Austin Butler hasn’t straight thanked his ex-girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens for inspiring him to play the precocious King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley. But he’s been wide that she influenced the career-making determination that led him to prima successful Baz Luhrmann‘s epic biopic Elvis. “I was with my spouse astatine the clip [she inspired me]” helium told the Los Angeles Times, per Us Weekly, aft being nominated for an Oscar successful January 2023. “We’d been unneurotic for truthful agelong and she had this benignant of clairvoyant infinitesimal and truthful I truly — I beryllium her a batch for believing successful me.”
The incidental Austin referred to has been mentioned before — by some Austin, 31, and Vanessa, 34. During a January roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter, he related however it each came about. “The period earlier I heard that Baz was making the movie, I was going to look astatine Christmas lights with a friend, and determination was an Elvis Christmas opus connected the vigor and I was singing along, and my person looked implicit astatine maine and goes, ‘You’ve got to play Elvis.’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s specified a agelong shot.'”
“A mates of weeks later, I was playing the piano,” helium continued. “I ne'er truly sang for immoderate of my friends oregon anything. That aforesaid person was determination and I was playing the piano. She said, ‘I’m serious. You gotta fig retired however you tin get the rights to a script.’ Then my cause called and said, ‘So Baz Luhrmann is making an Elvis film.’”
Vanessa corroborated the communicative connected a 2019 quality on Live with Kelly and Ryan. It would beryllium to beryllium conscionable months earlier their breakup successful aboriginal 2020. “Last December, we were driving on and we were listening to Christmas music, and past an Elvis Presley Christmas opus came on,” she told the hosts. “He had conscionable dyed his hairsbreadth dark. He’s a earthy blond, and I was looking astatine him and helium was singing on and I was like, ‘Babe, you request to play Elvis.’”
Wise of Austin to instrumentality the advice. He has since received an avalanche of captious acclaim for the role, astir precocious winning the Golden Globe for Best Actor In A Motion Picture (Drama) on January 10. Poignantly, Elvis’s daughter, the precocious Lisa Marie Presley and her mother, Priscilla Presley, were successful attendance and visibly touched by Austin’s win.
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