Austin Butler said he and Tom Hanks bonded over their fears of working on Elvis
Austin Butler and Tom Hanks bonded over their fears of portraying two of the biggest names in music.
Watch Butler talk about their first meeting here:
The two stars of the Oscar-nominated biopic Elvis play the titular rock and roll icon and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis' manager.
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Butler, who was nominated for Best Actor at the Academy Awards, revealed he had a heart-to-heart with his co-star when they first met.
The 31-year-old sat down on the iconic red sofa on Friday's edition of The Graham Norton Show where he shared details about meeting the Forrest Gump star.
And if playing the legendary King of Rock and Roll wasn’t daunting enough, Butler was just as nervous meeting the Hollywood legend at Baz Luhrmann’s house.
“Whenever you meet somebody that you’ve admired for the first time you hope they’re gonna be warm to you but you never really know and somebody like Tom he’s been doing this for so long, he’s such a master of his craft, so I was intimidated,” he shared.
He continued: “The first time that I met him, Baz had this little house in Australia along this river bank and so I came and I knew I was gonna be meeting Tom for the first time."
"I walked through the house and I see Tom and Baz down by the river and I came walking up and Tom turns around and he sees me and he goes ‘My boy give me a hug’ and he gives me the biggest bear hug and Baz said ‘Let me give you guys a moment’ and so Baz went into the house and Tom and I just talked for so long.”
Butler then revealed that Hanks had confessed he was feeling quite nervous too.
“At one point he said ‘You know, I was at the studio earlier today and I was choosing which doors I was gonna throw up outside of for the first couple of weeks’ and I said ‘Why? Are you nervous?’ And he goes ‘Oh yeah I’m so nervous'."
Well, if seasoned actor like Hanks was nervous, we can only imagine how Butler felt, which was 'terrified'.
He said: "I said ‘You’re nervous? I’m terrified!’ And he goes ‘Nobody knows what Colonel Parker sounds like, everyone knows what Elvis sounds like!’”
But it sounds like the pair became soon fast friends as Butler added that after this moment the pair felt like ‘colleagues’ and they were able to share their feelings of fear.
Thankfully, despite his initial fears, everything has gone pretty well for the actor, as his portrayal of Elvis has been widely acclaimed by critics and audience members alike.
The film also has an impressive 77 percent approval score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Plus, the late Lisa Marie Presley - the daughter of the 'Jailhouse Rock' performer - gave the film and his performance her approval.
It doesn't get much better than that does it!
Topics: Austin Butler, TV and Film, The Graham Norton Show
Gregory Robinson