Elvis star Austin Butler responds to confusion about his real voice
- 12 Jan 2023
Elvis star Austin Butler has addressed the similarity between his voice and that of the legendary musician he portrays.
The actor won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for his portrayal of Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 biopic.
However, many fans were left bemused as to whether Butler was still in character after hearing his voice as he gave his acceptance speech.
“I wonder if Austin Butler does the Elvis voice when he has to go in for his checkups at the doctor,” one fan quipped on Twitter.
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The actor was asked about his voice, not for the first time, in the press room backstage at the Globes after his win.
“I don’t think I sound like him still, but I guess I must because I hear it a lot,” he responded.
“I often liken it to when somebody lives in another country for a long time,” Butler said. “I had three years where [Elvis] was my only focus in life, so I’m sure there’s just pieces of my DNA that will always be linked in that way.”
Butler himself joked about the transformation during an appearance on Saturday Night Live last year.
“There’s people out there who say that ever since I played Elvis, my voice has changed,” the actor said. “That it got deeper, more Elvis-y. But that’s not true. I’ve always sounded like this, and I can prove it.”
He then shared a clip of himself filmed around a decade ago. While the real clip does prove his voice was higher than it currently sounds, the SNL video was edited to make Butler’s pitch even more wildly different.
Also during the Golden Globes, Butler was praised for his “classy” response after being asked about his girlfriend Kaia Gerber’s ex-boyfriend Jacob Elordi.
