Meet Austin Butler, the King of Rock in the new Elvis biopic: the former Disney star sings and plays guitar and is dating Kaia Gerber – but it was ex Vanessa Hudgens who said he should play Presley
- Elvis, the new film by director Baz Luhrmann of Moulin Rouge!, releases in June; Butler outshone Harry Styles, Ansel Elgort and Miles Teller for the lead role
- He was famous for his Disney and Nickelodeon gigs, but Butler had dreams of a Quentin Tarantino film – and so he landed Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood with Brad Pitt
Amid stiff competition, Austin Butler was selected over Harry Styles, Ansel Elgort and Miles Teller to play the leading role of the rock star.
“He [Elvis] is such an icon. He’s held up to superhuman status. To get to explore that and learn the way he was, and find the human within that icon, that was really such a joy that I could do for the rest of my life,” he told The Au Review. He even got the green tick from Elvis’ daughter, Lisa Marie, who tweeted that he managed to “channel and embody his [Elvis’] heart and soul beautifully”.
So what else do we know about the 30-year-old California native who shares many things in common with “The King”?
His teenage dream was to work with Quentin Tarantino
At only 12, Butler was scouted at the Orange County Fair and soon became a Nickelodeon and Disney star, per Orange County Register. As a teen, he appeared in several kids’ series like Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide, Hannah Montana and Zoey 101. However, he’s always dreamed of starring in a Quentin Tarantino movie. “I printed out the Pulp Fiction script when I was 12, and I’d read it to my mum in the car,” he told GQ. “That was my dream. I said, ‘Quentin is the director I want to work with.’ ”
In 2019, he made it come true with Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, after roles in television dramas and films over the years like Switched at Birth, The Carrie Diaries, The Shannara Chronicles, Aliens in the Attic and Netflix’s Dude, among many others, per his IMDB profile. He also has Broadway credits, including Death of the Author and The Iceman Cometh.