LOS ANGELES — Austin Butler has, as you might guess, a ton of Elvis playlists in his Spotify account. He created the first one three years ago while he was painting a Los Feliz house he had just moved into, right at the beginning of the five months he spent trying to convince Baz Luhrmann to cast him as the lead in "Elvis."
Butler won the part, and for the next two years he never stopped listening to Elvis. He made playlists to inspire emotions for scenes in the movie. (Loneliness was big in these sets.) He made a playlist of gospel and blues music that Presley loved and listened to. And, for a challenge, he whittled down his 50 favorite Elvis songs, including what may be Butler's two go-to numbers, "Milkcow Blues Boogie" and "Polk Salad Annie," songs that never fail to make him happy. It is an impeccable mix, even if it does include "Never Been to Spain," a song about which we agree to disagree during a long conversation on a recent sunny L.A. afternoon.
Can Butler even listen to Elvis these days after spending two years so immersed into playing the King that he had to be hospitalized for a week the day filming ended? (What was thought to be appendicitis turned out to be a virus that blew up his lymph nodes.)
