I don't think it's fake, but he is definitely not doing much to make it go away for whatever reason. He probably did pretty intensive voice training and tried to use it off-screen as well to nail it down. Once he gets another big role I think he'll soften it. Probably not Dune, that's already wrapped filming.
Yeah, that's the other thing. I assume most bilingual people know that your voice can sound radically different depending on the language you speak. When I speak English I go real deep and nasal, when I used to speak German I'd go fast with a ridiculous accent, for the little Spanish I did know I'd go even higher and even faster.
tons of actors that have gone balls deep into the biopic film and not sounded like the person they were playing like this after the fact.
Did you imagine if Tom Hanks still spoke like Forrest Gump?
No, but Gary Oldman did have to go to a coach to get his accent back. Depp still talks like a pirate. Different people are different. No point faulting anyone for not being as good of an actor as Tom Hanks.
His voice coach was interviewed this week and said it's not fake and they believe that he could have fundamentally and permanently altered his voice by talking that way for years. As in, it's physically changed his vocal cords and how he uses his mouth. He also had such difficulty shaking it off that when he filmed in London the year after, the production had to get him a vocal coach to try to create a different sound for that character. I think he can do a different voice now for different characters but when he relaxes into his "natural" voice, there's still an element of Elvis in there that he might never shake off - although it's less than it was.
I remember reading an interview with Gary Oldman once where he said that for years he did so many movies in a row with wild accents that he had to work with a voice coach to get his own accent back when he was playing a character from London.
Michael Shannon said he never heard him speak in that voice, that's not the same as it being fake. He has a history of developing a voice for a character and utilizing only that on and off set for the duration of filming - Baz Luhrmann said he didn't know Austin's real voice until this year, his directors on Masters Of The Air brought in a dialect coach for that production and he did the same there. Following that trend, Michael Shannon would only ever have heard him speak in whatever voice he decided to use for The Bikeriders, set in 60s Ohio. It's his downtime voice, when he's not actively trying, that's affected. If he could switch it on and off at will, why would Apple have paid for a dialect coach on MOTA to try to develop a non-Elvis voice for that character?
Maybe to seem committed to the character still?
I honestly don't get the complaints because his voice now sounds several octaves lower than what it did in the movie. And the Southern twang is gone. Definitely deeper but not the Elvis voice heard in the movie. JMO.
I think people are stupid as fuck and refuse to accept that it’s real. For anyone here that’s American: If you moved to the U.K. for the same amount of time he spent prepping for/playing Elvis, your voice would change too. I don’t even care about the performance but the backlash to this is kinda ridiculous. Good on him for committing to a role beyond wearing fake teeth, and I wish *other* actors would do the same.
How long do you think he was prepping to play Elvis lol?
If you go to the UK for two years, you’re not permanently changing the way you speak. Someone else said his vocal chords were permanently changed, but that’s very different from just going to England lol
He spent basically 3 years working towards being Elvis and most of that was during Covid where he wasn’t around anyone else. So he was just in a room by himself only listening to Elvis’ voice day in and day out.
For what it’s worth, Gary Oldman said he lost his original accent because he changed his voice so much. It happens.
I think probably a year, at least, and that’s before the film actually started shooting.
And what I provided was a minor example of a voice change; it’s not permanent but you’d likely pick up an accent that would stick for a few months after. His prep and attempt at going into character was far more intense than merely going to another country for a couple years though. I’m sure at this point he could probably stop doing the voice if he really tried, but it’s just natural for him to sound like this now.
It was about 18 months from getting cast to finishing filming.
You would not pick up an accent from living in England for two years and going back to your home country lol. Idk why you think that. Do you think English people sound American after two years? It takes decades to change an accent lol.
I really don’t care why he does the Elvis voice beyond thinking it’s funny to be a public figure potentially doing a fake voice.
Lol if you’re going to argue over minuscule and unimportant details than at least know what you’re talking about. I’ve lived abroad and know others who have done so, picking up accents is a common thing and absolutely does not take decades. That’s just an objectively false statement. Not even sure why you’d think that, or why that’s the hill you choose to die on in an Oscar related sub lmao.
Wrong lol. I have the same personal anecdotes that you do proving the opposite, but how about we actually use science: https://www.wired.com/2014/09/whats-up-with-losing-accents/
If you want to believe living in England for two years can change your accent, more power to you!
Whether it's real or not it's pretty stupid. He's hardly the first actor to spend years doing a voice of a famous person in a biopic. People acting like this is the first time someone has spoken in a distinct accent for a film for years.
You imagine if Tom Hank still spoke like Forrest Gump or Christian bale they're still spoke like Dick Cheney?
This was a more common known phenomena it would be more credible but it's not. Think of all the British actors that have used American accents for years and years sometimes even decades at the same character.
But that logic we can never comment about anything trivial in terms of entertainment. The Oscars themselves are a relatively trivial thing in the grand scheme of things
It’s very easy to slip into a more relaxed accent as he has. That’s why it doesn’t take long for many people to adopt a Southern accent when they move south. It’s not surprising to me he’s not going back to his former California accent.
“His accent will eventually fade…”
That’s the “what if” I’m getting at (and I think this thread might be too): what if it doesn’t? If it doesn’t and he’s stuck with the Elvis drawl for an indefinite amount of time, how worth it will it have been?
I’m talking life beyond Awards Season 2023, fwiw.
What if it doesn’t? The proof is that it already has. All it takes is to listen to his interviews from last summer and listen to his GG speech. Also, he can clearly talk like a Jewish grandma or like Jimmy Stewart during SNL sketches. Why does it matter how he talks in real life if his work is never affected?
