Austin Butler has nothing however burning gratitude for his ex Vanessa Hudgens.
The Elvis star lastly thanked his former girlfriend—who he dated from 2011 to 2020—for the encouragement she gave him to play Elvis Presley, which lately landed him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
“I was with my partner at the time,” he instructed The Los Angeles Times on Jan. 24, referring to the one who impressed him to pursue the position. When requested if he was, the truth is, talking about Vanessa, Austin confirmed.
“That’s right,” he stated. “We’d been together for so long and she had this sort of clairvoyant moment and so I really, I owe her a lot for believing in me.”
Initially, Austin referred to Vanessa as an unnamed “friend” who thought he was excellent for the position, telling The Hollywood Reporter on Jan. 10 that the concept occurred to her a month earlier than he realized Baz Luhrmann was making an Elvis biopic.
Kaia Gerber and Austin Butler Spend Valentine’s Day in London
“I was going to look at Christmas lights with a friend,” he recalled. “And there was an Elvis Christmas song on the radio and I was singing along and my friend looked over at me and goes, ‘You’ve got to play Elvis.’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s such a long shot.'”
The “friend,” as Austin referred to as her, doubled down on the concept, telling him a pair weeks later that he wanted to “figure out how you can get the rights to a script” after she heard him carry out on a piano. Afterward, Austin stated, his agent referred to as with information that an Elvis film was within the works.
The story stirred buzz on-line, with followers discovering the same narrative the High School Musical alum shared in August 2019, one month after she gushed on social media that she was “OVERRRR THE F–KING MOOOOOOOOONNNNN” about Austin touchdown the position of the King of Rock N’ Roll.
“Last December, we were driving along and we were listening to Christmas music, and then an Elvis Presley Christmas song came on,” Vanessa shared on Live with Kelly and Ryan in 2019. “He had just dyed his hair dark. He’s a natural blonde, blonde and I was looking at him and he was singing along and I was like, ‘Babe, you need to play Elvis.'”
She continued, “Then in January, he was sitting at the piano. And he’s playing and he’s singing and I’m like, ‘I don’t know how, but you need to figure out how you can play Elvis. Like, I don’t know how we get rights or what we do, but you need to play him.'”
Since their breakup, Vanessa hasn’t spoken out on Austin’s now Golden Globe-winning efficiency as Elvis, although she did take a second to acknowledge a submit that poked enjoyable at his Elvis-like accent that has mesmerized and puzzled followers alike.
As she merely commented, “Crying.”
He’s now courting mannequin Kaia Gerber and Vanessa is with baseball participant Cole Tucker.
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