‘I went to boot camp right away’: How Austin Butler followed Elvis and the Airbenders

Airbender star Austin Butler is one of Hollywood’s rising stars. After appearing in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part II and Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders, the actor exploded with Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis.

To become an airbender for a week

And the 32-year-old talent only had a week to prepare between filming Elvis and the start of production on Masters of the Air! A difficult challenge, especially since he plays one of the main characters, Major Gale Kleven, a role he got thanks to Tom Hanks, his partner in Elvis.

Austin Butler explained that moving so quickly “Air Masters” allowed Elvis, for whom he had undergone intense preparation, to go back and forth.

“I immediately went to training camp”he explained The whole movie, “I went from being a character on stage in overalls to a guy in a group of 50 in fatigues. It was really humbling, and there’s something about the sameness that I think started to purify itself.”

“Elvis left the building”

This all-too-brief transition allowed Austin Butler to more easily adapt to his new character as an air pilot and collaborate with Calum Turner, his co-star who plays Major John Egan, his best friend.

The two actors loved working together and managed to transfer their wonderful chemistry to the screen, as evidenced in our interview:

And Calum Turner was well aware of the difficult process of leaving Austin Butler’s Elvis skin and the short time it took to do it, especially since he fell ill after filming the Baz Luhrmann film.

The British actor explained The Hollywood Reporter That she then texted him, but Austin Butler didn’t reply until later: “Sorry, I didn’t answer, I was in the hospital”. And Calum Turner replied: “Elvis left the building”.

This answer is a reference to the saying used by the public announcers at the end of Elvis Presley’s concerts to distract the audience who were left hoping for an encore. This phrase became a slogan and punchline.

But according to Calum Turner, the phrase was also a way of telling Austin Butler that Elvis had “left the body” And that he will be able to continue in his next role:

“It was like he needed a medical procedure to get Elvis out of his body. But we bonded right away. We play best friends on the show and it’s so easy to be Austin’s best friend.”

The first four episodes of Masters of the Air are available on Apple TV+, the platform and through myCANAL.

Find all the series available on Apple TV+.