10 Actors That Totally Overprepared For A Role

At the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, Baz Luhrman’s biopic Elvis received a twelve minute ovation, the longest for any film that year. Austin Butler’s turn as the King of Rock and Roll was given critical acclaim and, perhaps even more special, approval from the family of the legend himself.

Butler worked long and hard for that kind of reaction, having begun his preparation to play Elvis Presley before shooting began - a process which took three years of his life.

It’s one thing to play a fresh and yet unseen fictional character but to take on the role of one of the most recognisable musicians of all time is a tall order that Butler took to with aplomb. Not only did he get training on how to sing and dance like Presley, he also got martial arts lessons so that he could integrate karate into his movements to better portray the way the King moved.

Butler read every book that he could and fell asleep listening to recordings of Elvis as he practised the famous southern accent. Perhaps most extreme of all is that he isolated himself from his friends and family for the entire three years, to get away from Austin Butler’s life and to become Elvis Presley.