- Hey, Austin. Hey, man. Good to see you.
- Josh, it's good to see you. I haven't seen you in years.
- It has been a minute, man.
Let's see, I think the last time we chatted
was six years ago.
Since then, you've done Broadway with Denzel [Washington],
you've stolen scenes from Brad Pitt in a Tarantino movie,
and now you're Elvis.
So maybe it's good we took a break is what I'm saying.
[Laughs]
Maybe you needed to do your own thing.
- That was good for me.
Yeah, thank you for giving me some time.
- First, I just wanna talk about, look,
it's a tough road for any actor
to find their own way, their own path.
You've been doing this a while.
You were, you know, the Nickelodeon kid,
you were the Disney kid,
you were the MTV guy.
And for every, like, Ryan Gosling and Leonardo DiCaprio,
a lot of actors have a tough road
to, like, make that transition into adult roles.
Was that something that really weighed on your mind?
Did you think you'd be able to navigate this road?
- You never know as an actor.
I mean, the people that I always looked up to,
like I looked up to Leo and Brad and Denzel, Tom [Cruise].
There's so many people that I've looked up to
so much over the years
and I grew up with Turner Classic Movies in the house,
so I was watching 'East of Eden'
and just being mesmerized by James Dean,
and 'On the Waterfront' and just being blown away
by what Marlon Brando was doing.
So I always had this thing in my mind
of the type of work that I wanted to be challenged by
and to get to dig into,
but the stars have to align in such a way that,
you know, there's so much involved.
And I worked really hard,
but I also feel very, very grateful and blessed
that people have believed in me over the years
and I've been given certain opportunities
that have led to me being in the position that I am now.
- Do you think you're a different actor now?
Like, do you think it is as much, like, opportunity
and the right role at the right time,
or do you feel like it took you a second
to, like, grow into the kind of roles
that you're now gravitating towards?
- I'm still learning so much and I'm still growing.
And I know that I've had to learn
a lot of things over the years
and I wasn't ready for certain things back then, you know,
when I was 12, when I was 15.
'Cause I looked at Leo and what he was doing
in 'Gilbert Grape' or 'Basketball Diaries,'
and so I felt like I was behind for many years.
- That's a tough standard
to hold yourself up to, for the record.
- Yeah, yeah. I told him that the other day.
And it's just this thing
where you're not ready for certain things,
and you have to go through certain life experiences,
and you also have to have those moments where you're on set
and you go home at the end of the night
and you go, "I did terrible work today. Why, what -"
And you kind of go back to the drawing board
and that's the beautiful thing about doing theater
is you're only as good as you are that night.
So every night, you'll have a night where you go,
"Oh, this is what it means to be an actor!"
And then the next night you're like -
- I cracked the code! I did it!
- "I'm the worst actor in the world," you know?
So it's so up and down
that you have to keep going back to the drawing board.
- When this one comes around,
when you know you're in the mix for this,
did you feel like you had a legitimate shot?
I don't know how aware you were,
but, like, it was public knowledge, like,
who you were up against.
And, like, you weren't a professional singer
and, you know, Harry Styles is a
very talented actor and singer.
Did you feel like "I've got a legit shot at this,"
or they're gonna go with someone
with more experience in this realm?
- I always look at other actors, you know, if I know
that somebody else is going out for the same thing,
and usually I end up going,
"I could see them doing a great job,"
and I kind of doubt myself
and I think that they would do a better job sometimes.
And there were times where I didn't think
that I was gonna get it
'cause I thought, you know, the studio's gotta sign off,
they're probably not gonna sign off on me
for this sort of thing.
But I also knew that Elvis started out
as the person that felt very far away
because he seems like he's been held up to a god-like status
in many people's minds or he's the Halloween costume,
so either one of those aren't human.
But the version where I'm looking up to him,
it's like being a kid in your dad's suit
where the shoes feel way too big
and the arms are hanging down.
And so, for me, it was personalizing him
as much as possible.
And there was things like -
I've spoken a lot about the first thing that hit me,
which was he lost his mom at the exact same age
as I was when I lost my mom. And when I learned that,
it just hit me so much
because that's the most grief I've ever felt
and I knew that that was the most grief he's ever felt.
And suddenly, in that moment, I didn't feel alone in that
because I knew that at a particular time in your life,
when you're just sort of transitioning
from being a boy to a man,
and you're kind of trying to figure yourself out,
you lose your best friend
and the person who has the most unconditional love.
And so, that really connected me to him
and then, I knew there's gotta be
so many other keys out there
that may seem like they're far away,
but if I look at them, the more that I dug,
the more that these things were just -
I'd just get chills 'cause I couldn't believe
how personal it eventually became.
It was the most personal thing I've ever done.
- And then there's the performance aspect, which is just,
it's mind-boggling to see what you've achieved here
because, look, in my experience with you,
you're a soft-spoken, maybe even introverted guy at times,
and you are playing the most, like, extroverted, like,
literally the ultimate performer of the last 100 years.
Does something click?
Do you go into a different gear when you're, like,
in that environment?
When the cameras turn on, when you're on a stage,
when Baz [Luhrmann] says, "Action!"
You've just gotta go for broke.
There must be a different key in your brain that turns on.
- Yeah, I mean, when I'm just myself,
I do tend to be pretty introverted
and I will get uncomfortable in front of a camera,
or that sort of thing.
But when you're able to be someone else,
that's when I feel more free.
And with this, as well, I did feel massive amounts of fear
because of the responsibility. The responsibility to him,
to his family, to all the fans around the world
who love him so much.
What I could rest in was the fact that he had stage fright
through his entire career,
and he talks about it all through the '70s, even.
So Elvis Presley, who was one of the most magnetic,
charismatic performers, is also feeling fear
before he walks on stage.
That really shifted everything for me
'cause I knew in those moments,
when I was feeling nearly crippling fear,
that if I get out there and I feel the music,
and you end up channeling that
and you build a rapport with an audience
in the way that he did. So I just studied him so much
that I learned how he made jokes with them,
how he used his eyes to make a girl blush
or any of those little things.
And when you start doing those things,
it becomes an out-of-body experience
where I'm not thinking at all.
You're just living in that moment,
and it's really so special.
- Talk to me about, you know, we talked
about the residual effects of a part like this
and, you know, like, you put yourself
through the ringer for this and I get it.
If you're gonna put yourself in the hands of Baz
and something like 'Elvis,' that's the way to do it.
But, like, the emotional toll?
Going forward, how do you protect yourself?
Do you wanna protect yourself?
Or in a role like this,
do you just kind of have to, like,
open yourself up to everything
and if it's gonna cause a little bit of pain, so be it.
It's worth it for the role?
- Yeah, like I say, it was more personal
than anything I could ever imagine.
So, there are days where you have to go to certain places
that I didn't, you know, I didn't want to.
It feels like walking into a burning building or something.
And it serves a story and it honors his life,
and, in certain moments, I get to honor my own mother
and it becomes a love letter to my own mom.
So it definitely takes its toll at times.
Being able to honor is a beautiful gift
that I'm given in that process.
- This performance reminds me of these certain performances
I've seen over the years in these really special biopics
about musical performers.
When I was growing up,
I think of Val Kilmer transforming into Jim Morrison.
I think of J.Lo as Selena, Rami [Malik] in recent years.
The interesting thing about these performances, also,
is that for the generation that sees these films,
you define that performer.
For the generation now,
you are going to be their entry point into Elvis Presley.
Did you wrap your brain around that
while you were making it?
Is that something that hits you after?
- I guess those thoughts are kind of there,
but it never really hit me until I was here in Memphis
and I started getting to be around these people
who are Elvis superfans.
They know everything about his life.
And the ones who've seen the film, then,
the way that they then treat me,
I'm feeling so loved by them because I'm suddenly connected
to this person that they love so much.
But then, I also think about all those people out there
who don't really know who he is.
It's so amazing to get to be a part of that.
I can't even fathom that this is really my life right now.
I just feel so grateful.
- You lived and breathed this guy for a couple years,
I mean, you truly did.
Does some of that still exist within you?
Do you hear, like, is there Elvis in your voice now
that you have trouble shaking?
Has it seeped into just your day-to-day life?
- It's a tricky question to answer
'cause I really, I have people say that
and I, sort of, combat it sometimes, like, in person
'cause I just go, "This is my voice. This is how -"
- I'm just being me, yeah.
- This is the most truthful voice I can speak.
But I do know that there's something
to habit of muscularity, you know - - Sure.
- And if I'm moving my mouth in a certain way for two years,
suddenly you get done and you have habits,
so I could understand that.
Also, just like I was saying earlier, I'm very introverted,
so in moments where I've got to, sort of, go out
in front of a lot of people,
I think that I may click into certain things
that he's taught me, you know, about how to deal with people
in environments like that.
- How about the dance moves?
Have you inherited any of Elvis's dance moves?
How does his repertoire marry yours?
- Yeah, I was never a dancer. I would be the wallflower.
I wouldn't dance at a party at all.
And people have iPhones out and they're filming,
I still don't dance, but he taught me so much
'cause he never had choreography.
It was always about the music moving him.
So I had many epiphanies while working on it
where - I remember the first one where it hit me
and I felt so basic, but I just said,
"I now understand what dancing is." At its most primal,
when you feel a rhythm and you feel music
and the music starts to move you, I now understood it.
'Cause I always thought about it externally,
like, "Oh, you've got this move and then you do that move,"
you know what I mean?
- Maybe that's all I need to do.
I just need to play Elvis in a movie
and I'll suddenly get some moves.
- Yeah, I'll make some calls and yeah. [Laughs]
- We've talked about, sort of, the arc of your career
and it's so exciting to see now
what you're up to, even post-'Elvis.'
And I gotta say, man, you're working with Denis Villeneuve,
you're working with Timothée Chalamet next.
Did you go hard after that one?
Did they come after you? Did you have to audition?
You're gonna be in 'Dune,' talk to me about that.
- The first 'Dune,' I absolutely loved it.
Denis's films, I mean, I just adore him as a filmmaker.
I feel like he's our generation's Stanley Kubrick.
He's just so amazing and on top of that,
he's such a kind
and thoughtful person,
so the idea of getting to work with him
is a dream come true.
- One other thing, I know you can't say much,
but is your look gonna look anything like this?
- [Austin] No comment. [Laughs]
- It's another tough act to follow, man.
- I like that you printed that out.
- Well, I had it out, already printed. I just keep these.
- Those are just above your bedside.
- Yeah, exactly, you should see my fade room.
It's a really weird room, but it's -
[Laughs]