With the voice, the moves, and the style, Austin Butler nailed his role as the rock n roll king, Elvis in the movie of the same name. The actor has been nominated for the Oscar in the Best Actor category for his role in the biopic. Austin recently faced backlash on the internet for not acknowledging his ex-girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens who inspired him to pursue the role.
“Three years ago I got the role of a lifetime and have been living in a dream ever since. It has been my honor and privilege to take on the role of the icon, father, husband, and son — Elvis Presley,” Butler said in a statement on hearing the nominations. Being one of the Best Actor nominees, the actor has extended his gratitude to his clairvoyant ex-girlfriend.
Related: How Did Elvis Presley Die? Why Was King Of Rock-N-Roll’s Death Mysterious?
How Did Vanessa Hudgens Urge Austin Butler To Play Elvis?
The Golden Globe Award recipient had once mentioned how he landed in Elvis’ role. “The month before I heard that Baz 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.’ Then my agent called and said, ‘So Baz Luhrmann is making an Elvis film …’ The hairs just stood up on my arms,” the actor said in The Hollywood Reporter’s Actors Roundtable. But the actor didn’t reveal who the friend was.
In 2019, Vanessa Hudgens told Ryan Seacrest a similar story while appearing in Live with Kelly and Ryan. The actress had urged her then-boyfriend to take up the role. “He had just dyed his hair dark. He’s a natural, like, blonde blonde, and I was looking at him and he was singing along and I was like, ‘Babe, you need to play Elvis,” she says in the program. This interview disclosed who the friend was and caused the actor to face much backlash on the internet.
In case you missed: Why Did Elvis Presley Join The Military?
Butler Credits Ex-Girlfriend For Her Clairvoyance
Austin Butler acknowledged his former girlfriend’s farsightedness in his recent interview with Los Angeles Times. “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,” the actor confided.
Vanessa Hudgens and Austin Butler dated for 10 years from 2011 to 2020. Currently, he is dating model Kaia Gerber, Cindy Crawford’s daughter. Whereas Hudgens is reported to be dating professional basketball player Cole Tucker.
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