Header photo: Austin Butler bags ‘Best Actor in a Drama’ for Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Elvis’ biopic in Wednesday’s 80th Golden Globes Awards. Image Source – Rich Polk/NBC: Getty Images
Is it some weird kind of late puberty or is it really just the 3 long and hard years Austin Butler has spent channeling his Elvis spirit? Because the very distinct Southern chord in the actor’s voice is still high-strung and frankly, nobody knows when it’ll stop. Bagging his first-ever Golden Globe for ‘Elvis’, the method actor jokingly quips at the piano man during his acceptance speech, “You can at least play ‘Suspicious Minds’ or something,” as he thanks the Presley family for “opening their hearts, memories, and home” for the film.
Besides gaining a pivot from his Disney channel beginnings to ‘the real thing’-type acting, Austin Butler’s voice has been up for debate and under scrutiny for the past year since the first clips of ‘Elvis’ was premiered and his press interviews after the film have surfaced. While yes, it’s undeniable that the low baritone paired with his rock star rugged look was one of the reasons he’s named one of Twitter’s ‘White Boy of the Month’, many seem to be getting skeptical about him drawing the voice out almost a year later, ringing in more headlines than the acting and films themselves.
Shooting to even higher heights of his Hollywood fame since ‘Elvis’, Butler is now most known for either the film or the voice. But, it’s important to note that his voice never started so naturally like the ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ singer. In this 2012 interview with AfterBuzz TV during his heartthrob era playing Sebastian in ‘The Carrie Diaries,’ his voice while already gaining traction of the guttural undertones Elvis has, is still pretty effortless in his natural, neutral accent, more honeyed and Metropolitan in tone. When called out on the Elvis voice in the press room after his Golden Globes win, Butler seems to scratch his head about the never-ending spotlight on his voice comparing the phenomenon to when someone lives in a foreign country for a long time and eventually adapts certain accents and mannerisms, “I had three years where that was my only focus in life, so I’m sure that there’s just pieces of my DNA that will always be linked in that way.”
Austin Butler on his #Elvis voice sticking with him after the film: “I don’t think I sound like him still, but I guess I must because I hear it a lot.” https://t.co/obwVD3aG1a pic.twitter.com/qb1M4yWC9P
— Variety (@Variety) January 11, 2023
‘Elvis’ frontman, Butler addresses his voice change for the nth time since he started promoting the film in 2022, with 3 years of training and preparation for the role on his back, he denies that he still sounds like the rock legend.
Austin has consistently and very patiently answered half a year’s worth of questions and interviews on his voice change that somehow hogs the spotlight away from the actual film and award. Aside from opening up about his deep and emotional connection to the singer, he’s already mentioned multiple times that the Elvis voice naturally clicks in when there are ‘triggers’ in his environment, such as seeing the singer’s name. Butler adds that his obsession over the past years to perfect the craft of playing the King of Rock and Roll is also one of the main reasons why the voice shift is not so easily brushed off, “[…] Muscular habits, your mouth can change. It’s pretty amazing. I know that I’m constantly changing. Check-in with me in 20 years when I’ve played a lot of roles, who knows what I’ll sound like!” So again, it’s really not rocket science when you heavily train for something and live a certain way for a long time which ultimately changes your ways of living and breathing, and yes, that includes speaking.
