Vanessa Hudgens Pokes Fun At Austin Butler's 'Genuine' 'Elvis' Accent

Vanessa Hudgens has weighed in on fans' claims that her former boyfriend, Austin Butler, still has an Elvis Presley accent.

The actor took on the role of the music icon in the biographical film "Elvis," which wrapped up filming in March 2021.

A fan's joke about Butler's accent spurred Hudgens to react in the post's comment section. Butler has since landed multiple award nominations for the role, including a Golden Globe win earlier in the month. He recently revealed that a friend inspired him to audition for the part.

Read on to learn more.

Hudgens recently shared her opinion on her ex-boyfriend Butler still yet to step out of his Presley character in the Baz Luhrmann-directed movie "Elvis."

Filming wrapped up on the movie in March 2021, but many individuals have pointed out that the 31-year-old is still speaking in the rock 'n' roll icon's accent.

One Instagram user, in particular, made a comment, joking that Butler attended "the Lady Gaga school of Oscar campaign acting." The statement referenced the pop icon method approach to acting for her Patrizia Gucci character in "House of Gucci," which landed her an Oscar nod.

Hudgens appeared in the comment section, penning the word "Crying," seemingly siding with the fan's opinion about Butler.

The pair had dated for years but officially split in January 2020. Butler has since dated Kaia Gerber, while Hudgens moved on with MLB athlete Cole Tucker.

Despite many individuals feeling that Butler is yet to lose his Presley accent, the actor has shared that he thinks that's not the case but chooses to go along with it.

"I don't think I sound like him still, but I guess I must because I hear it a lot," Butler told the press earlier in the month, per US Weekly. "I had three years where that was my only focus. So, I'm sure there's pieces of him in my DNA, and I'll always be linked."

According to Irene Bartlett, who worked with the actor as his vocal coach, Butler had a lot of free time during the COVID shutdowns, which provided him more time to get immersed in the role.

She told ABC's Gold Coast, per US Weekly, "Because of COVID shutdowns, he was working on it all the time, and it's difficult to switch off something you've spent so much focus [and] time on."

All that hard work from Butler rightly paid off as he received critical acclaim for playing Presley in the biographical flick.

The actor amassed a slew of award nominations following the film's debut in June 2022. He most recently took home the Best Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama award at the 2023 Golden Globes held earlier in the month.

Butler remains in contention for a Screen Guilds Actor award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role and British Academy Film Awards' Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Both ceremonies will hold on February 26 and 19, respectively, with "Elvis" also being hyped to sweep multiple awards in other categories.

In the wake of his recent success, Butler has opened up about being inspired to audition for the role by a friend.

"The month before I heard that Baz was making the movie, I was going to look at Christmas lights with a friend, and there was an Elvis Christmas song on the radio, and I was singing along, and my friend looked over at me and goes, 'You've got to play Elvis,'" he said in a roundtable discussion per US Weekly.

At the time, the former Nickelodeon star felt that casting his lots would be "a long shot." However, in a different encounter with the friend, she again advised him to shoot his shot, and as they say, the rest is history.

Although Butler chose to remain anonymous about the name of the friends, fans believe he was referring to Hudgens. The "Princess Switch" star once shared a similar story during her 2019 appearance on an episode of "Live With Kelly and Ryan."