Austin Butler credits ex Vanessa Hudgens for landing his role in Elvis: Owe her for believing in me

Austin Butler has finally credited his ex-partner Vanessa Hudgens for inspiring him to take up the role of Elvis in the 2022 biopic. Talking to the Los Angeles Times, Butler, 32, admitted that it was Hudgens who had a ‘clairvoyant’ moment and convinced him to play The King of Rock. “I was with my partner at the time,” he explained. “We’d been together for so long and she had this sort of clairvoyant moment and so I really, I owe her a lot for believing in me.”

When Vanessa Hudgens told Austin Butler he should play Elvis

Back in 2019, when Butler and Hudgens were still together, the latter had revealed on Live With Kelly and Ryan (via Page Six), why she thought Butler should play Elvis. She shared that they were driving along in a car when a Christmas song by Elvis Presley came on the radio and Butler joined in. “He had just dyed his hair dark. He’s a natural blond, and I was looking at him and he was singing along and I was like, ‘Babe, you need to play Elvis,” Hudgens shared.

However, when Butler shared this story last month on The Hollywood Reporter’s Actors Roundtable, he refrained from mentioning Vanessa Hudgens’ name and instead referred to her as an unnamed friend. Fans who already remembered the actress’ story were rubbed the wrong way when the Elvis actor did not give her due credit. “The month before I heard that Baz [Luhrmann] was making the movie, I was going to look at Christmas lights with a friend, and there was an Elvis Christmas song on the radio and I was singing along, and my friend looked over at me and goes, ‘You’ve got to play Elvis.’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s such a long shot,’” Austin shared with THR.

And now, in his new interview with The Los Angeles Times, Austin has finally credited his ex for the motivation to play Elvis Presley on screen.

Austin earned a Golden Globe Award recently in the Best Actor Category for his performance as Elvis. He has also earned an Oscar nomination for the same.

 

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