The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- Sarah Marshal
Austin Butler says he was saved from “emotional whiplash” by his Elvis co-star Tom Hanks.
The actor earned an Oscar nomination for his performance as Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 biopic.
For the role, Butler embodied the “Jailhouse Rock” and “Suspicious Minds” musician for two whole years, changing his voice and regularly performing as the singer.
In fact, he disappeared so far into the role that Hanks was left concerned about his well-being once the project came to an end.
To help distract him from what Hanks was sure would be a challenging detachment from the all-encompassing experience, Hanks offered him a role in forthcoming TV show Masters of the Air, which he has co-produced with Steven Spielberg.
Butler told in a new interview that Hanks said at dinner one evening: “You have immersed yourself so deeply in Elvis that, for your mental health, it would be wise to go straight into something else. If you just jump off the train, you might have emotional whiplash. And, you know, I’ve got this thing I’m producing.”
The actor agreed, and will appear in the Apple TV+ series when it’s released later this year. He co-stars in the show, which is Hanks and Spielberg’s latest Second World War seres after Band of Brothers and The Pacific, with Barry Keoghan, Callum Turner and Ben Radcliffe.
Butler will also be seen in Dune: Part Two, in which he looks unrecognisable playing the fearsome Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen. The film is set to be released in November.
Elsewhere in the interview, Butler, who started out on Disney Channel projects, hit the big time after scoring a Broadway role in The Iceman Cometh alongside Denzel Washington.
Reflecting on the experience, Butler said: “That really shifted my career. It was such a challenge, working with an absolute titan.”
Butler also had a role in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
