Austin Butler: A Vocal Approach to Method Acting

James Evenden comments on Austin Butler’s continued use of his Elvis voice

James Evenden

Film Editor

I do not think I have gone more than a couple of days without seeing Austin Butler on my phone as he makes the rounds for awards season following his starmaking turn as Elvis. Butler is older than the likes of Chalamet, Pugh or Zendaya, but it feels like his career has really begun following his Golden Globe winning and Oscar nominated performance. Whilst I am glad that there is seemingly a new name to add to the growing repertoire of the next budding generation of talent, Butler has already set his foot in the treacherous waters of method acting, with his continued use of his Elvis voice long after filming. The use of the voice has added a unique piece to the conversation that has long engulfed the profession: method acting and how far some will take it for their craft.

To me, the main reason that people have taken issue with it and made fun of him is because the use of the Elvis voice comes across as pandering in the middle of awards season. I can see the relevance of this argument, but do think it has gone too far. We all know that the race for the Oscar is a long and hard one, paved with countless media stops as they try to win the hearts of the people and the voters. The awards season run is all about creating an angle that sets you apart from the other nominees. This year, sympathy seems to be the name of the game. Brendan Fraser has played into the long-lost actor storyline, and Ke Huy Quan has done the same. This is all an accepted part of the race, and I do not judge either of these talented actors for playing the game they need to play. The internet has fallen over themselves to throw praise on these two, myself included. Give the people a storyline, and the battle is half won. effective angle, using the sweetheart country-boy aesthetic to seem as down-to-earth as possible. The use of the voice is assumedly part of the same thinking, and whilst I have no idea whether it is genuine or an affectation, I think the viral reaction has been far too extreme in the context of method acting and the Oscars race.

Austin Butler has created his own angle for the awards season. He has positioned himself as a shy kid whose deceased mother did everything to bring him out of his shell. To be fair to him, it is an

First of all, I argue that Butler is playing the same game that every front-runner plays, much like Fraser and Quan, he is just simply using different tactics. Whilst I admit the use of the voice is distracting, it is hardly the most offensive thing an actor has done in the name of method acting. Some of our finest performers of the current generation, Christian Bale and Daniel Day-Lewis notably, have reportedly gone to further extremes. The difference is that they are both known private figures who do not let their method acting bleed over into the celebrity side of acting. Both Bale and Day-Lewis come from a generation that used different methods to promote their films around Oscar season. All they had to do was the basic interview. Now, actors like Butler, thrust into the Tik-Tok generation of young people who have the loudest voices online, have to use more viral methods of promoting themselves and keeping their names out there.