Austin Butler has praised Quentin Tarantino for making him fully embrace being an actor after the legendary director pranked him on set.
The 31-year-old American star had a small role in the 2019 film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood where he played a member of Charles Manson’s cult.
Austin starred in the film opposite A List stars including Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio - and went on to star in lead roles of his own including the title role in music biopic Elvis, for which he is BAFTA nominated.
The former Disney and Nickelodeon channel star said appearing in Quentin’s controversial film - which gave a fictionalised alternative version of Charles Manson’s Tate murders of the 1960s - was a dream come true.
Appearing on YouTube talk show Hot Ones, Austin said: “I’ve talked a lot about how much Quentin meant to me.
“It was always my dream to work with him. We’re on set and he says, ‘OK, we got it. We’re going to do one more. You know why?’
“And the entire crew screams, ‘Because we love making movies!’ And the first time you’re there, you’re not in on it. So Brad, Leo, everybody is like, ‘Because we love making movies!’”
Austin said Quentin’s jovial approach to filmmaking has stood out for him as other experiences have lacked a sense of fun.
He said: “There are sets that are so sterile.
“There are sets where there is no joy. There are sets where people are just at a job, and you’re trying to create something that you’re going to give to the world
“With Quentin, that was so cool because it just changes the atoms in the room. And then the next time that ‘We love making movies!’ happens, you’re in on it.
“So every crew new member or actor or whomever, suddenly they’re part of the tribe at that point, saying ‘We love making movies!’.”
Austin worked with Australian director Baz Luhrmann to play Elvis Presley in the 2022 biopic film Elvis about the late singer.
Hinting that elements of the filming process of the biopic were less than joyous, Austin explained that gaining weight to play the music icon proved a challenge.
He told Variety magazine: “I heard that Ryan Gosling when he was going to do The Lovely Bones, microwaved Haagen-Dazs and would drink it.
"So I started doing that.“I would go get two dozen doughnuts and eat them all. I really started to pack on some pounds.
"It’s fun for a week or so, and then you feel awful with yourself.”
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