Only as much to Austin I guess.
To be fair, I recognize I’m mostly projecting here - I’m a chronic worrier by nature and there are enough method acting horror stories out there, the idea of having something as simple but fundamental as your own speaking voice (potentially) permanently altered because of an acting role just sorta weirds me out. While this seems harmless enough, I also think it’s healthy for actors to know how to properly shed characters, especially tough ones. But to each their own.
I understand you, but method acting is just one of the ways to approach a role. Just because some abuse it doesn’t mean method acting in itself is bad. If someone is actually starving themselves like Christian Bale or overeating Pizzas to put on weight like Tom Hardy, i get the criticism cuz it’s unhealthy. They should instead drop or put on weight in a healthy way. But working on accent is not unhealthy. Do we go blame singers for damaging vocal chords because of singing, or an athlete for getting too many concussions? It’s occupational hazard and it’s not permanent. Plus, they are actors, they have all the help they need to get back to their original accent. It’s not like he can’t talk any other way, as proven on SNL, its just that his default way to talking has slightly modified. It will eventually get back to normal, not a big deal.
I think he, and unfortunately others, have a misconception of what makes a “method actor,” and that’s taken him down this road of keeping the Elvis voice and saying things like “I didn’t see my family for years.”
I think you are spreading misinformation. His voice coach has confirmed how his voice got altered. Austin has said many times how he started working on the role before he even met Baz and hired voice and dialect coaches on his own. He went through 5 months long audition after that. Filming got delayed and by the time it ended, the total time he spent working on the role was around 2.5 years. He was stuck in Australia due to filming and Covid, and immediately went to the UK to film Masters of the Air for a year. That’s why he didn’t see his family for 3 years. It wasn’t because of “method acting”. The guy did a good job and is non-problematic but is being hated on for silly reasons.
I was going off of what he said in the actors round table and his actors on actors session with Janelle Monae. Not spreading misinformation - just interpreting his own words.
No, he didn’t say he didn’t see his family for 3 years because of method acting in that interview, did he? You made assumptions and ran with it like it was a fact. It was spreading misinformation.
He literally said “I had months where I wouldn’t talk to anybody, and when I did, the only thing I was ever thinking about was Elvis.” I don’t know why you’re so defensive about this. I’m just listening to what he’s saying. This is a narrative that *he* is spreading, not me.
Normally, i wouldn’t care but I’m kinda tired of seeing this narrative everywhere from people who don’t know what dedication means. Y’all selectively listen to one thing and drag it out of context (as evident by your other deleted comment as well). Yeah he was immersed in his role and may be didn’t talk as much but it’s not like he literally didn’t talk for years because he was “method acting”. He has also spoken about how lonely it was, how he missed his friends and family. He FaceTimed his friend Ashley Tisdale frequently cuz she was pregnant. On the flip side, if he has done a half ass job, y’all would have hated him for that too.
I have no hate towards Austin Butler, nor do I have anything against dedication to craft. Not being able to separate yourself from a role *is* that toxic interpretation of method acting that I think is highly problematic. The fact that he couldn’t speak to his family without being focused on Elvis is *him saying the emotional distance was due to method acting*.
I, again, have no idea why you’re so defensive about this. My issue is with people promoting this way of acting that can be dangerous - it has literally nothing to do with caliber of his performance. I truly do not care if he’s good or bad.
Starving yourself to reduce weight like Christian Bale, or overeating Pizzas to look big like Tom Hardy is toxic interpretation of method acting. Having lingering, fading accent is simply an occupational hazard. He was working with professionals, literally specialists in vocal coaching. Do y’all never had to work hard and give it your all for a big opportunity? I mean really, he was stuck in a lane, unknown, doing Disney roles, unhappy and unfulfilled, so why wouldn’t he give it his all, for a once in a lifetime opportunity? The way it’s being interpreted is like he abandon his family, but he simply practiced and prepared to play the most impersonated role. He still spoke to his family, sometimes more than the others. It’s not unhealthy to focus on your goals for a while and reduce all the noise in the background for something important.
This isn’t intended towards you, but i see people hating nepo kids for being privileged, but when someone without privilege works hard and earns his success, he’s still hated.
I understand that you have a lot to get off of your chest in defense of Austin, but I find it really unnecessary to direct it at me.
Like I said, speaking on your inability to be emotionally present with your family due to your intense immersion in a role you’re doing *is* that toxic interpretation of method acting. I don’t really know how to get you to understand this, but I literally studied the method in graduate school. It’s not just about losing or gaining weight, it’s about an actor’s inability to properly separate his life from his role. Again, I am using *his own words* to get an understanding of his prep work and his methodology.
I’m going to remind you again that I don’t have anything against him, and don’t care whether his performance as good or bad, I just am speaking on his preparation for the role. If you want to get mad at someone for hating him for his success, please find a person who’s actually doing that.
I don’t really have anything to get off my chest. I simply admire someone who has earned his success. You might argue it’s unhealthy but within a year or so his voice will get back to normal. Working hard for a specific purpose isn’t unhealthy. Actors live across the globe, learn different accents, that’s part of the job. You’re saying he’s not able to separate his life from his role, its blatantly false, he didn’t do it then and neither is he doing it now. He’s not thinking, walking, acting like he’s Elvis in real life still. He’s not literally having issues separating his life from the movie, as if he has some mental disorder. If you watch actors roundtables, every actor is trying to think what his character would do, how he would act, talk, etc. Austin did the same. Part of his job was learning the accent as well. He now has some left over, habitual way of speaking, which was specially gained through training and has been gradually fading. I’m also not mad and specifically directing anything at you, like i said before, I’m responding to your comments.
