Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis was a massive hit on screens and Austin Butler garnered immense recognition due to the same. But praise and accolades weren’t the only things he earned, given how Butler had the experience of a lifetime on the set. And as it turns out, that’s something Leonardo DiCaprio had already seen coming. Prophetic much?
In his lengthy and flourishing Hollywood career, The Revenant star has joined forces with some of the most renowned directors and producers, Luhrmann being one of them. So he knew exactly how Butler’s experience would turn out to be alongside the Australian filmmaker.
Austin Butler Had Been Warned About Baz Luhrmann
Austin Butler shared the screen with the Titanic star in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. And given how DiCaprio has worked with Luhrmann on more than one occasion, Butler thought it best to ask his co-star for some insight on what he should be expecting from the latter. To his surprise, DiCaprio’s advice was spot on!
Romeo + Juliet (1996) was one of those movies in Leonardo DiCaprio‘s career that helped him rise to glory. That was also the first project wherein he united with Luhrmann. And fans saw the pair form an alliance once again on 2013’s The Great Gatsby. Safe to say, the Oscar-winning actor picked up a valuable lesson or two on working with Luhrmann which he passed on to Butler.
In an interview with EW, The Carrie Diaries star revealed how his experience with Luhrmann on Elvis was exactly how DiCaprio had warned him it would be, an assiduous yet rejuvenating one.
“Leo told me, ‘Baz is going to constantly keep you off balance, and it’s going to pull things out of you [that] you never knew you had inside you.’ That’s exactly the experience that I had.”
Who knew the Inception actor would be so good at foreshadowing?
Austin Butler on His Experience While Filming Elvis (2022)
Talking about his experience working side-by-side with the 60-year-old award-winning director, the Masters of the Air actor opened up about the highs and lows of it all. The 31-year-old recalled how he’d be pushed to his limits on the set as Luhrmann kept him on his toes with all the incessant improvising. “There were days where I just thought, ‘Baz, why don’t we just do what we prepared?'” Butler stated.
However, as demanding as the Moulin Rouge! director was of Butler’s efforts, it ultimately ended up working out in the latter’s favor. After all, hard work bears the sweetest fruit.
“I realized that he would push me right to the edge of what I was capable of,” he admitted. “You capture lightning in a bottle in a way — if you had just done the thing that you had prepared, it may have been more stale.”
Sure, Luhrmann’s approach toward Butler might’ve been painstaking, but then again, diamonds aren’t made without pressure.
Elvis is available for streaming on HBO Max.
Source: EW
