Austin Butler Is Finally Ditching the Elvis Accent

After the weeks of being roasted into the ground over his inability to stop talking like Elvis Presley, the 31-year-old star said he's planning to dial down the Southern twang he used during his award-winning performance in Baz Luhrmann's biopic about the King of Rock 'n' Roll.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Butler popped up on The Graham Norton Show this past Friday to talk about the three years he spent filming Elvis, which earned him both critical praise and online criticism in relation to his voice, seeing as how the movie wrapped almost two years ago.

"One song took 40 takes," as the Oscar-nominated actor said before adding that he's "probably damaged my vocal cords with all that singing." So unsurprisingly, he's now finally "getting rid" of his much-maligned accent, which he developed by carefully listening to old Elvis soundbites, which he would add to his archive "of how he said every word and every diphthong, and the way that he used musicality in his voice."

While Butler's role as Elvis nabbed him "Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture" at the 2023 Golden Globes, the vast majority of viewers (not to mention "friend" and former girlfriend of eight years Vanessa Hudgens) seemed more concerned with the Southern California native's continued use of his character's voice.

At the time though, the Disney alum didn't seem to understand why people were making fun of him, as he said "didn't even think about" his voice during his backstage interview at the Globes.

"I don't think I sound like him still, but I guess I must because I hear it all the time," he said before adding, "I often liken it to when somebody lives in another country for a long time. I had three years where that was my only focus."

Butler continued, "So I'm sure there's pieces of him in my DNA, and I will always be linked to him."

Photo via Getty / Michael Kovac