AUSTIN BUTLER AND THE MUSIC OF ELVIS

Austin Butler has, as you might guess, a ton of Elvis playlists on his Spotify account.

He created the first three years ago while painting a house he'd just moved into, right at the start of the five months he spent trying to convince Baz Luhrmann to cast him as the lead in "Elvis."

Butler won the part, and for the next two years he never stopped listening to Elvis.

He created playlists to inspire emotions in the scenes of the film, as well as gospel and blues music that Presley loved and listened to.

And as a happy challenge, he rounded up his 50 favorite Elvis songs, including what might be his favorites, "Milkcow Blues Boogie" and "Polk Salad Annie"—songs that never fail to do so.

"...you know, now Elvis is like my best friend, if I have a bad day, I put his music on and everything is fine," says Butler.

Butler responds with a low, honeyed southern drawl, an accent that has rubbed off on him and that he still has around 20 months after finishing "Elvis."

He is aware of this and laughs when I point it out to him.

"...they had to hire a dialect coach on the next thing I shot 'Masters of the Air,' a WWII limited series about the 8th Air Force to make sure I didn't sound like Elvis."

It was when Austin heard Luhrmann was doing "Elvis" that he started making his Spotify charts, thinking his audience spanned like a job and, as he puts it, "...it's mine, so no one can stop me."

The turning point came after he filmed himself singing "Love Me Tender" to send to Luhrmann and came away feeling bummed out.

He was a personification of Elvis, nothing more.

At the time, Butler had been watching every Elvis performance he could find on video and YouTube, and came across "Unchained Melody," a song Elvis sang on his last tour.

Elvis is out of breath and struggling, but halfway through the song, he hits a high note, looks out at the audience, and smiles.

Butler cries every time he sees that smile, the twinkle in Elvis's eye reminding him of the young singer who captured the hearts of the world.

One night, Butler woke up from a nightmare: he dreamed that his mother was dying again, cancer having taken her when Butler was 23, the same age Elvis was when his beloved mother died.

"...that's when I knew this could turn into a very bad day, you know, when you start out in deep pain," Butler says, recalling that morning.

"...and I thought there had to be a way to channel this feeling"; so, still in his pajamas, Butler changed into a bathrobe, sat down at the piano, turned on a camera, and sang "Unchained Melody" to his mother.

A few weeks later, Luhrmann called with the offer.

"...you know, I'm a shy guy, I never sang, I never danced, so even if I didn't get the part, I was going to revel in the fact that I could explore that part of myself for five months and experiment with Baz," he says. Butler.

He pauses, then smiles. "...with that being said, I'm pretty happy I got the job."

Source: latimes.com

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