Austin Butler “destroyed” his vocal cords filming ‘Elvis’
The star of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, Austin Butler, has said that he “probably damaged” his vocal cords while filming the biopic. The Oscar-nominated actor starred as Elvis Presley in the picture alongside Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, Richard Roxburgh and Helen Thomson.
During a conversation on the Graham Norton Show, Butler discussed weening himself of the Elvis accent and the impact of performing so many musical numbers. “From all the singing,” he said, “I think I have probably destroyed my voice a bit, you know, my vocal cords. It’s a lot raspier now.”
Austin Butler won the Best Actor award at this year’s Golden Globes for his performance. “I don’t think I sound like him still, but I guess I must because I hear it a lot,” the actor said in a backstage interview. “I often liken it to when somebody lives in another country for a long time and I had three years where that was my only focus in life, so I’m sure there’s just pieces of my DNA that will always be linked in that way.”
Butler has also received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. He’s in good company. Brendan Fraser, Colin Farrell, Bill Nighy and Paul Mescal are also up for the award. The ceremony will take place on March 12th, in Hollywood.
In a four-star review of Elvis, Far Out wrote: “Presley’s close relationship with his family and friends, and later with his wife and daughter, are presented realistically, while his career under Parker and his struggles to deal with fame come across less naturalistically, using assorted techniques to express the chaos and madness of the Elvis Presley phenomenon. It is a novel approach, one which acknowledges the Elvis legend but goes further, providing an intimate portrait of both the individual and the celebrity.”
“Those dual aspects of Elvis Presley are clearly and often movingly portrayed, thanks to the inspired casting of rising star Austin Butler, who perfectly captures both Elvis’ dynamic stage presence as a performer, and his vulnerability as an individual and family member. Butler even performs the vocals during Elvis’ earlier performances, and quite effectively, although scenes later in his life use Elvis’ actual recordings.”
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