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Jun 23, 2022 · Butler's voice is part of what landed him the role. In his audition tape, Butler sang Presley's "Unchained Melody" — while wearing a bathrobe, per Rolling Stone.
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- Elena Nicolaou
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Jun 21, 2022 · Austin Butler pressed himself so hard to play the part that 'Elvis' director Baz Luhrmann wondered if the young actor’s audition captured a breakdown. by Jason Rossi Published on June 21, 2022
- Jason Rossi
- Senior Writer
Jun 11, 2022 · In order to seal the deal, the actor sent Luhrmann an audition tape that featured him singing a broken down version of Unchained Melody. The director shared in a previous...
- News Writer
- Encouragement from Vanessa Hudgens
- A Wide Casting Net
- The Bathrobe Audition Tape
- Denzel Washington’s Recommendation
- Five-month Audition Process
Before Butler even knew an Elvis movie was in the works, his then-girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens insisted that he would be the perfect actor to play Presley, according to CNN. The two were out looking at holiday lights one night when one of Presley’s Christmas songs came on the radio, prompting Hudgens to remark, “You’ve got to play Elvis!” Butler had ...
Luhrmann launched a worldwide search for a lead actor, holding casting calls in the United States, Canada, England, Australia, and New Zealand, according to Variety. Butler prepared a video recording of himself singing “Love Me Tender” but was dissatisfied with the results. “I watched it back, and I just saw all the external things,” Butler told Go...
Butler did eventually submit an audition video and continued researching Presley. He was startled to learn Presley’s mother died when he was 23, the same age Butler was when he lost his own mother. One night, Butler woke up at 2 a.m. after a horrible nightmare about his mother dying again, he told Gold Derby. “I just had all this pain inside, and I...
Although they had already submitted an earlier audition tape, Butler’s agent watched the new video and insisted they had to send it in. Luhrmann ended up watching it, and it made a strong impression: “He was in a flood of tears, and it was emotional to look at. I was just moved by it. So I said, ‘I must see him.’” Around this time, Luhrmann also go...
Butler flew to New York City to meet Luhrmann, and the two talked for three hours. That conversation was the start of five months of collaborative meetingsin which the two discussed the film and how to approach bringing Elvis Presley to life. Even after all that, Butler still had to perform a screen test so that Luhrmann could sell the studio on ca...
- colin.mcevoy@hearst.com
- Senior News Editor, Biography.Com
Mar 1, 2023 · Butler recorded an audition tape of himself at the piano, dressed in his bathrobe and singing "Unchained Melody," which both intrigued and impressed the director. (Unbeknownst to the actor, Denzel Washington , with whom he'd starred on Broadway in The Iceman Cometh , also cold-called Luhrmann to recommend Butler.)
Jun 22, 2022 · There's the home video he sent Luhrmann of him singing “Unchained Melody,” which he says he sang, in the audition clip, with his mother in mind. Like Elvis, Butler lost the woman he calls...
