Austin Butler needed a dialect coach to get rid of his Elvis voice

Austin Butler took painstaking steps to master Elvis Presley’s signature stretch for his role in the Baz Luhrmann film. Elvis biopic—and he needed professional help to make that voice disappear.

On Wednesday’s episode Late ShowThe actor talks about how difficult it was to get out of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s head when it came time to film his next project, a miniseries about World War II. Masters of the Air.

“It was a lot,” Butler said. “I was just trying to remember who I was, I was trying to remember what I liked to do. All I thought about was Elvis for three years.” He added: “I had a dialect coach who helped me not sound like Elvis in that movie.”

Butler previously opened up about the work he did to perfect his Presley accent, telling EW that he created his own “audio catalog” of every word the singer said just to make sure he was practicing the pronunciation.

“I heard him say a certain word and I cut just that part so I knew how he said the word,” Butler explained. “I created my own archive of how he pronounced every word and every diphthong, and how he used the musicality in his voice.”

Butler Elvis The performance earned him a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination, but people joked online that he was still using that voice during a press conference for the film. He recently told EW that he had to “shed one skin and try to put on another” to play the Major. Gail Kleven for Masters of the Air.

Masters of the Air will debut its first two episodes January 26 on Apple TV+. Watch “Butler” on Late Show higher.

Want more movie news? subscribe to Entertainment WeeklyFree newsletter bringing you the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, movie reviews and more.

Related Content: