Austin Butler finally gives credit to former partner Vanessa Hudgens for Elvis’s inspiration. The actor is currently over the moon about getting an Oscar nomination in the Best Actor category for playing the role of Elvis Presley. However, he didn’t hesitate to thank Vanessa for encouraging him to pursue the role. Although he didn’t mention her name, it’s easy to assume. The former couple was together from 2011 to 2020.
Austin Butler said he owe Hudgens a lot for believing in me
On January 24, 31-year-old during an interview with the Los Angeles Times thanked his ex. He referred to Hudgens as his “partner at the time”. He said, “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.”
Previously, on January 10, while talking with The Hollywood Reporter the actor referred to her as an unnamed friend. Butler said it was Vanessa who insisted he should give a shot to Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic. Butler said, “I was going to look at Christmas lights with a friend. 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.'”
Vanessa also shared her excitement at that when Austin was selected for the role. In 2019, she shared on Live with Kelly and Ryan, “Last December, we were driving along and we were listening to Christmas music, and then an Elvis Presley Christmas song came on. 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.'”
The 34-year-old continues, “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.'”
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