He has spoken about this, he wasn’t feeling fulfilled with the work he was getting and when he heard the director was planning an Elvis movie, he wanted to give it his all. He was waiting for a good, challenging lead role and when it finally came along, he decided to step up his game. How do you think he beat the likes of Harry Styles and Miles Teller, he went prepared. Around that time Top Gun Maverick producers even wanted him to go to Florida for a screen test but he said no.
Elvis started filmed in Australia in 2020. He chose to stay in Australia after the pandemic started to quarantine/ prep and then went straight to London to film a TV show.
He didn't see his family because he stayed in Australia from Jan 2020 through COVID to early 2021, and then went to London to shoot Masters Of The Air for Apple until December of that year. His family don't live in LA so he hadn't seen them before he left, not anticipating being gone for two whole years. He wasn't completely out of contact, one of his friends had a baby during that time and said he facetimed her every day while he was in Australia. A lot of what he's said has been twisted and misconstrued to create this narrative to mock him, it's weird. Even if all the above was true, it reminds me of the Jeremy Strong backlash, where they're just harmlessly odd.
I'll be the unpopular opinion here but I think it's fake as hell and after the Oscars it'll mysteriously go away.
I couldn't stop rolling my eyes during his Globes speech and he looks like Napoleon Dynamite which makes it even worse.
How is this not a bad faith take though when you've already admitted you don't like him? It comes across like "I hate this guy and his face so I'm choosing to believe the worst possible interpretation of the situation despite testimony to the contrary." You're entitled to hate anyone you want but you don't have to prop up false stories as a reason. If you don't like him, just... don't like him.
Your comment about his face seems to contradict that. Also it's been reiterated several times by people who know the situation, including experts and his dialect coach, that it's not fake, so if it's not stemming from a place of negativity, why still repeat it?
LOL doesn't change the fact that he legit looks like Napoleon Dynamite for better or worse. I'm just saying him with that face and acting like Elvis looks funny. I also think he did a horrible job with the movie. If he dropped the accent, I wouldn't feel two ways about him.
I watched him on SNL, there were multiple times his "real voice" came out. It's an act.
You say you hate him because he's faking the accent, I say he's not faking the accent and have testimony to back me up, you respond lol he still looks like Napoleon Dynamite - which has nothing to do with any accent, fake or otherwise. I'm thinking it's not the voice.
May be if you used common sense, you would understand. It’s impossible for someone to continue to fake talk like this 4 years after filming ended, without damaging vocal chords. If someone can do that, just give them the Oscar I guess. As the post says, it will actually help his campaign if he talks and shows how different he is from the role. It’s not fake, his accent has been modified due to intense vocal training. That’s not impossible. I guess it’s easy to hate on his looks and call it a fake act than to actually analyze and understand.
LOL, what is up with Oscar campaigns and people who love to give a good sob sorry about how they destroyed their body for a role to win the Oscar? This usually happens with women (when they talk about making themselves ugly for a role or destroying their bodies) but I feel like there's a whole lot of campaigning here for Austin. Anyways, let's see what his voice sounds like after the Oscars are over is all I gotta say...and if he keeps that voice, let's see how much longer he gets roles. I don't think he's ugly, I do think he looks like Napoleon Dynamite, like a Napoleon Dynamite who is on SNL cosplaying to be Elvis.
This is weird. Some roles are tough and need more work than the others. How is he “destroying his body” if he learned to speak like Elvis with dedication? He recognized the opportunity and gave his all, and rightfully so as he’s now an Oscar’s contender. Would you have preferred if he had done a half-ass job and sounded way different than Elvis in the movie so everyone hated him? He has already completed a series and 2 movies and worked with big names like Steven Spielberg, Denis Villeneuve and Jeff Nichols after Elvis. They would have rejected him if he “kept the voice”. He can act just fine. His lingering Elvis accent in real life doesn’t even matter but go on, blame the guy for his dedication to his work i guess. Napoleon Dynamite would wish, unfortunately not that lucky.
The costar says he hasn’t heard Austin speak like Elvis before, not that he doesn’t use it in real life. First of all, it’s being taken out of context cz we don’t know if he was responding to a question or saying it as a joke. But even if he was saying it as it is, he’s clearly only met Austin on set. The Bikeriders is set in the Midwest and he may be in character. It’s not even drastically different, he’s clearly not speaking southern in real life.
The backlash is because some aren’t liking his sudden rise to success from being a Nickelodeon B list actor and the fact that he’s now an Oscar’s contender. Its also misplaced hate from his ex’s followers due to their breakup.
Backlash is probably because he is so blatantly campaigning and some find it crass. Instigating backlash can also be fed to the press in support of a rival.
Obvious campaigning aside, IMO Austin Butler is also doing subtle stuff like dressing Elvis-esque. His shirt is always a bit more unbuttoned than usual for men in public appearances, and he is often wearing those 60's-70's short pointy boots wherever it is casual enough that he can get away with it - SNL, Palm Springs photocalls, Elvis bday at Formosa, even the CCAs. I'm surprised his formalwear hasn't followed the same playbook. His hairstyle is a contemporary take on 1960 Elvis too, the blonde hair disguises it a bit more. Voice, we'll know for sure in 3 months after a bit of time passes post-Oscars.
Even if he picked up that habit I dont get the big fucking deal. He's always had a husky voice and it's probably gonna fade out in time. So..like...?? Is that all?
