After spending months developing his iconic Elvis voice for Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming biopic, Austin Butler found it difficult to shake the accent when it was time to move on to his next project. On a recent episode of “The Late Show” with host Stephen Colbert, Butler shared his struggle to let go of the voice he had spent so long perfecting.
He admitted that it took hiring a dialect coach to help him return to his natural speaking voice for his role in the World War II miniseries, “Masters of the Air.” Butler revealed, “It was a lot. I was just trying to remember who I was. I was trying to remember what I liked to do. All I thought about was Elvis for three years.”
To embody the legendary singer, Butler immersed himself in Elvis’s voice archives and meticulously studied every aspect of his speech patterns. He explained, “I created my own archive of how he said every word and every diphthong, and the way that he used musicality in his voice.”
The dedication to his role paid off, as Butler’s portrayal of Elvis earned him a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. However, the process of embodying the character proved to be deeply immersive and challenging for the actor. He expressed the difficulty of separating himself from the role after spending so much time honing the voice and mannerisms of the iconic musician.
Butler’s experience sheds light on the intense commitment and dedication required of actors to bring iconic figures to life on screen, as well as the challenges they face in transitioning out of these roles once filming concludes. His journey to shake off the Elvis voice offers a glimpse into the complex process of character immersion and the toll it can take on an actor.