Credit: Warner Bros

Bafta Awards 2023: Austin Butler wins ‘Best Leading Actor’ for ‘Elvis’

Sun 19 February 2023 20:48, UK

In what will go down as one of the most remarkable nights in his career, now Austin Butler can celebrate properly after taking home the BAFTA Award for his starring role in Elvis.

The fight for ‘Best Leading Actor’ was a hotly contested one this year. With star turns from some of the industry’s brightest stars, including Colin Farrell for his work in The Banshees of Inisherin, Brendan Fraser for his role in The Whale, Paul Mescal’s star turn in Aftersun and Bill Nighy’s efforts in Living. However, it was Butler who took home the prize.

The star took time to not only thank his family, Baz Luhrmann and the cast, but also “the Presley family” during his speech, where he also hoped that he had made the family proud. During the movie, Butler delivered countless impressive renditions of classic Elvis songs, during which one made him lose his voice.

“I cannot thank you guys enough,” he said. “Your love and for showing me who Elvis truly was. I hope I’ve made you proud.”

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.”

Having already picked up the award for ‘Best Actor’ at the Golden Globes, Butler has now added a BAFTA to his collection with his eyes firmly on the Oscars in the coming weeks.

In a recent interview with IndieWire, Luhrmann claimed that there’s a four-hour version of Elvis that is being prepared for release. He clarified: “It’s a directors’ assembly. It’s not a cut. There’s a whole lot of material that adds up to four hours, but I have gone on record now to say not today, not tomorrow, but at some point, I would do [it].”

While the details are still ambiguous, the release has been confirmed. Luhrmann praised his star: “Austin did his concerts full out. He did all the numbers. Austin just did it, and it was an out-of-body experience to watch him do those full concerts, so one day, I will cut those full concerts together.”

See Austin Butler in the trailer for Elvis below.