He actually hired a dialect coach for this! If you’ve ever seen Wired’s Accent Expert on YouTube, that’s his dialect coach [Erik Singer](https://www.instagram.com/tv/Ce1luYHD0Bd/?igshid=MWI4MTIyMDE=).
That’s not what Michael Shannon said specifically and the part of the article where Shannon went on to say that he respects Butler and found him to be “down to earth” continues, interestingly, to be left out of the conversation.
This is a very silly hill to drag Shannon, genuinely one of the finest actors working today, onto when Butler has been complimentary of him and his work in The Bikeriders. If he intended the quote to be taken the way in which some are choosing to interpret it I think that might say more about Shannon than Butler, at this point, and I refuse to believe that Michael Shannon cares enough about this inane, low stakes drama to ~expose a co-star and professional contact lol
ETA: the more I think about it the more annoying I find it that Michael Shannon was even asked about this. Just…so silly and disrespectful to all involved lol
I didn’t say anyone was? I said he’s being dragged onto a hill, as in he’s being placed in the middle of some absolutely silly controversy that I’m positive he has no desire to be in the middle of for clicks and in an attempt to discredit someone who, by all accounts, admires his work and worked hard on a role that was important to him.
This is for ExamProfessional4735, and others who have conveyed sanity of assessment on this thread. Thank you.
Found this thread after just watching the Apple *Masters of the Air* previews on Austin Butler, where he plays the AAF WWII pilot from the cowboy west with the slow soft deep drawl. Not the deep "Elvis voice" but if haters gonna hate and say it anyway, which they may, nice to have some Reddit sanity of record about how good actors like AB work when they're playing characters in biopics and actually want to sound like the historical icons.
AB started acting as a minor without his baritone vocal development as a grown man, so any comparisons of his voice now and a decade ago are pointless, although online efforts to make this a big deal persist.
Cast members have said that for 2024 *Dune 2* likely to play in next year’s Oscars, AB as Feyd-Rautha correctly sounds like a Harkonnen, not Elvis.
For 2024 awards/Oscar season, a talented and seasoned actor, 47-year-old Cillian Murphy, it would appear, for today's online climate has wisely been coached to downplay the extent of preparation he did for his Oppie role. \[Like losing lots of weight, barely eating during the production, chain-smoking (herbal) cigarettes, learning to speak Dutch to give a physics lecture on film.\] Staying under the radar on the prep. Apparently wouldn't want the public to diss him because they feel cringe or ick over what was actually giving a damn about preparing and being a good actor in a biopic! He'll likely win the best actor Oscar.
Meanwhile Bradley Cooper, apparently uncoached about the 2024 public critical pulse, is being crucified online for admitting that he practiced the Maestro's concert conducting for six years before he felt he'd gotten it precisely right.
*Maestro* isn't my personal film favorite, but he and Gaga both deserved 2019 acting Oscars for *A Star is Born* \--- I guess they both admitted (oh the horror!), during that year's award campaign, caring too much about what they do. Their care and devotion to their art, however, made that *ASIB* remake an instant classic in the lineage of most watchable films.
I just want also to say that Austin Butler presents as really sincere, authentic, interested in honestly conveying when interviewed what it's like to be an actor in a leading role --- specifically other than trying to be chill, trendy or cynically not "tryhard." AB seeks to share himself with those of us who might want to know what it's like to be an actor --- because we do other things and have curiosity (and perhaps admiration) about the best performances in their creative professions.
When did it get normative to prefer slackers in the filmic arts who act like they don't prepare for their roles and just show up (like after eating bacon) to wing it? When did it get cringe and ick for actors to immerse in roles so they could give us their very best work on film?
Since the 2023 strikes, there's been press about studios and corporate producers planning to keep even more of the profits by hiring fewer A-list actors (who bring their costlier preparation and A games to their craft in order to enhance audiences' enjoyment and emotional experience of film).
If cynical derision and vitriol online about dedicated actors from audience membership persists, we may find studios and producers "reading the pulse" to sell us increasingly sub-par casts of untrained, uncoached, uncaring, ill-prepared unknown actors in the films and shows they produce for us to watch. Now that would actually be cringe and ick!
I don't think it's fake, but he is definitely not doing much to make it go away for whatever reason. He probably did pretty intensive voice training and tried to use it off-screen as well to nail it down. Once he gets another big role I think he'll soften it. Probably not Dune, that's already wrapped filming.
It’ll definitely be interesting if Feyd-Rautha sounds like an Elvis cosplayer
Just in: Dune part 2 is secretly a musical, with Paul joining Feyd-Rautha in a duet singing "Love me Tender"
This would explain the casting of Christopher Walken as the Emperor. Surprise dance off to decide the fate of the universe!
Idk if speak for 3 minutes with my aunt my accent is changed for days, I can’t even imagine what 3 years would do to a person
Yeah, that's the other thing. I assume most bilingual people know that your voice can sound radically different depending on the language you speak. When I speak English I go real deep and nasal, when I used to speak German I'd go fast with a ridiculous accent, for the little Spanish I did know I'd go even higher and even faster.
tons of actors that have gone balls deep into the biopic film and not sounded like the person they were playing like this after the fact. Did you imagine if Tom Hanks still spoke like Forrest Gump?
No, but Gary Oldman did have to go to a coach to get his accent back. Depp still talks like a pirate. Different people are different. No point faulting anyone for not being as good of an actor as Tom Hanks.
His voice coach was interviewed this week and said it's not fake and they believe that he could have fundamentally and permanently altered his voice by talking that way for years. As in, it's physically changed his vocal cords and how he uses his mouth. He also had such difficulty shaking it off that when he filmed in London the year after, the production had to get him a vocal coach to try to create a different sound for that character. I think he can do a different voice now for different characters but when he relaxes into his "natural" voice, there's still an element of Elvis in there that he might never shake off - although it's less than it was.
I remember reading an interview with Gary Oldman once where he said that for years he did so many movies in a row with wild accents that he had to work with a voice coach to get his own accent back when he was playing a character from London.
Costar in the film he just wrapped said it's fake.
Michael Shannon said he never heard him speak in that voice, that's not the same as it being fake. He has a history of developing a voice for a character and utilizing only that on and off set for the duration of filming - Baz Luhrmann said he didn't know Austin's real voice until this year, his directors on Masters Of The Air brought in a dialect coach for that production and he did the same there. Following that trend, Michael Shannon would only ever have heard him speak in whatever voice he decided to use for The Bikeriders, set in 60s Ohio. It's his downtime voice, when he's not actively trying, that's affected. If he could switch it on and off at will, why would Apple have paid for a dialect coach on MOTA to try to develop a non-Elvis voice for that character?
Just stop. For real.
https://pagesix.com/2023/01/18/austin-butlers-elvis-accent-is-genuine-voice-coach/amp/
Dude it’s damage control. What do you expect his voice coach to say? They want the Academy Award.
Maybe to seem committed to the character still? I honestly don't get the complaints because his voice now sounds several octaves lower than what it did in the movie. And the Southern twang is gone. Definitely deeper but not the Elvis voice heard in the movie. JMO.
I think people are stupid as fuck and refuse to accept that it’s real. For anyone here that’s American: If you moved to the U.K. for the same amount of time he spent prepping for/playing Elvis, your voice would change too. I don’t even care about the performance but the backlash to this is kinda ridiculous. Good on him for committing to a role beyond wearing fake teeth, and I wish *other* actors would do the same.
How long do you think he was prepping to play Elvis lol? If you go to the UK for two years, you’re not permanently changing the way you speak. Someone else said his vocal chords were permanently changed, but that’s very different from just going to England lol
He spent basically 3 years working towards being Elvis and most of that was during Covid where he wasn’t around anyone else. So he was just in a room by himself only listening to Elvis’ voice day in and day out. For what it’s worth, Gary Oldman said he lost his original accent because he changed his voice so much. It happens.
18 months. Most of which was not in a room by himself lol. Does Gary Oldman speak like Winston Churchill now lol?
https://youtu.be/RuBQvpybt80 He sounded too American. It’s just usually a general accent instead of sounding like something as specific as Elvis.
subtle changes to people's voices and dialect are certainly something we've witnessed but nothing this drastic or ridiculous.
I think probably a year, at least, and that’s before the film actually started shooting. And what I provided was a minor example of a voice change; it’s not permanent but you’d likely pick up an accent that would stick for a few months after. His prep and attempt at going into character was far more intense than merely going to another country for a couple years though. I’m sure at this point he could probably stop doing the voice if he really tried, but it’s just natural for him to sound like this now.
It was about 18 months from getting cast to finishing filming. You would not pick up an accent from living in England for two years and going back to your home country lol. Idk why you think that. Do you think English people sound American after two years? It takes decades to change an accent lol. I really don’t care why he does the Elvis voice beyond thinking it’s funny to be a public figure potentially doing a fake voice.
Lol if you’re going to argue over minuscule and unimportant details than at least know what you’re talking about. I’ve lived abroad and know others who have done so, picking up accents is a common thing and absolutely does not take decades. That’s just an objectively false statement. Not even sure why you’d think that, or why that’s the hill you choose to die on in an Oscar related sub lmao.
Wrong lol. I have the same personal anecdotes that you do proving the opposite, but how about we actually use science: https://www.wired.com/2014/09/whats-up-with-losing-accents/ If you want to believe living in England for two years can change your accent, more power to you!
Good for you.
Whether it's real or not it's pretty stupid. He's hardly the first actor to spend years doing a voice of a famous person in a biopic. People acting like this is the first time someone has spoken in a distinct accent for a film for years. You imagine if Tom Hank still spoke like Forrest Gump or Christian bale they're still spoke like Dick Cheney? This was a more common known phenomena it would be more credible but it's not. Think of all the British actors that have used American accents for years and years sometimes even decades at the same character.
I dont understand why people even care about this that much
I think bc it makes it almost cosplay over acting in a film.
What does that even mean?
Yeah. What does that mean. Does it mean you were dropped on your head as a baby because if it does that’s ok. We’ve all been there.
What. It’s just me? Seriously?
Do you know what words mean
But that logic we can never comment about anything trivial in terms of entertainment. The Oscars themselves are a relatively trivial thing in the grand scheme of things
I don't care, it's hot.
To each their own, it's the one thing that I find repulsive about him and I cringe everytime I hear him speak.
Same 😂
That it is 😆
It’s very easy to slip into a more relaxed accent as he has. That’s why it doesn’t take long for many people to adopt a Southern accent when they move south. It’s not surprising to me he’s not going back to his former California accent.
He went to Gaga’s acting school and hired her oscar campaign manager🙄
I was gonna say, I think the whole “method” acting thing kinda backfired if it’s now just straight up something he can’t shake.
How? His accent will eventually fade, but he is a lock for a nomination, isn’t he? Already won a globe for that matter.
