I promise it’s not just for our skeptical minds — Austin Butler really still sounds like Elvis Presley.
On Tuesday night, Butler won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama for playing the king of rock and roll in Baz Luhrmann’s eponymous film. When the California native Butler took the stage to give his acceptance speech, his voice still sounded awfully like Elvis.
from the start of Elvis During the press tour at last summer’s Cannes Film Festival, fans noted the similarity of Butler’s voice to that of Elvis Presley. Carrie’s Diary When replaced by birth.
Rich Polk/NBC via Getty Images
Appeared at E’s red carpet pre-show! Butler objected, claiming he could not hear. But Tupelo’s squeal was definitely in his speech, and he thanked everyone from director Baz Luhrmann to co-star Tom Hanks to his own late “mama” to Elvis himself.
Butler responded to the voice in the press room after the win, saying, “I still don’t think I sound like him, but I hear it a lot, so I have to. For a long time. Having spent three years where it was my sole focus, I have a piece of him in my DNA and I am confident that I will always be connected to him.
It seems to be the inevitable result of Butler’s immersion in Presley’s sound and world. He previously said that while preparing and performing for Elvis, he did not speak to his family for three years. One of Presley’s most distinguishing features of him was his voice, and Butler worked hard to ensure that his voice was more than just an impression.
warner bros pictures Austin Butler in “Elvis” by Baz Luhrmann.
“I heard him say a specific word and I cut out just that word so I knew how he said that word,” the actor previously told EW in detail about his process. “I have created my own archive of how he spoke every word and every diphthong and how he used musicality in his voice.”
“I’ve taken interviews and speeches on stage where he’s speaking to an audience and I’ve practiced it as if I’m trying to get it right,” he said. Then I had a dialect coach say, ‘This is a little off,’ and I practiced. I just kept refining it until I was as specific as possible.”
He seems to be good at not being able to hear the difference in voices, and it almost stopped bothering me.
But if he continues to win awards this season, his connection to the king will grow even stronger.
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