Rami Malek Had The Best Elvis Advice For Austin Butler
On June 24, the king of rock 'n' roll comes swinging into theaters with "Elvis." The project has long been in development by director Baz Luhrmann and should appease fans of the icon if first reactions are any indication. Even Elvis' wife, Priscilla Presley, praised the movie on social media. There's been quite a bit of anticipation for this project, and it'll soon be on a big screen for all to see.
However, it should come as no surprise to hear that Austin Butler, who plays Elvis in the flick, had some anxiety when suiting up as the singer. Elvis is one of the most famous and influential Americans of all time, so it makes sense for Butler to feel trepidatious portraying him. He revealed as much when speaking with PopSugar, "I was about to start shooting, and I didn't feel ready. I was on the verge of an anxiety attack [and], I just didn't feel ready at that time." Fortunately, Butler got some words of wisdom from someone who knows what it's like to play a famous rocker — Rami Malek.
Rami Malek told Austin Butler to have his soul collide with Elvis'
Rami Malek rose to the stratosphere in his career after landing the part of Freddie Mercury in 2018's "Bohemian Rhapsody." Malek won a slew of awards for his portrayal of the Queen frontman, including the Oscar for Best Actor. Similar to Elvis, there was a lot of pressure for Malek when it came to embodying Mercury, so it was only natural for the actor to give Butler some advice when he had doubts about playing Elvis.
As Butler went on to tell PopSugar, he became obsessed over every little detail of playing Elvis, from mimicking his voice to ensuring he looked right. According to Butler, "For me, Rami was like, 'At the end of the day, it's not about [looking exactly right]. You don't want to go to the Wax Museum and just see that. You want to see your soul and his soul colliding and creating something we've never seen before."
That bit of advice opened Butler's eyes and allowed him to focus on the more intangible elements of what made Elvis such an icon. He went on to say, "That was so liberating to me because then I still focused on the specifics every day. I painstakingly obsessed about his voice and how it changed, his movements and how they changed, learning karate and all of these things. But, at the end of the day, it was [Elvis's] humanity that was important to me, so that became the throughline to the rest of it." Based on critical acclaim so far, Butler nailed it, and soon, audiences all over the world will be able to see his magnetic performance when "Elvis" drops in theaters.