Austin Butler: the new Elvis, son-in-law of Cindy Crawford, who dreams of being Leonardo DiCaprio

There are about half a million registered professional Elvis Presley impersonators in the world.

The number includes figures such as the Latin singer El Vez or the flying Elvises from Las Vegas and leaves out the fans who are encouraged by the

at weddings and baptisms.

But if someone takes the crown, it is Austin Butler (California, 30 years old), a true unknown who has become the most desired man of the moment as the protagonist of

, the biographical drama directed by Baz Luhrmann about the king of rock.

His time at the last Cannes Film Festival received a 12-minute ovation and judging by the (bad) reviews received by his co-star, the best-known Tom Hanks (who plays Colonel Tom Parker), the cheers were directed at this new star named Butler.

Someone who, as Luhrmann said when he chose him for the role, over the rumored Miles Teller or Harry Styles, “cannot be ignored”.

More information

This was the last 24 hours in the life of Elvis Presley

Biopics

usually very grateful to their performers.

There remains the work of Joaquin Phoenix, an Oscar nominee for his portrayal of Johnny Cash

(2005), an award that Rami Malek did win by bringing Freddie Mercury back to life with

in 2018. Hence, the praise for an interpretation that, as the year is going, is more than likely to reach the nominations for the next Oscars, is not so surprising.

But this time the comments also come from the Presley family, with her only daughter, Lisa Marie, assuring that if they don't give Butler the statuette, he puts his foot in her mouth.

"Nothing makes me more excited than to have filled his entire family with pride, Priscilla, Lisa Marie, Riley [Keough, his granddaughter], doing justice to this man and his enormous legacy," the actor confessed in Cannes, with that southern education that the interpreter has learned from his idol.

Actually, Elvis Presley was never the idol of the young Californian.

Leonardo DiCaprio did, but even that wasn't early on, because this 30-year-old actor, who taught himself piano and guitar on his own, came to acting on the bounce.

One day he accompanied a stepbrother to a

and that's where the ball began to roll, with small roles that he doesn't even remember in an advertisement and many works in series for a teenage audience where many connoisseurs try to find the keys to the Austin Butler phenomenon by imagining, more than seeing, the quality that this novel demonstrates in

.

Actors Austin Butler and Olivia DeJonge, as Elvis and Priscilla Presley in the film 'Elvis', by Baz Luhrmann.Warner

Not even Butler believes it, because in his years as a teen star his greatest fame was achieved by his almost decade-long relationship with fellow actress Vanessa Hudgens, with whom he broke up two years ago.

And while he dreamed of roles like DiCaprio's in

(1993) or

(1995) and he read and reread the script for

(1994) thinking that one day he would work with Quentin Tarantino, the chances were very remote.

Such “unrealistic expectations”, he has even confessed, that he even thought about leaving the interpretation and moving to the other side of the camera.

There's nothing like saying no to get them to say yes.

At least in Hollywood tales.

Denzel Washington saw in Butler his Don Parritt for

the Eugene O'Neill play in which he debuted on Broadway and with which he received all the praise that others - including Washington - did not get. they won.

And then came the dream job with Tarantino in

(2019).

But none of that prepared him for

like a dream, or rather a nightmare, he had while working on a video to send to Luhrmann.

He had been trying to show her the best of him Elvis of him for a long time.

“I thought that if I worked hard enough my face would look like Elvis.

Until I realized that it would only make me look like a figure of him in a wax museum, ”he confessed in Cannes.

It was there that he dreamed that his mother, who died of cancer when he was 23 years old, came back to life only to die again.

Elvis' mother also passed away when the

singer was 23.

With that feeling he sat down at the piano and the recording that came out of it is what he has now made of

what it is.

"Someone - as Lisa Marie said - who transmits and brings to life the heart and soul of my father."

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A post shared by Austin Butler (@austinbutler)

The rest has been to polish this new star.

A filming of almost four years (including the pandemic break) where Butler claims to have gotten so deep into that black hole called Elvis that, by the time the recording was finished, he was admitted to the hospital for a week.

Then came careful posing, channeling a certain Fifties flavor, on the London red carpet in a white Alexander McQueen tuxedo;

with that certain Hawaiian air that the white shirt that he wore in Cannes gave him while maintaining the French chic touch that the occasion called for or with that Cartier watch on his wrist that already pointed to his future as ambassador of this watchmaking firm.

Butler even seems willing to stand up to new youth idol Timothée Chalamet, securing a spot in

as his adversary.

He has also spent 10 months shooting the

series in England under the direction of Cary Fukunaga.

Paul Thomas Anderson and, of course, Alejandro González Iñárritu are on his new directors' wish list, while his dream of looking like DiCaprio is taking hold even on a personal level now that Butler has already made public his relationship with model Kaia Gerber, the daughter of Cindy Crawford, 10 years younger than the actor.

As stated by Luhrmann, who directed a young DiCaprio in

(1996), it is easy to see a new Leo in Austin.

And, as he added, the new version comes with an advantage: fame is going to catch him mature.