Ever since he portrayed The King in his Golden Globe-winning and Oscar-nominated performance in Elvis, Austin Butler is being snarked on online for not dropping his “Elvis Presley voice” after the film.
However, on Friday’s episode of BBC One’s The Graham Norton Show, the actor explained there’s a medical reason for it. “I am getting rid of the accent, but I have probably damaged my vocal cords with all that singing. One song took 40 takes,” he said.
He called the attention and accolades for his performance in Baz Luhrmann‘s film a whirlwind: “Because when you are making a film you never really know how it will be received. With this one there were so many ways it could go wrong, so to be received in the way it has means the world to me.”
What was also key, Butler explained, was his co-star Tom Hanks, who played Elvis’ scheming manager Col. Tom Parker.
“I had no idea what it was going to be like meeting someone you have admired for so long,” the actor said. “You hope they would be warm to you, but you never really know.”
He added, “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.”
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