The Tragic Truth About Austin Butler
Austin Butler bested several other Elvis Presley hopefuls and earned an Oscar nomination for playing the Graceland god in Baz Luhrmann's biopic. His hard-won casting fight was a reminder of something the "Dune: Part Two" star has in common with the King of Rock 'n' Roll: He wasn't born into royalty and hasn't had his way paved with gold.
Before Butler began winning roles on Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel, he learned to appreciate life's little luxuries. "We didn't have much money, so our version of a fancy meal was an In-N-Out burger," he told Hollywood Authentic. He also didn't seem to have the disposition of an actor back then, telling TheWrap that he was shy and preferred his own company to that of his peers. Butler revealed that he still struggles with social anxiety as an adult. However, when he began pretending to be other people in front of people, he found that he was capable of lowering his walls. "I was very isolated until I found acting, when I started to open up all these bits of myself that I had repressed and wouldn't show to the world," he said.
Like all of his Hollywood colleagues, Butler has experienced career highs and lows. He's also had to grapple with soul-crushing grief and the fallout from pouring himself into a role, heart and soul. His tragic story is a sad reminder that the universe doesn't always listen when we beg it, "Don't be cruel."
He was his mother's caretaker when she had cancer
Austin Butler had a close relationship with his late mother, Lori. Speaking to Esquire, he recalled an occasion when a bully threatened him and his mom advised him to fight back. He trusted her judgment — and won the battle. In addition to dealing with bullies from school, it sounds like Butler had a home life that wasn't always so peachy. The issue was seemingly a stepfather and stepbrother about whom he doesn't like to talk. "I remember having really deep thoughts of my own mortality at a very young age," the actor revealed. "But then moments of feeling very close with my mom. She was a safe space."
Lori drove Butler from Anaheim to Hollywood regularly so that he could pursue his dream of becoming an actor. "I owe my mom every day," he told Backstage. He eventually got the opportunity to repay Lori by helping her out, but it was for a tragic reason: a cancer diagnosis. Butler did what he could to keep his mom comfortable after inviting her to live with him while she underwent treatment. He even learned how to perform some of a nurse's duties, such as providing Lori with the nutrition she needed via a feeding tube. Butler also accompanied her to her hospital visits. During one of The Hollywood Reporter's roundtables, he said that being around the medical professionals helping his mother made him question his career choice.
The death of Austin Butler's mother hit him hard
When Austin Butler's mother died in 2014, the loss turned his world upside down. "The biggest void I've ever felt in my life was losing her," he told Smooth Radio. At one point, he seriously considered giving up his acting career because what he'd witnessed his mom go through made him feel that it wasn't worthwhile. "I started to question if this was a profession that could help the world," he explained to Access.
Butler ultimately decided there was value in his work after thinking about the emotional impact watching movies has had on him. Unfortunately, reaching this realization and going to New Zealand to film the TV series "The Shannara Chronicles" soon after his mother's death did not assuage his overwhelming grief. "I'd go home and cry every night," he told The Hollywood Reporter. While he was no longer ready to quit acting completely, Butler decided to take a long break after the show was canceled. Having all that free time proved to be unhelpful as well. "I started sinking into a deeper and deeper depression," he said.
Butler was also unhappy because he had become regretful about appearing in "The Shannara Chronicles" after determining that it wasn't the type of work he wanted to do. Luckily, after months of misery, an offer to appear in the Broadway play "The Iceman Cometh" was just what he needed to draw him out of that dark place.
He isolated himself and used heartbreak to his advantage
Austin Butler famously changed his voice to sound like Elvis Presley, but this wasn't the only way he demonstrated his dedication to accurately portraying the beloved performer. "During 'Elvis,' I didn't see my family for about three years," he told Janelle Monáe during their conversation for Variety's Actors on Actors series. While immersing himself in all things Elvis ahead of filming, Butler said there was also a months-long stretch where he rarely spoke to anyone. In other words, he had taken the lyrics of "A Little Less Conversation" to heart.
To create the video that helped him nab his "Elvis" role, Butler had to endure a horrific experience. "I dreamed that my mom was alive. But she was dying all over again. And when I woke up, I just felt so totally, horribly heartbroken," he told The New York Times. At the time, Butler was in the process of trying to prove to Baz Luhrmann that he could croon like the King. The nightmare reminded the actor that Presley's mother died when he was 23 years old — the same age Butler was when his mother died. This inspired Butler to sing "Unchained Melody" in a way that would help him better capture the mournful note in Presley's voice, which feels too authentic to fake. "Instead of singing to a romantic partner, I sang it to my mom," he said.
He bonded with Lisa Marie Presley before she died
Austin Butler's Oscar nomination came after Lisa Marie Presley died, making his big career moment bittersweet. His commitment to his craft had paid off by turning Elvis Presley's daughter into a fan. There was always the chance that Butler's portrayal of the singer would upset Elvis' family and deal a devastating blow to his career, so the role was a risky undertaking. However, The New York Times quoted Lisa Marie as saying, "If Austin Butler doesn't win an Academy Award, I'm going to eat my foot."
Butler told TheWrap that he and Lisa Marie met for the first time after she saw the biopic about her dad. The two then had an hours-long conversation in Elvis' room. "We each had our own losses in our lives, voids that we started to fill for each other," he said. When the news broke of Lisa Marie's death in January 2023, he shared a statement with People. "[My] heart is completely shattered," it read. "I am eternally grateful for the time I was lucky enough to be near her bright light."
Butler spoke about the loss of his new friend again after learning he was an Oscar nominee. On "Good Morning America," he recalled how fast he and Lisa Marie had developed a special bond, and he said that he knew she would have been thrilled by his nomination. "While this is such a positive moment, the grief is just so deep," he added.
The mental and physical toll of playing Elvis Presley
Playing Elvis Presley got Austin Butler all shook up in the worst kind of way. "My body just started shutting down the day after I finished 'Elvis," he told GQ. He had the symptoms of appendicitis but was diagnosed with a virus that left him confined to bed for a week with a bloody cough, per Esquire. By then, Butler had put his body and mind under an enormous amount of stress. "I didn't sleep for two years. I would wake up at three or four in the morning every day in terror, and then get to work because I wanted to be incredibly meticulous," he told Screen Daily.
One of Butler's "Elvis" co-stars, Tom Hanks, became concerned about what was going to happen to Butler once filming ended and he was forced to drop his single-minded pursuit of pelvis-swiveling perfection cold-turkey. In an interview with The Times, Butler recalled Hanks telling him, "For your mental health, it would be wise to go straight into something else." Dr. Hanks' prescription just happened to be a miniseries he was producing, "Masters of the Air." Butler got wiped out by his nasty illness right before he was supposed to start shooting but was allowed time to recover — and perhaps he worked on exorcising Presley's ghost from his ailing body. "I had a bit of an existential crisis when I finished [filming 'Elvis'], and real grief," Butler told TheWrap. "I missed him."