Austin Butler went through hell to play Elvis Presley.
The Hollywood actor, 30, wore a fat suit for the role in the bigscreen biopic. It was designed to make him look just like music icon Elvis towards the end of his life.
And it was so uncomfortable, it left Austin breathless.
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He said: “When I had that fat suit on, it felt like so much extra weight. Then I was strapped into the jumpsuit and my lungs felt constricted. I could only take shallow breaths and it was very hot.
“It felt very claustrophobic and I felt a great sadness because I’m sure Elvis felt the same way, that he could hardly breathe.”
Austin donned the outfit to recreate the singer’s last performance – in 1977.
(Image: Warner Bros/Google)
And it was worth the pain because it helped him capture the Teddy Bear singer’s crippling heartache.
The American star said: “We had the most incredible prosthetics team. When you start to see the transformation, it makes you feel different, it really does.
“When you have a little bit of weight on, you walk differently, you breathe differently and it really does help.
“That final Elvis performance is heartbreaking. You see the little boy in Elvis, shining through this big, sick body – and you know that he only lived for a short while after that. It’s very emotional.”
Austin, right, beat a string of big names to become the leading man in Elvis, which hit cinemas on Friday. It’s easily the biggest role of his career so far.
(Image: Getty Images)
During filming, he was feeling the pressure to pull off a great performance.
He added: “Every day I was nervous because I wanted to do Elvis justice and to do his family justice, to honour him and his life. It was hard not to feel like a little kid in your dad’s suit, like you’re wearing these big shoes you can hardly walk in.
“Playing Elvis was such an incredible, humbling experience. There were many moments, right from the very beginning, where I just had to walk into the fire.
While making the movie, Austin literally walked in the footsteps of Elvis, above.
(Image: Dave Benett/WireImage)
That included a session at a recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee, where Heartbreak Hotel was recorded in 1956 – in front of an audience of label staff.
He said: “It was my first time in a recording studio and I was so nervous. I had to sing Blue Suede Shoes to them.
“I’d just been cast and now there I was singing these iconic songs in front of all those people.
“Slowly and surely, the fear was still there – but it became a different experience. I knew it was the way Elvis would have felt when he went out on stage for the first time.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