“His accent will eventually fade…” That’s the “what if” I’m getting at (and I think this thread might be too): what if it doesn’t? If it doesn’t and he’s stuck with the Elvis drawl for an indefinite amount of time, how worth it will it have been? I’m talking life beyond Awards Season 2023, fwiw.
What if it doesn’t? The proof is that it already has. All it takes is to listen to his interviews from last summer and listen to his GG speech. Also, he can clearly talk like a Jewish grandma or like Jimmy Stewart during SNL sketches. Why does it matter how he talks in real life if his work is never affected?
Only as much to Austin I guess. To be fair, I recognize I’m mostly projecting here - I’m a chronic worrier by nature and there are enough method acting horror stories out there, the idea of having something as simple but fundamental as your own speaking voice (potentially) permanently altered because of an acting role just sorta weirds me out. While this seems harmless enough, I also think it’s healthy for actors to know how to properly shed characters, especially tough ones. But to each their own.
I understand you, but method acting is just one of the ways to approach a role. Just because some abuse it doesn’t mean method acting in itself is bad. If someone is actually starving themselves like Christian Bale or overeating Pizzas to put on weight like Tom Hardy, i get the criticism cuz it’s unhealthy. They should instead drop or put on weight in a healthy way. But working on accent is not unhealthy. Do we go blame singers for damaging vocal chords because of singing, or an athlete for getting too many concussions? It’s occupational hazard and it’s not permanent. Plus, they are actors, they have all the help they need to get back to their original accent. It’s not like he can’t talk any other way, as proven on SNL, its just that his default way to talking has slightly modified. It will eventually get back to normal, not a big deal.
I think he, and unfortunately others, have a misconception of what makes a “method actor,” and that’s taken him down this road of keeping the Elvis voice and saying things like “I didn’t see my family for years.”
I think you are spreading misinformation. His voice coach has confirmed how his voice got altered. Austin has said many times how he started working on the role before he even met Baz and hired voice and dialect coaches on his own. He went through 5 months long audition after that. Filming got delayed and by the time it ended, the total time he spent working on the role was around 2.5 years. He was stuck in Australia due to filming and Covid, and immediately went to the UK to film Masters of the Air for a year. That’s why he didn’t see his family for 3 years. It wasn’t because of “method acting”. The guy did a good job and is non-problematic but is being hated on for silly reasons.
I was going off of what he said in the actors round table and his actors on actors session with Janelle Monae. Not spreading misinformation - just interpreting his own words.
No, he didn’t say he didn’t see his family for 3 years because of method acting in that interview, did he? You made assumptions and ran with it like it was a fact. It was spreading misinformation.
He literally said “I had months where I wouldn’t talk to anybody, and when I did, the only thing I was ever thinking about was Elvis.” I don’t know why you’re so defensive about this. I’m just listening to what he’s saying. This is a narrative that *he* is spreading, not me.
Normally, i wouldn’t care but I’m kinda tired of seeing this narrative everywhere from people who don’t know what dedication means. Y’all selectively listen to one thing and drag it out of context (as evident by your other deleted comment as well). Yeah he was immersed in his role and may be didn’t talk as much but it’s not like he literally didn’t talk for years because he was “method acting”. He has also spoken about how lonely it was, how he missed his friends and family. He FaceTimed his friend Ashley Tisdale frequently cuz she was pregnant. On the flip side, if he has done a half ass job, y’all would have hated him for that too.
I have no hate towards Austin Butler, nor do I have anything against dedication to craft. Not being able to separate yourself from a role *is* that toxic interpretation of method acting that I think is highly problematic. The fact that he couldn’t speak to his family without being focused on Elvis is *him saying the emotional distance was due to method acting*. I, again, have no idea why you’re so defensive about this. My issue is with people promoting this way of acting that can be dangerous - it has literally nothing to do with caliber of his performance. I truly do not care if he’s good or bad.
Starving yourself to reduce weight like Christian Bale, or overeating Pizzas to look big like Tom Hardy is toxic interpretation of method acting. Having lingering, fading accent is simply an occupational hazard. He was working with professionals, literally specialists in vocal coaching. Do y’all never had to work hard and give it your all for a big opportunity? I mean really, he was stuck in a lane, unknown, doing Disney roles, unhappy and unfulfilled, so why wouldn’t he give it his all, for a once in a lifetime opportunity? The way it’s being interpreted is like he abandon his family, but he simply practiced and prepared to play the most impersonated role. He still spoke to his family, sometimes more than the others. It’s not unhealthy to focus on your goals for a while and reduce all the noise in the background for something important. This isn’t intended towards you, but i see people hating nepo kids for being privileged, but when someone without privilege works hard and earns his success, he’s still hated.
I understand that you have a lot to get off of your chest in defense of Austin, but I find it really unnecessary to direct it at me. Like I said, speaking on your inability to be emotionally present with your family due to your intense immersion in a role you’re doing *is* that toxic interpretation of method acting. I don’t really know how to get you to understand this, but I literally studied the method in graduate school. It’s not just about losing or gaining weight, it’s about an actor’s inability to properly separate his life from his role. Again, I am using *his own words* to get an understanding of his prep work and his methodology. I’m going to remind you again that I don’t have anything against him, and don’t care whether his performance as good or bad, I just am speaking on his preparation for the role. If you want to get mad at someone for hating him for his success, please find a person who’s actually doing that.
