Tom Hanks was concerned for the mental health of Austin Butler after Elvis and offered him the leading role in Masters of the Air to help.
We all know the degree in which Austin Butler immersed himself in the role of Elvis Presley, and the actor told The Times of London that his co-star Tom Hanks actually grew concerned about his mental health.
Austin Butler said that Tom Hanks told him: “You have immersed yourself so deeply in ‘Elvis’ that, for your mental health, it would be wise to go straight into something else. If you just jump off the train, you might have emotional whiplash… and, you know, I’ve got this thing I’m producing.’” That project happened to Masters of the Air, the upcoming World War II miniseries for Apple TV+ that follows in the footsteps of Band of Brothers and The Pacific. Butlers stars in the series as Major Gale Cleven alongside Barry Keogan and Callum Turner.
Austin Butler added that Elvis forced him “to go to the very edge of what is possible, and not every experience will be like that. I don’t think I’ll ever have an experience like that again, but if I have to really dig, it makes me feel alive.“
After completing production on Masters of the Air, Austin Butler moved on to pair of movies set to be released at the end of the year, including Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders and Denis Villeneueve’s Dune: Part Two. “I was stretching myself and living within the shoes of somebody else for a bit that’s very, very different from Elvis,” Butler told Vanity Fair. “I never want to say I shed Elvis or washed it off because it makes it sound like something that I want to leave me. It was such a gift and it was such an amazing time. But as far as the thing where you’re all consumed with something, my mind couldn’t think about anything that wasn’t Elvis-related—and I didn’t want to for over two years.” Butler plays Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in the Dune sequel and sports a look far removed from Elvis.
Masters of the Air doesn’t have an official release date yet, but Dune: Part Two is slated to be released on November 3rd followed by The Bikeriders on December 1st.