How Tom Cruise helped Austin Butler get the starring role in the 2022 ELVIS movie
On the afternoon of February 13, 2023, newly acclaimed star of the 2022 ELVIS movie, Austin Butler, was photographed with Hollywood legend Tom Cruise at the Oscars luncheon in Beverly Hills, California. While first-time Oscar nominee Butler, and film icon, Cruise, exchanged chit-chat, little did anyone know how significant their connection was. By a twist of fate, Cruise enabled Butler to get his life-changing role in the box office hit directed by Baz Luhrmann called ELVIS.
Five years earlier, Butler was up for the role of “Rooster” in Top Gun: Maverick. The character of Rooster was the son of Anthony Edwards’ iconic character in the original Top Gun. Edwards’ role as “Goose” was Maverick’s (Tom Cruise) best friend and flying partner in the film. Ultimately, the role of Rooster went to Miles Teller.
As casting director Denise Chamian explained: “The thing that he [Austin] got the closest to was ‘Top Gun.’ When I cast that, we were looking for the role that Miles Teller played. I felt so passionate about Austin. Ultimately, his audition was shown to Tom [Cruise] and all the filmmakers. They agreed he had something and they were happy to know him, but they thought he was too young.”
Consequently, Chamian then encouraged Butler to audition for the role of Elvis. “He got to a certain maturity level in auditioning for Top Gun: Maverick,” Chamian told Variety in 2022. “At that point, I saw that this actor has something very special that other people don’t always have. It’s almost the way he looks into the camera. He knows the camera and lets the camera see him, and that is really what is so captivating.”
Even though ELVIS director, Baz Luhrmann, was also considering Miles Teller, as well as other well-known 20-something actors like Ansel Elgort and Harry Styles, for the role of Elvis, the timing was on 27-year-old Austin Butler’s side. Butler started researching the life of Elvis Presley as early as January 2019 when he heard about the upcoming movie.
Butler prepared a compelling audition tape by playing the piano and singing a heartfelt version of “Unchained Melody” looking disheveled wearing a bathrobe. It was a spontaneous performance by Butler who had learned from his research about the sudden death of Presley’s mother, Gladys, in 1958. Austin was the same age as Elvis — 23 — when he lost his own mother, Lori Butler. Austin performed the song one morning after waking up from a dream about his own mother’s passing. The song was infamous as one of the last songs Elvis ever performed in concert in 1977.
Luhrmann received Butler’s audition tape in February 2019 which started a five-month long audition process. However, if Butler had been cast in Top Gun: Maverick in the role of Rooster, he would have been filming during that time. Teller revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that he was filming Top Gun: Maverick until mid-June 2019.
After all was said and done, Austin was, in a sense, lucky that he was rejected by Cruise and the other producers of Top Gun: Maverick. It put him in the running for the role of Elvis, enabling him to spend months of time studying the iconic singer’s voice, moves and personality, as he did workshops with Luhrmann.
“Until we did the screen tests, I don’t think it was clear to anybody, necessarily, that it was going to be Austin,” revealed Chamian. “There were a lot of factors to really consider. He was also pretty much unknown out of that group of guys.”
During the screen test, Luhrmann really put Butler “through the ringer.” Austin said that, on the day of the test, Baz changed everything on him that he had rehearsed: the scenes, the dialogue, and even the songs.
“I realize now it’s because he likes to be very spontaneous on set,” Austin revealed. “He wanted to see if I would lose my mind.”
As a result, Butler’s preparation helped him get the lead in what would become the star-making role of a lifetime. After the ELVIS movie came out, Butler’s life would never be the same – a star was born!
Austin was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor which led him to be at the Oscars Luncheon that day in the same room with Tom Cruise.
“It was our first time meeting,” Austin said when asked about his conversation with Cruise. “So I told him what he meant to me, and he told me his feelings on the film and just this profession that we both share a love for. Some of those things I keep private.”
***
Find out more about the backstory of Austin Butler’s role as Elvis in my new book, Fact Vs. Fiction in the 2022 Elvis movie: An Unauthorized Scene-By-Scene Analysis
CLICK HERE to read a FREE excerpt from the book
*
Follow the Elvis News Examiner on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram