Baz Luhrmann has explained why he didn’t cast Harry Styles in his Elvis biopic.
The director said in a new interview that the pop star “is a really talented actor” but wasn’t quite right for the role that eventually went to Austin Butler.
“Harry is a really talented actor,” Luhrmann told Sydney’s Nova FM. “I would work on something with him… but the real issue with Harry is, he’s Harry Styles. He’s already an icon.”
Luhrmann continued: “Harry and I came to a place, genuinely I mean, he was just desperate to put the suit on and explore. He’s such a great spirit and I have nothing but great things to say about Harry Styles.”
The filmmaker also clarified that he didn’t audition Styles nor Butler. “I do these really rich workshops,” he said, adding that Butler was simply “born to play” the King of Rock ‘N’ Roll .
“The thing about Aust was that he will tell you himself, I didn’t pick him, it’s as if he was drawn like the role drew them in because he was almost born to play it,” Luhrmann said.
“You know, we can talk about it now, he like loses his mom at the same age that Elvis did. He sends a video to me with this thing and… he just happened like two years non-stop living and breathing as Elvis. He’s now going through a sort of it’s like deprogramming thing because he’s been a long time since he’s known who he was.”
Elvis is released in UK and US cinemas on June 24.
In addition to recording 2022’s fastest selling album in the UK, Styles achieved the rare feat of simultaneously holding the Number One album and Number One track (lead single ‘As It Was’) in several countries.
The accomplishment was made in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Australia, Netherlands, Italy, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Belgium. Additionally, ‘Harry’s House’ went to Number One in Norway, Finland and Denmark.
