Austin Butler required a dialect coach to get rid of his famous Elvis accent

Austin Butler shot to stardom with his portrayal of 2023 portrayal of Elvis, but the actor's lingering accent from playing the' King of Rock and Roll' quickly became a meme.

Now the 32-year-old has revealed how he needed to work with a dialect coach to get rid of the distinct Tennessee tone he used in the 2023 film where he was Oscar-nominated for his performance.

“I had a dialect coach just to help me not sound like Elvis in that film [Masters of Air],” Butler said during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday (January 24).

The internet was first convinced that Butler was putting on the accent during his 2023 Golden Globe acceptance speech, however, Butler’s Elvis vocal coach, Irene Bartlett, said his “accent was genuine” and that it “might stay forever," Vanity Fairreported.

While his ex-girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens was “crying” in laughter from all the voice memes.

So when it came to his next project, the World War II mini series Masters of the Air (2024) Butler was still trying to rid himself of the accent and required help with this ahead of production which was just a week apart from finishing the Elvis movie.

“It was a lot,” Butler recalled. “I was just trying to remember who I was.”

Butler continued: “All I thought about was Elvis for three years. And then I had that week off, and then I flew to London. And at that time it was Covid, so I’m quarantined for 10 days. So I thought, ‘All right, just pour all this energy into learning about World War II.’”

He also has fellow Elvis co-star and “Masters of the Air” producer Tom Hanks to thank who assisted in getting rid of the voice while they were still working on the Baz Luhrmann film.

Hanks suggested that Butler should “find something else to jump right into."

“Pat McCormick, who is a good friend of mine, he said, ‘Well, Tom, find him something to do,’” Butler added. “And then Tom said, ‘Well, I’ve got this World War II thing I’m working on.’”

“Masters of the Air” will be available from Friday, January 26 on Apple TV+.

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