Austin Butler's voice coach explains why he still sounds like Elvis and says it could last for life
Austin Butler did an incredible job of portraying Elvis Presley on the big screen, but he could end up sounding like The King for the rest of his life.
To be honest, sounding like Elvis doesn't sound like the worst of things to be stuck with for life, especially when you're picking up awards and applause for being so good at it.
Still, while many actors adopt a particular accent to take on a certain role, and especially so in biopics like Butler did for Elvis, there does come a point where you might want your old voice back.
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During his acceptance speech for the 'Best Actor' award at the Golden Globes plenty of fans picked up on how much the actor still sounds like Elvis and they weren't sure if he was putting it on.
During his speech, Butler praised many of the famous figures in the room, either for getting to work with them in his career or just because he loved their work so much.
He also paid tribute to the Presley family who were in attendance and have found so much to praise about Austin's portrayal of Elvis.
He sounded so uncannily like Elvis months after the movie released that some are wondering if he'll ever get his old voice back, and his vocal coach has suggested he might be stuck with the accent for life.
Griffith University Associate Professor Irene Bartlett worked with Butler to get his voice sounding right, and revealed there's a chance that his new accent is 'going to be there forever'.
She said: "Because of Covid shutdowns he was working on it all the time, and it’s difficult to switch off something you’ve spent so much focus time on.
"You know, when he came into his singing lessons he was dressed in 50s-style gear. He was never going to be - and Baz Luhrmann didn't want him to be - an Elvis impersonator, that's the last thing they wanted him to be."
"What they wanted was a true connection with the personality of Elvis and his story and that's what Austin worked on."
She said his voice at the Golden Globes was 'genuine' and not something the actor put on just for that, so maybe he just talks like Elvis forever now.
Butler himself has also addressed this, saying he doesn't actually think he still sounds like Elvis but reckons since he hears his own voice so much he might not know.
He admitted that he must still sound like The King since he gets a lot of people telling him that and compared it to the accent change that happens 'when somebody lives in another country for a long time'.
The actor added: "I had three years where that was my only focus, so I'm sure there's pieces of him in my DNA and I will always be linked to him."
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Golden Globes
Joe Harker