Austin Butler Was Brought To Tears By 'Elvis' Director Baz Luhrmann

While fans are pumped about the new musical drama "Elvis," which premiered a month ago, the movie star Austin Butler had a lot to say about how renowned director Baz Luhrmann made him feel behind the scenes.

The 30-year-old actor recently told VMANmagazine how Luhrmann and other film executives made fun of him and made him cry before going on set. This was during their first meeting at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee.

While this sounded mean to fans, Butler assured them that the process was necessary for him to get "as close to performing as possible."

Keep reading to find out more.

Butler gave details of how Luhrmann and his executives mocked him. He said the director invited his execs "into the recording studio and he goes, 'I want you all to sit facing Austin,'…and he told them to heckle me. So then they were making fun of me and stuff while I was singing."

When asked how he felt, he justified the director's choice, explaining that this was simply one of his weird methods when he was faced with a blockbuster film. He also assured fans that he didn't mean any personal harm to him.

He narrated that the character, Elvis, was also getting ridiculed on stage, so he needed to feel what Elvis felt. "When we were filming this moment, when Elvis first goes on stage and he's getting heckled by the audience, I knew what that felt like," he said. He was ridiculed so much that he cried. "I went home in tears that night. I really did."

However, he felt a personal connection to the character after the whole process, and for this, he was grateful. He also revealed that he basically put his "life on pause for two years" while filming Luhrman's "Elvis."

On the day of filming, Butler felt the opposite of what he was told it would feel like. The "Elvis" team told him that the recording session would be "laid back" and "playful." To his surprise, he was very nervous.

He explained that they recorded using the actual equipment used by the iconic late music star Elvis Presley himself. "I was so nervous, and we were recording on actual equipment that Elvis recorded 'Heartbreak Hotel' on," he said to the magazine.

The actor explained: "We got down there and it was not that at all. We were recording old school, where all the musicians—and these are the best musicians in the world; our guitar player had actually played guitar with Scotty Moore, who was Elvis's guitar player—we were recording the entire song."

He also revealed that popular actor and friend Leonardo Dicaprio who previously worked with Luhrmann, warned him about his "unusual" ways. He explained that the director would "push you in ways you didn't know somebody could."

While he was grateful for DiCaprio's advice, he was already familiar with Luhrmann's methods as they had already worked together for up to five months. Butler also revealed on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" last month that the 59-year-old "changed everything" he prepared for his audition without giving him a heads up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=XmmtCRKEec4

"He started filming while I [was] learning everything," he told the singer. "He put me through the wringer. I realize now he likes to be very spontaneous on set, so he wanted to see if I would lose my mind."

While Butler assured that he wasn't upset by Luhrmann's unpredictable ways, he almost lost his mind by being alone in Australia for almost six months during the pandemic. He also decreased the screen test process as "unlike any audition" he had ever done.

The actor chose to stay in Australia in 2020 while the crew went back home to the US. when asked why he explained that flying back would have made him "lose momentum." This made fans believe that the "Zoey 101" actor was dedicated to his role as the rock star and was determined to ace the performance.

He also revealed that he "didn't have a hug for three months at one point." To get familiar with the late star, he also "wallpapered the entire apartment with images and a timeline of Elvis's life."

He was also proud of himself for the sacrifice he made for his role in the film. He told the magazine, "I'm extremely grateful I had the film and the, for lack of a better word, obsession with Elvis to occupy my days. It gave me the feeling that there was a reason to get up every morning."