real existen-
tino’s “Once Upon a Time ist-confetti-strewn style of porary audiences, while still tour Presley internationally) tial crisis when I finished,”
... in Hollywood,” onto a far moviemaking.’” beyond most of his con- and drug use. Priscilla Pre- says Butler. “The next morn-
bigger stage. And, like “The Great Gats- temporaries, has faded sley, who has enthusiasti- ing, I woke up and I couldn’t
“It all feels sort of like this by” and “Moulin Rouge,” somewhat. To many, he cally supported the film, is walk. I thought my appen-
wonderful dream,” Butler “Elvis” is indeed an ex- represents the appropria- played by Olivia DeJonge. dix burst. It was the most ex-
said the morning after the travagant, maximalist Baz- tion of Black music. Some “A lot of the characters in cruciating pain in my stom-
film’s Cannes Film Festival styled blow-out. As you’d relatively recent produc- this film are larger-than-life, ach, so they took me to the
premiere. “I have to take expect, it breezes through tions — the 2005 Broadway and authentically larger emergency room. It’s wild
moments to take a deep pivotal moments in the musical “All Shook Up,” than life,” says DeJonge. how your body can kind of
breath and say, ‘This is Mississippi-born Memphis Cirque du Soleil’s Viva Elvis “With Priscilla, I wanted to hold on for the duration of
real life.’” What’s real and singer’s life and a jukebox show in Las Vegas — failed make sure she felt ground- doing something.”q