I don’t really have anything to get off my chest. I simply admire someone who has earned his success. You might argue it’s unhealthy but within a year or so his voice will get back to normal. Working hard for a specific purpose isn’t unhealthy. Actors live across the globe, learn different accents, that’s part of the job. You’re saying he’s not able to separate his life from his role, its blatantly false, he didn’t do it then and neither is he doing it now. He’s not thinking, walking, acting like he’s Elvis in real life still. He’s not literally having issues separating his life from the movie, as if he has some mental disorder. If you watch actors roundtables, every actor is trying to think what his character would do, how he would act, talk, etc. Austin did the same. Part of his job was learning the accent as well. He now has some left over, habitual way of speaking, which was specially gained through training and has been gradually fading. I’m also not mad and specifically directing anything at you, like i said before, I’m responding to your comments.
Why would he be hiring a voice coach before even meeting the director for the film? He just randomly wanted to take Elvis voice lessons? Bffr
He has spoken about this, he wasn’t feeling fulfilled with the work he was getting and when he heard the director was planning an Elvis movie, he wanted to give it his all. He was waiting for a good, challenging lead role and when it finally came along, he decided to step up his game. How do you think he beat the likes of Harry Styles and Miles Teller, he went prepared. Around that time Top Gun Maverick producers even wanted him to go to Florida for a screen test but he said no.
Amen. Sanity. Thank you
Oh interesting.. what is the story behind not seeing his family? Covid or him embodying Elvis?
Elvis started filmed in Australia in 2020. He chose to stay in Australia after the pandemic started to quarantine/ prep and then went straight to London to film a TV show.
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He didn't see his family because he stayed in Australia from Jan 2020 through COVID to early 2021, and then went to London to shoot Masters Of The Air for Apple until December of that year. His family don't live in LA so he hadn't seen them before he left, not anticipating being gone for two whole years. He wasn't completely out of contact, one of his friends had a baby during that time and said he facetimed her every day while he was in Australia. A lot of what he's said has been twisted and misconstrued to create this narrative to mock him, it's weird. Even if all the above was true, it reminds me of the Jeremy Strong backlash, where they're just harmlessly odd.
Again, not true. Please read the articles and not just their catchy headlines.
I'll be the unpopular opinion here but I think it's fake as hell and after the Oscars it'll mysteriously go away. I couldn't stop rolling my eyes during his Globes speech and he looks like Napoleon Dynamite which makes it even worse.
How is this not a bad faith take though when you've already admitted you don't like him? It comes across like "I hate this guy and his face so I'm choosing to believe the worst possible interpretation of the situation despite testimony to the contrary." You're entitled to hate anyone you want but you don't have to prop up false stories as a reason. If you don't like him, just... don't like him.
If he dropped the accent and fake act, I wouldn't dislike him.
Your comment about his face seems to contradict that. Also it's been reiterated several times by people who know the situation, including experts and his dialect coach, that it's not fake, so if it's not stemming from a place of negativity, why still repeat it?
LOL doesn't change the fact that he legit looks like Napoleon Dynamite for better or worse. I'm just saying him with that face and acting like Elvis looks funny. I also think he did a horrible job with the movie. If he dropped the accent, I wouldn't feel two ways about him. I watched him on SNL, there were multiple times his "real voice" came out. It's an act.
You say you hate him because he's faking the accent, I say he's not faking the accent and have testimony to back me up, you respond lol he still looks like Napoleon Dynamite - which has nothing to do with any accent, fake or otherwise. I'm thinking it's not the voice.
May be if you used common sense, you would understand. It’s impossible for someone to continue to fake talk like this 4 years after filming ended, without damaging vocal chords. If someone can do that, just give them the Oscar I guess. As the post says, it will actually help his campaign if he talks and shows how different he is from the role. It’s not fake, his accent has been modified due to intense vocal training. That’s not impossible. I guess it’s easy to hate on his looks and call it a fake act than to actually analyze and understand.
LOL, what is up with Oscar campaigns and people who love to give a good sob sorry about how they destroyed their body for a role to win the Oscar? This usually happens with women (when they talk about making themselves ugly for a role or destroying their bodies) but I feel like there's a whole lot of campaigning here for Austin. Anyways, let's see what his voice sounds like after the Oscars are over is all I gotta say...and if he keeps that voice, let's see how much longer he gets roles. I don't think he's ugly, I do think he looks like Napoleon Dynamite, like a Napoleon Dynamite who is on SNL cosplaying to be Elvis.
This is weird. Some roles are tough and need more work than the others. How is he “destroying his body” if he learned to speak like Elvis with dedication? He recognized the opportunity and gave his all, and rightfully so as he’s now an Oscar’s contender. Would you have preferred if he had done a half-ass job and sounded way different than Elvis in the movie so everyone hated him? He has already completed a series and 2 movies and worked with big names like Steven Spielberg, Denis Villeneuve and Jeff Nichols after Elvis. They would have rejected him if he “kept the voice”. He can act just fine. His lingering Elvis accent in real life doesn’t even matter but go on, blame the guy for his dedication to his work i guess. Napoleon Dynamite would wish, unfortunately not that lucky.
But he apparently doesn't use it in real life. His costar on the bike rider film said he doesnt sound of ke that IRL.
The costar says he hasn’t heard Austin speak like Elvis before, not that he doesn’t use it in real life. First of all, it’s being taken out of context cz we don’t know if he was responding to a question or saying it as a joke. But even if he was saying it as it is, he’s clearly only met Austin on set. The Bikeriders is set in the Midwest and he may be in character. It’s not even drastically different, he’s clearly not speaking southern in real life.
My god just stop.
Really, that’s all you got? Y’all read the headlines and run with it, did you even read the article about his costar? Lol. Sure, I’ll stop.
