Earlier this year, Austin Butler was commended for his performance as Elvis Presley in the Baz Luhrmann-directed biopic Elvis. The movie told the life story of the King of Rock and Roll, and to get his version of the King right, Austin explored every bit of Elvis history he could get his hands on. One particular story set his imagination running wild.
Austin recently opened up about dissecting some of Elvis’ songs to really get to know him. One of these tracks was Trouble, a 1958 blues track originally written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
This was a particularly turbulent period of time for Elvis as he recorded and performed the song before being sent to the US Army. During his enlistment, he receives the shocking news that his mother has died. This was a turning point in the life of the star as he was very close to his mother and fell into a strong state of grief. After the funeral, he reportedly locked himself upstairs and sobbed sadly for hours.
Elvis’ presentation of the problem was described by Austin as “fiery, sexy and animalistic”. It was particularly inspired by tales of Elvis being left behind while performing the track.
“There are stories of him spitting on the stage, rolling on it, and completely giving out what sounds like a punk rock show,” said Austin.
Austin noted: “What I loved was that you could read a lot of stories about Elvis performing on stage in that small amount of time before he went into the army and his mother died, where he’s at the prime of his primal, animal strength.”
At that particular time, there were countless photos of Elvis “animal” on stage, but not a lot of video footage. The only footage of him performing was from TV shows – but it was a special case. Elvis’ performances on television shows – such as The Ed Sullivan Show – were so poor, his quirky dance moves were deemed “vulgar”.
“He didn’t push it as far as he wanted to,” Austin said [performing] He lives.”
That’s why, when Austin portrayed Elvis singing Trouble in the 2022 movie, he beefed up his performance.
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Austin said, “So it was fun doing ‘Trouble’ and being at that focal point in the story, with real emotional meaning behind it. It’s a moment where he rebels and is true to his own artistic and moral integrity.”
Elvis also famously sang “Problem” during his 1968 Comeback Special, and Austin used that video of the star as inspiration as well.
He said: “[The special] It became an influence on the way I performed in the 1950s [scenes] Because he has more grit, and he makes a sound that has become very touching to me.”
Elvis’ daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, said Austin deserved an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of her father. However, there is yet another movie version of Elvis Presley that will hit the big screen in the next year or so.
Another version of Elvis’ life story is being adapted for the big screen, but this time it will focus on Priscilla Presley, the King’s ex-wife. The source material comes from her 1985 memoir, Elvis and Me. In the film, which will be directed by Sofia Coppola, Elvis will play Jacob Elordi.
Jacob is best known for appearing in the Kissing Booth films on Netflix. And Priscilla recently spoke candidly about her ex-husband’s second edition to hit the silver screen in as many years.
She said, “Yeah, you know, he’s a great actor, a great actor. I can only imagine him as a nervous wreck. Like everyone else!”
The 77-year-old also paid tribute to Sofia, saying, “I love Sofia and I love her film work. I really think… I think it’s going to be okay. I hope!”
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