Austin Butler says he needed dialect coach to help him shake Elvis voice

Actor who starred as Elvis in Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 musical drama leads Apple TV+’s latest WWII miniseries ‘Masters of the Air’

Austin Butler has revealed that it took the help of a dialect coach for him to stop sounding like Elvis Presley.

Before the 32-year-old landed his leading role as Major Gale in Apple TV+’s newest World War II minidrama Masters of the Air, he starred as Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 Oscar-nominated musical biopic, Elvis.

During a recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Butler spoke of the lengthy three-year shoot for Elvis.

“It was a lot,” he said, adding that once it was over, “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. And then I had that week off and then I flew to London and at that time it was Covid so I’m quarantined for 10 days, so I thought alright just pour all this energy into learning about World War II now,” he explained.

“I had a dialect coach just to help me not sound like Elvis in that film, that was the whole thing.”

Last year, Butler left fans bemused when he appeared to adopt Presley’s accent and vocal tone during his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes.

The actor, who won for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama, later addressed the confusion, admitting that he didn’t hear the similarities.

“I don’t think I sound like him still, but I guess I must because I hear it a lot,” he told the press backstage. “I often liken it to when somebody lives in another country for a long time.

“I had three years where [Elvis] was my only focus in life, so I’m sure there’s just pieces of my DNA that will always be linked in that way,” he said.

Butler leads the Apple TV+ miniseries Masters of the Air about a group of airmen who risk their lives during World War II.

Callum Turner, Barry Keoghan and Sawyer Spielberg also star.

“It’s hard to resist the pulse-quickening action of this epic Second World War story,” Nick Hilton wrote in his four-star review of the show for The Independent.

“The Bloody Hundredth, staffed by men scarcely into adulthood, might be a glamorous bunch, but they are also losing their innocence. Playing out on a canvas in the skies, this is daring, big-budget filmmaking that just about sticks the landing.”

Masters of the Air premieres on Apple TV+ on Friday, 26 January.