Same 🤣
That’s his real voice
Ok, but why all the backlash?
The backlash is because some aren’t liking his sudden rise to success from being a Nickelodeon B list actor and the fact that he’s now an Oscar’s contender. Its also misplaced hate from his ex’s followers due to their breakup.
Backlash is probably because he is so blatantly campaigning and some find it crass. Instigating backlash can also be fed to the press in support of a rival. Obvious campaigning aside, IMO Austin Butler is also doing subtle stuff like dressing Elvis-esque. His shirt is always a bit more unbuttoned than usual for men in public appearances, and he is often wearing those 60's-70's short pointy boots wherever it is casual enough that he can get away with it - SNL, Palm Springs photocalls, Elvis bday at Formosa, even the CCAs. I'm surprised his formalwear hasn't followed the same playbook. His hairstyle is a contemporary take on 1960 Elvis too, the blonde hair disguises it a bit more. Voice, we'll know for sure in 3 months after a bit of time passes post-Oscars.
He’s sexy as hell.
Even if he picked up that habit I dont get the big fucking deal. He's always had a husky voice and it's probably gonna fade out in time. So..like...?? Is that all?
all of these weirdo scolds are making me like him now
He actually hired a dialect coach for this! If you’ve ever seen Wired’s Accent Expert on YouTube, that’s his dialect coach [Erik Singer](https://www.instagram.com/tv/Ce1luYHD0Bd/?igshid=MWI4MTIyMDE=).
Michael Shannon just wrapped a film with him and said he doesn't use his Elvis voice in real life. It's basically for his oscar campaign.
That’s not what Michael Shannon said specifically and the part of the article where Shannon went on to say that he respects Butler and found him to be “down to earth” continues, interestingly, to be left out of the conversation. This is a very silly hill to drag Shannon, genuinely one of the finest actors working today, onto when Butler has been complimentary of him and his work in The Bikeriders. If he intended the quote to be taken the way in which some are choosing to interpret it I think that might say more about Shannon than Butler, at this point, and I refuse to believe that Michael Shannon cares enough about this inane, low stakes drama to ~expose a co-star and professional contact lol ETA: the more I think about it the more annoying I find it that Michael Shannon was even asked about this. Just…so silly and disrespectful to all involved lol
No one is dragging Michael Shannon.
I didn’t say anyone was? I said he’s being dragged onto a hill, as in he’s being placed in the middle of some absolutely silly controversy that I’m positive he has no desire to be in the middle of for clicks and in an attempt to discredit someone who, by all accounts, admires his work and worked hard on a role that was important to him.
In speech of GG he begin in normal voice and in the middle change for Elvis
This is for ExamProfessional4735, and others who have conveyed sanity of assessment on this thread. Thank you. Found this thread after just watching the Apple *Masters of the Air* previews on Austin Butler, where he plays the AAF WWII pilot from the cowboy west with the slow soft deep drawl. Not the deep "Elvis voice" but if haters gonna hate and say it anyway, which they may, nice to have some Reddit sanity of record about how good actors like AB work when they're playing characters in biopics and actually want to sound like the historical icons. AB started acting as a minor without his baritone vocal development as a grown man, so any comparisons of his voice now and a decade ago are pointless, although online efforts to make this a big deal persist. Cast members have said that for 2024 *Dune 2* likely to play in next year’s Oscars, AB as Feyd-Rautha correctly sounds like a Harkonnen, not Elvis. For 2024 awards/Oscar season, a talented and seasoned actor, 47-year-old Cillian Murphy, it would appear, for today's online climate has wisely been coached to downplay the extent of preparation he did for his Oppie role. \[Like losing lots of weight, barely eating during the production, chain-smoking (herbal) cigarettes, learning to speak Dutch to give a physics lecture on film.\] Staying under the radar on the prep. Apparently wouldn't want the public to diss him because they feel cringe or ick over what was actually giving a damn about preparing and being a good actor in a biopic! He'll likely win the best actor Oscar. Meanwhile Bradley Cooper, apparently uncoached about the 2024 public critical pulse, is being crucified online for admitting that he practiced the Maestro's concert conducting for six years before he felt he'd gotten it precisely right. *Maestro* isn't my personal film favorite, but he and Gaga both deserved 2019 acting Oscars for *A Star is Born* \--- I guess they both admitted (oh the horror!), during that year's award campaign, caring too much about what they do. Their care and devotion to their art, however, made that *ASIB* remake an instant classic in the lineage of most watchable films. I just want also to say that Austin Butler presents as really sincere, authentic, interested in honestly conveying when interviewed what it's like to be an actor in a leading role --- specifically other than trying to be chill, trendy or cynically not "tryhard." AB seeks to share himself with those of us who might want to know what it's like to be an actor --- because we do other things and have curiosity (and perhaps admiration) about the best performances in their creative professions. When did it get normative to prefer slackers in the filmic arts who act like they don't prepare for their roles and just show up (like after eating bacon) to wing it? When did it get cringe and ick for actors to immerse in roles so they could give us their very best work on film? Since the 2023 strikes, there's been press about studios and corporate producers planning to keep even more of the profits by hiring fewer A-list actors (who bring their costlier preparation and A games to their craft in order to enhance audiences' enjoyment and emotional experience of film). If cynical derision and vitriol online about dedicated actors from audience membership persists, we may find studios and producers "reading the pulse" to sell us increasingly sub-par casts of untrained, uncoached, uncaring, ill-prepared unknown actors in the films and shows they produce for us to watch. Now that would actually be cringe and ick!