Why Austin Butler Was Bedridden After Finishing ‘Elvis’

Elvis has entered the building!

Austin Butler is playing the legendary King of Rock, Elvis Presley, in Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis.”

In a new interview at Graceland, “Extra’s” Alecia Davis spoke Austin about how he transformed into Elvis — and why he was bedridden for nearly a week after finishing the movie!

Butler gave his all for the role. When asked what the hardest part about playing Elvis, he noted that it was a “constant balance” of external and the internal factors. He emphasized, “For me, I realized that it’s all gotta come from inside… but then you have the very technical things of what you want certain performances to be identical.”

Butler even reached out to Oscar winner Rami Malek, who played Freddie Murphy in “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Austin revealed, “He really helped me with the feeling of the most important thing being your soul merging with his, and then something new happens that we haven’t seen before.”

Austin’s role took a toll on him though, he was “bedridden” for “about a week” after wrapping shooting on the movie. He added, “Then I had about two weeks after where I was pretty sick.”

“Then I flew to London to film something else and I was just going, ‘I don’t know who I am, I don’t know what’s going on,’ you know?” Austin elaborated.

Alecia also spoke with director Baz Luhrmann about why Austin was the perfect choice.

Baz commented, “He lost his mom at the same age as Elvis. It’s almost like it’s his path to play this role.”

While Harry Styles was a major contender, Baz noted that Austin “disappears into the humanity of Elvis Presley” and was willing to his life on hold for two years for the part.

Elvis’ wife Priscilla Presley initially had concerns about Austin playing her husband, but he was able to win her and her daughter Lisa over!

As for Priscilla and Lisa’s praise of his portrayal, Austin said, “I have no words. I feel so happy.”

Austin had an emotional meeting with Priscilla before filming the movie He said, “I walked down the hall afterwards with tears in my eyes… I can’t believe that I just got to meet her. It was really surreal.”

Priscilla was also thrilled with Austin’s co-star Olivia DeJonge, who portrayed her in the movie.

Olivia shared, “I felt like I could breathe again after three years when I heard she loved it and was giving it her stamp of approval.”

As for how she got into character, Olivia commented, “I didn’t really get to touch base with her until after we shot the film, so for me, it was really just about a lot of research. I read her book 100 times. I watched all her interviews. I chatted a lot with Baz and Austin because they were just such a wealth of knowledge. “