‘Elvis’: This is how Austin Butler won the role beating Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort and Harry Styles among others

While ‘Elvis’ continues to amaze audiences and make box office (it has grossed more than 155 million dollars worldwide), its protagonist, actor Austin Butler, is collecting rave reviews and his name sounds for the next Oscar awards for his portrayal of the King.

Casting director Denise Chamian first discovered Butler’s talent in 2013. when I was casting for the Wes Ball movie, ‘Maze Runner.’ Butler didn’t get the part because he was too young, but he kept his name.

The actor, in addition, could have played another role in another of the great releases of 2022: we are talking about Rooster, the role of Goose’s son in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, a role that Chamian also chose, and that Butler returned to lose to Miles Teller. However, things changed when the casting manager presented Butler as Elvis in the film that Baz Luhrmann was preparing. While the ‘Moulin Rouge’ director had his own ideas for the film’s star, including Teller himself or, as it’s been known, singer Harry Styles, Butler finally proved he had what it takes, and the rest is history. .

Chamian herself has spoken about the casting process and explains why Butler was more than suited for the role of the King. About her first contact with him, in the movie ‘The Maze Runner’. “This happens a lot with casting directors, you meet someone when they’re too young“, he recognized. Later, other tests came for great premieres.

“The closest he got was ‘Top Gun: Maverick.’ We were looking for the role that Miles Teller ultimately played. I felt so passionate about Austin. Finally, his audition was shown to Tom and everyone in charge of the film. They agreed.” that he had something and they were happy to see him, but they thought he was too young. At that moment, I saw that this actor has something very special that other people don’t always have. It’s almost the way he looks at the camera. You know the camera and lets the camera see him, and that’s really what makes him so captivating.

To the question of how they glimpsed Elvis in him, he answers:

“He reached a certain level of maturity auditioning for ‘Top Gun: Maverick.’ When I started auditioning for ‘Elvis,’ Baz wanted to do an international search, and so we did. We toured the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. We even went to London. We did online open casting calls and even saw Elvis impersonators, but from the beginning, there was something about Austin for me that reminded me a little bit of Elvis.”

I knew I could sing, but I didn’t know what made it so good. His agent told me that. When I sat down with Baz, he knew that he had some actors in mind that he wanted to evaluate. He had Ansel Elgort and Miles Teller. There was a group of hopefuls that he was circling, among whom Harry Styles was later added. The boy was quite unknown among that group of boys, but the casting manager was very clear about it.

“When we got to Austin, I said, ‘This is your Elvis,’ and Baz just looked at me. That’s a pretty big statement to make without further ado. A short time later, I had Austin make a tape and that started the process of Baz meeting him, doing one more audition in New York and we auditioned him along with other actors.“.

Chamian goes on to explain in the interview for Variety that Butler made his own recording of ‘Unchained Melody’, a test in which the young actor was at the piano. For the test he had in mind his mother, who had passed away a few years ago, so there was a feeling of melancholy. A test that led to the next test, but without a doubt, she was impressed by Butler’s performance.

The boy played Tex Watson in the movie ‘Once upon a time in… Hollywood’, directed by Quentin Tarantino, a role that Chamian recognizes as memorable. “You are reminded. You just have to say he’s ‘the guy who played Tex Watson’ and everyone knows who you’re talking about. People like that don’t come around very often. Casting directors are particularly attuned because we see so many actors at once for a role. You know when someone walks into a room, which sets them apart from the rest of the people who have read the role“.

Butler is therefore expected to have a great future in the cinema, as he has worked on this film: “Work tirelessly to do something right. At the end of the movie, she left it all on the screen. I thought it was just amazing“.