Actor Kept the leather jumpsuit he wore after shooting the first musical number for ‘Elvis’
- Austin Butler shared details about “Elvis” with Entertainment Weekly.
- Butler, 30, said he kept a black leather jumpsuit that appears in the film.
- Elvis Presley originally wore a similar jumpsuit during his 1968 TV comeback special.
Austin Butler kept a souvenir from his time on the “Elvis” set.
Butler plays the legendary Elvis in director Baz Luhrmann’s biopic, Elvis, a film centered around Presley’s life and career until his death in August 1977.
Butler, 30, told Entertainment Weekly that he decided to keep a black leather jumpsuit that was made to recreate the look from Presley’s 1968 TV comeback special.
“That was a big one for me,” Butler told EW, adding that the ensemble was unique because the TV special was the first sequence and musical number he filmed.
“It was a monumental time, so I took one of those,” Butler told the outlet.
Butler needed more than 90 costume changes for “Elvis.” The ensembles helped him embrace the role.
“Clothes change the way that you feel for any character that you play, but never more so than with him, because in the ’50s when I’m wearing a lace shirt, you move differently where the pants flow,” Butler said. “When you’re in leather pants, you feel a lot different than when you’re in flowy ’50s pants.”
Presley’s appeared in the 1968 TV special after starring in films for several years. It featured Presley performing his songs live in front of an audience.
After filming ended in March 2021, Butler began sharing details about his experience shooting the film.
Butler said that he went to the hospital one day after filming wrapped on “Elvis.”
“The next day I woke up at four in the morning with excruciating pain, and I was rushed to the hospital,” Butler recalled. “My body just started shutting down the day after I finished ‘Elvis.'”
He was diagnosed with a virus that simulated appendicitis and was bedridden for one week, GQ reported.
Butler later told Entertainment Tonight that he had trouble shaking Presley’s southern drawl after imitating the singer for two years.
“At this point, I keep asking people, ‘Is this my voice?'” Butler told ET. “It’s one of those things where certain things trigger it. When you live with something for two years, and you do nothing else, I think that you can’t help it. It becomes a fiber of your being.”
Elvis hit theaters on June 24 and will be available on HBO Max August 8.
Austin Butler dishes on the “warm and welcoming” experience of meeting Priscilla Presley for the first time at Graceland, and the surreal experience of dancing with her at the Met Gala.
Butler later told Entertainment Tonight that he had trouble shaking Presley’s southern drawl after imitating the singer for two years.