Former Hannah Montana star Austin Butler has found himself in quite a predicament as of late. Sure, he’s nominated for an Oscar and is set to star in one of the biggest sequels of the year, but he also made the mistake of playing off his Elvis accent as his actual voice so early on in his budding career, which means he will have to talk that way for the rest of his life. This seems to have sparked an identity crisis in the young actor who insists that he is not putting on an accent. What’s the truth, Austin?
Butler seems to have realized that he cannot be channeling the dead pop star forever, and he confirmed that he is doing away with his Elvis-inspired mumbling. “I am getting rid of the accent,” the Oscar-nominated actor recently confirmed on The Graham Norton Show, adding that it isn’t easy.
“I have probably damaged my vocal cords with all that singing. One song took 40 takes.” Butler admitted, seeming confused as to where Elvis ends and Austin begins. He admitted that he doesn’t really think he sounds like the king of rock and roll, despite everyone around him constantly talking about it. “I don’t think I sound like him still, but I guess I must ’cause I hear it a lot.”
Last year, Butler seemed both annoyed and also slightly perplexed by the constant comments about his new Elvis voice. He told IndieWire in December, “I definitely had an existential crisis when I finished [Elvis]. I didn’t do anything that was grounded in Austin for that time,” the actor explained. “I didn’t talk to my family or my friends or anybody. I would talk to them every couple of months or something, but I really did lose touch with me. But I also learned things about myself — that’s a beautiful gift. It’s a confusing part about being an actor.”
Hopefully, now that Elvis has left the building, Butler will be a little less confused. After all, it’s just a movie.
