Austin Butler worked hard to perfect the speaking voice of Elvis Presley for the Elvis biopic, and it took the actor much longer than expected to shed his on-screen persona. Butler played the eponymous music legend in Baz Luhrmann's larger-than-life Elvis (2022), which explored the King of Rock's rise to fame through the unreliable lens of his crooked manager, Colonel Tom Parker. Butler's performance as Elvis Presley was lauded by critics and audiences alike and even earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
One element of Butler's performance that drew particular attention was his Elvis speaking voice. Elvis had a Memphis accent and spoke with a very distinct cadence that Butler clearly worked very hard to get right. However, it wasn't so much his adoption of Elvis' signature drawl in the movie that caused such commotion; more so, it was that Butler continued speaking like Elvis after filming on Elvis wrapped. During the promotional run for Elvis, the actor still seemed to be using his Elvis voice.
How Austin Butler Achieved His Elvis Voice
Up to three years were reportedly spent perfecting Butler's Elvis voice, particularly during the COVID-19 shutdowns. In order to accurately imitate the King of Rock's pronunciations and speech patterns, the actor gave painstaking attention to small details. "I created my own archive of how he said every word and every diphthong, and the way that he used musicality in his voice," Butler told Entertainment Weekly. He studied Elvis' interviews and performances, scouring YouTube for archive footage and watching every project in the superstar's filmography. From these clips, he was able to compile his own Elvis "sound catalog."
Butler worked with dialect and vocal coaches to master the voice of Elvis, rehearsing his speeches and dialogue over and over with them until he was able to match him "beat for beat." He focused on perfecting not just the sound but the rhythm and cadence of Elvis' speech. "I'd just keep honing it in until I could get as specific as possible," Butler explained.
He also paid close attention to how Elvis' voice and manner of speaking changed over the years. Through his careful observation, Butler noticed that Elvis' Southern twang was a lot stronger in the early recordings, but that it started to fade as he got more famous, which may or may not have been intentional. Elvis' voice also seemed to get deeper over the years, and he started to be more "diligent" with his speech.
How Accurate Is Austin Butler's Elvis Presley Voice?
The King Of Rock's Signature Drawl Isn't Easy To Master
Butler's hard work paid off in Elvis; he managed to recreate the King's iconic and distinctive voice without slipping into a cheap impersonation or becoming a caricature of Elvis Presley. Butler may have gotten some flak for keeping up the Elvis act long after filming wrapped. However, his complete embodiment of Elvis ended up being worth it, even if he did over-commit to the bit.
Of course, comparisons between Butler and Priscilla’s Jacob Elordi as Elvis were inevitable when the latter's film was released in 2023. Based on Priscilla Presley’s memoir, Elvis and Me, Sofia Coppola's Priscilla istold from the perspective of Elvis' much younger ex-wife. In Priscilla, Elordi’s Elvis voice was more interpretive and less of an exact replica of the King’s than Butler's. The delivery of his dialogue was also more toned down.
However, the differences in their vocal renditions of Elvis make sense given the differences in their respective movies’ tone and style. Butler's Elvis voice and performance worked best for the theatrical spectacle of Luhrmann's Elvis, whereas Elordi's approach, voice and all, was better suited to his movie. Though still distinctively stylistic, Priscilla is much more rooted in reality and exposes a darker side of Elvis, which warranted a less precise and elevatedimpression.
Does Austin Butler Still Talk With An Elvis-Like Accent?
Because of how much time he spent getting it just right, it was difficult for Butler to stop speaking in his Elvis voice in the first place, a phenomenon he spoke publicly about. "When you live with something for two years, and you do nothing else, I think that you can't help it," Butler told Entertainment Tonight. "It becomes a fiber of your being." While he held onto it for quite some time, in February 2023, Butler vowed to get rid of his Elvis voice, and since then, he has gradually dropped the noticeable Elvis accent.
It seems as though Butler has ditched the Elvis actfor good, but according to one of his more recent co-stars, he may have replaced it with an impression of another star. Butler is set to play Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, the heir to Stellan Skarsgård’s Baron Harkonnen, in the upcoming Dune: Part Two.
When Dune star Timothée Chalamet was asked if Butler was still speaking in his Elvis voice, he revealed that Butler "was already talking like Stellan Skarsgård"during the firstcast reading on Zoom (via GQ), which he continued throughout production. Butler's staunch dedication to his roles clearly doesn't stop at Elvis,and he's a better actor for it.
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