Since Austin Butler‘s star turn as Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann‘s “Elvis” last year, the actor has struggled to shake the singer’s iconic accent. But EW reports that on Friday’s episode of BBC One‘s “Graham Norton Show,” Butler confirmed he’s finally leaving it behind.
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“I am getting rid of the accent,” Butler confirmed to Norton, “but I have probably damaged my vocal cords with all that singing.” Butler described how taxing his time acting as Elvis was: “one song took 40 takes.” Butler’s turn as Presley drew major critical acclaim last year, and some recent awards buzz, too. Luhrmann’s biopic recently received Best Picture nom for this year’s Oscars in January, and Butler got one for Best Actor. But nearly three years after Butler began shooting “Elvis,” he still retained the singer’s deep baritone voice.
That’s probably due to Butler’s extensive research to prep for the role. “I’d hear him say a certain word and I would clip just that bit out so I knew how he said that word,” the actor told EW in an interview last year. “I created my own archive of how he said every word and every diphthong, and the way that he used musicality in his voice.” But Butler didn’t expect he’d still sound like Presley years after filming ended. Butler’s sonorous, Elvis-like lilt has been the butt of a lot of playful jokes since the film’s release, including his recent hosting gig on “Saturday Night Live.”
Butler wasn’t the only “Elvis” star to have an accent in the film. Tom Hanks also had to recreate the voice of Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker; only he didn’t have all the audio like Butler did to rifle through. Butler loved working on the film with Hanks. “I had no idea what it was going to be like meeting someone you have admired for so long,” Butler told Norton of his co-star. “You hope they would be warm to you, but you never really know. 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. When I said I was terrified, he said, ‘And, nobody knows what Colonel Parker sounds like, but everyone knows what Elvis sounds like!'”
But now Butler moves onto new movie roles, like his turn as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in the upcoming “Dune: Part Two,” out this November. Butler’s “Dune” co-star Dave Bautista recently said Butler is “terrifying” as Paul Atreide’s nemesis, a much different character than Elvis Presley. One surmises the Feyd-Rautha role helped Butler finally shake his Elvis accent for good.