Elvis star Austin Butler owes ex-girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens for his role as the King of Rock and Roll. Butler was recently nominated for an Oscar award and has also won a Golden Globe this month for his portrayal of Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s film.
The 31-year-old told the Los Angeles Times that Hudgens, 34, encouraged him to seek out the role years ago when they were a couple, and he thanked her for her support.
“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,” he said.
The actor confirmed that it was the High School Musical alum he was referring to as a “friend”
Butler confirmed that the friend was Hudgens
in the recent Hollywood Reporter Actors Roundtable, when he was retelling how she encouraged him to pursue Presley. When asked by the L.A. Times if he meant Hudgens, he clarified, “That’s right,” adding: “I was with my partner at the time.”
In the THR conversation that debuted earlier this month, Butler did not mention Hudgens by name.
“The month before I heard that Baz was making the movie, 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,’ ” Butler said at the time.
“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 gotta figure out how you can get the rights to a script.’ Then my agent called and said, ‘So Baz Luhrmann is making an Elvis film.'”
Hudgens convinced Butler to play Elvis
Fans added the story together and Vanessa Hudgens shared a nearly identical story years ago when the two were still together.
“Last December, we were driving along and we were listening to Christmas music, and then an Elvis Presley Christmas song came on,” Hudgens said on a 2019 episode of Live with Kelly and Ryan. “He had just dyed his hair dark. He’s a natural blond, and I was looking at him and he was singing along and I was like, ‘Babe, you need to play Elvis.’ “
As Butler said, Vanessa Hudgens continued by adding how she insisted he audition after hearing him sing more of the iconic rock-and-roller while playing the piano.
“Then in January, he was sitting at the piano,” she said. “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.’ “
The former couple dated for a long time
In 2011 Butler and Hudgens were seen together for the first time at Ashley Tisdale’s sister’s birthday party. They then made public appearances at red carpets after that.
In July 2019 it was announced that Butler would be playing Elvis and Hudgens showed her support in an Instagram post. “I AMMMM OVERRRR THE F—— MOOOOOOOOONNNNN. I CAN’T WAIT ?????? SO PROUD OF MY HONEYYYYY!!!” she wrote at the time.
An insider revealed to People that the couple split up after, officially breaking up in January 2020, citing demanding work and travel schedules.
Both have since moved on, Butler with model Kaia Gerber, and Vanessa Hudgens with pro baseball player Cole Tucker.
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