Final 12 months, Austin Butler dominated the headlines for his efficiency as Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s biopic Elvis.
The actor made no secret of the grueling work that he’d put into the function, which was eerily predicted by his former girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens months earlier than he was forged.
Austin revealed that he’d been advised previously that he bears a resemblance to the music icon, however when Vanessa advised him that he needed to play Elvis sometime, he figured that it was “an extended shot.”
So when Austin’s agent advised him that Baz was making an Elvis film a month later, Austin instantly employed motion, singing, and dialect coaches to arrange for his audition.
After a rigorous five-month audition course of, Austin flew to Australia for filming just for manufacturing to be shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The star refused the invitation to be flown again to Los Angeles, and as an alternative spent the following six months alone within the international nation, absolutely immersing himself in all issues Elvis.
Actually, Austin advised GQ that he turned his condo into what was successfully a “detective scene” as he totally researched each side of the singer’s life.
By the point that filming lastly ended, a lot later than scheduled on account of the pandemic, Austin mentioned that he’d misplaced contact of his personal identification having spent so lengthy dedicating himself to doing the function of Elvis justice.
However filming didn’t simply take a psychological toll on Austin, and the day after manufacturing ended he was rushed to hospital as a result of his physique had begun “shutting down,” leaving him bedridden for per week.
Quick-forward to 2023, and there may be one other Elvis within the constructing, with Euphoria star Jacob Elordi taking part in the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll in A24’s upcoming Priscilla.
Because the title of the film suggests, Priscilla is concentrated on Elvis’s spouse, Priscilla Presley, performed by Cailee Spaeny. Priscilla met Elvis when she was simply 14 years previous and he was 24, and so they received married seven years later earlier than divorcing in 1972.
The film, directed by Sofia Coppola, relies on Priscilla’s 1985 memoir Elvis and Me, and with regards to prepping for the function, it’s honest to say that Jacob’s course of couldn’t have been extra completely different to Austin’s.
Actually, throughout an look on Monday’s the Tonight Present, 26-year-old Jacob admitted that all the pieces he knew about Elvis previous to being forged was from the 2002 Disney movie Lilo and Sew.
And, highlighting the distinction between him and Austin proper off the bat, Jacob kickstarted the interview by saying: “[Elvis] wasn’t on my checklist of individuals to play.”
Jimmy Fallon then requested if Jacob had been an Elvis fan rising up, to which the actor bluntly replied: “No, probably the most I knew of Elvis was in Lilo and Sew.” As Jimmy and the viewers expressed their shock, Jacob then insisted: “Which is rather a lot!”
The Australian star additionally had a fairly informal strategy to the audition course of, explaining that he watched one clip of Elvis, briefly appeared over the strains, after which shot a self-tape to submit in simply two takes.
“I watched this clip of him when he got here again from the military in Germany,” Jacob started. “I learn the strains for, like, quarter-hour then shot two takes, not considering that it might go anyplace.”
And, after being forged, fairly than prioritizing embodying the real-life Elvis by his efficiency, Jacob had completely different plans.
“The entire time I used to be making an attempt to take it like I used to be making Blue Valentine or one thing,” he mentioned, referencing the 2010 film that chronicles a pair’s love story. “A straight-up relationship drama, with out Elvis or Priscilla, for Sofia Coppola. That was the purpose.”
Responding to this interview, many couldn’t assist however evaluate Jacob’s strategy to taking part in Elvis to Austin’s, with one particular person writing on a Reddit discussion board: “On one hand we’ve Austin Butler staying in Elvis character for an unreasonably very long time, and on the opposite we’ve this.”
One other joked: “Austin Butler simply fell to his knees at Walmart.” Another person mused: “I see he’s doing the reverse Austin Butler Oscars strategy.”
Whereas one other consumer highlighted the important thing cause for the completely different strategies, declaring that Austin’s film was extra closely centered on Elvis as a performer and thus required much more analysis. In addition they identified that, due to the pandemic, Austin ended up caught within the function for for much longer than Jacob.
“That’s evaluating apples and oranges,” they started. “These are 2 very completely different performances for drastically completely different filmmakers. One was a product of pandemic delay and required singing and dancing, one other required extra critical strategy. Jacob didn’t have to remain as Elvis for 3 years due to Covid, he solely needed to do it for barely longer than 30 days.”
In the meantime, whereas many older followers had been left shocked by Jacob’s remark about Lilo and Sew, his early publicity to Elvis seems to be widespread amongst Gen Z.
Gen Z refers to anybody born from 1997 by 2012, with Jacob a Gen Z elder having been born in ’97.
“As one other 97 child, I relate. He’s truly very actual for this! Additionally Lilo and Sew is peak cinema to me🤌🏾,” one particular person commented.
“Actually identical. We had been born in the identical 12 months in order that tracks for us 97ers,” one other agreed. Another wrote: “I’m not conversant in this man, however I’m conversant in studying about Elvis from Lilo.”
“He’s my age and truthfully…. Lilo & Sew and Full Home actually formed my Elvis data,” another person added.
And whereas it could be onerous to consider, Elvis truly is a core a part of the 21-year-old Disney film, with the corporate formally collaborating with Elvis’s property throughout manufacturing.
The idea is claimed to have served two completely different functions; the primary was to focus on how the film’s protagonist Lilo is completely different to different women her age due to her curiosity in older music, like Elvis. The opposite was as a result of the film is about in Hawaii, the place lots of Elvis’s most iconic movies had been primarily based.
At least 5 Elvis songs characteristic within the 75-minute film, and Elvis’s picture is even used when Lilo holds up a poster of the singer to show Sew, an alien, methods to be a “mannequin citizen.”
In a key montage within the movie, Lilo tells Sew: “Elvis Presley was a mannequin citizen, I’ve compiled an inventory of his traits so that you can observe. Primary is dancing.”
The 2 characters then dance in a stereotypical “Elvis” vogue, with Lilo then saying: “Let’s transfer onto step two; Elvis performed guitar.”
She then offers Sew a guitar and teaches him methods to play, with the scene ending with Sew wearing a reproduction of Elvis’s iconic white jumpsuit and carrying the star’s signature black quiff whereas taking part in guitar and dancing.
Elvis’s property ended up being so concerned within the film that the evening earlier than its premiere, Graceland hosted a luau celebration in celebration of its launch.
