Austin Butler CONFIRMS ex Vanessa Hudgens was ‘friend’ who predicted Elvis’ role

Austin Butler is crediting his ex-girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens for manifesting his career-defining portrayal of Elvis Presley… even before the Baz Luhrmann biopic was announced.

The 31-year-old actor, who is up for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe for playing ‘The King,’ originally said THR it was a ‘friend’ who encouraged him to continue with the role.

Butler received backlash for apparently downplaying her nearly nine-year relationship with Hudgens.

But now, in a new interview with the The Los Angeles Timesconfirmed that the ‘friend’ was actually the 34-year-old actress/singer.

‘That’s how it is. I was with my partner at the time,’ Butler responded after being asked by the outlet to clarify.

‘[Hudgens and I had] been together for so long, she had this kind of second sight moment and I really owe her a lot for believing in me,” he said.

Butler, who has since won the Best Actor Golden Globe for the role, recalled the moment Hudgens told THR “you have to play Elvis” earlier this month.

But he didn’t mention the High School Musical alum’s name or refer to her as his ex-girlfriend.

‘The month before I heard that Baz [Luhrmann] I was making the movie, I was looking at the Christmas lights and there was an Elvis Christmas song on the radio and I was with a friend of mine,” he said.

“I was singing and my friend looked at me and said, ‘You have to play Elvis.’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s such a long shot.

“A couple of weeks later, I was playing the piano,” he continued. ‘I never really sang for any of my friends or anything. That same friend was there and I was playing the piano.

‘She said: ‘I’m serious. You have to figure out how you can get the rights to a script. So my agent called and said, ‘So Baz Luhrmann is making an Elvis movie.’

Shortly after the interview was posted on January 10, many took to Twitter to label him “disgusting” and “disrespectful” for leaving her out.

In 2019, Hudgens shared the exact same story during an appearance on Live with Kelly and Ryan.

Hudgens, who was still romantically involved with Butler at the time, recalled, “Last December, we were driving and listening to Christmas music, and then an Elvis Presley Christmas song came on.”

She had just dyed her hair dark. He’s a natural blonde, and I was looking at him and he was singing and I was like, ‘Baby, you’ve got to play Elvis.’

“Then in January, I was sitting at the piano,” he continued.

And he’s playing and 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 the rights or what we do, but you need to play with it.”

Butler took on the role in July 2019 opposite Tom Hanks, who played Elvis’s infamous manager, Colonel Tom Parker.

Filming began in Australia on January 28, 2020, but came to an abrupt halt just two months after Hollywood shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Filming resumed in Queensland in September 2020 and wrapped in March 2021. Elvis was released in June 2022.

Although he has been highly praised for his portrayal, Butler has also been mocked for clinging to Elvis’ thick Memphis accent despite being a California native.

Hudgens recently appeared to slam her ex for her dramatic voice change after she commented in a post about whether her accent was “genuine” that she joked, “She went to acting school for Lady Gaga’s Oscar campaign.” .

Fans were quick to notice that Hudgens replied below her that she was “crying,” perceived as crying with laughter at the mockery.

The post came from social media influencer Ryan Scott, who has nearly 40,000 followers on Instagram.

The joke is a reference to Lady Gaga’s over-the-top efforts when campaigning for an Oscar nomination for her role in House of Gucci, which didn’t go over well for the pop singer.

Her caption recalls the way the A Star is Born actress was notoriously mocked for her mediocre Italian accent while playing Patrizia Reggiani.

At the time, a dialect coach who worked on the film with co-star Salma Hayek noted that the New York-raised Gaga’s accent sounded “more Russian.”

And like Butler, Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, insisted in a British Vogue profile that she “lived like [Reggiani] for a year and a half. And I spoke with an accent for nine months about it.

Coming to Butler’s defense shortly after winning the Golden Globe, his voice coach, Iren Bartlett, said: ‘What you saw in that Golden Globes speech, that’s him. He is genuine, he is not fake.

“I’m sorry people say that, you know, he’s still acting [but] has actually taken [the voice of Presley] on board,” he said, adding that the change could be permanent: “I don’t know how long it will last, or if it’s going to be there forever.”

Fans have been confused about the voice change since filming on Elvis wrapped nearly two years ago.

Irene further explained why Austin still sounds like he did in the film: “Due to the COVID shutdowns, he was working on it all the time and it’s hard to turn off something you’ve spent so much time on.” [and] time in.’