Austin Butler Gave Quentin Tarantino The Highest Compliment After Working On Once Upon A Time In Hol
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Austin Butler has been on a successful acting streak lately. Beyond his beloved role as the iconic Elvis in the king of rock 'n' roll's self-titled biopic, Austin starred in Quentin Tarantino's 2019 film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Most actors desire a chance to be in a legendary director's movie, and Austin won the role of Tex Waston in the Hollywood-based action/drama.
Considering that Austin was going to appear alongside heavyweight actors such as Brad Pitt and Leonardo Dicaprio, it's assumed that he cared about the role even more than he initially did. Austin Butler gained the necessary weight when he played Elvis. He even fell ill immediately after the production of that movie was finished. That's how seriously he took that role.
Austin Butler kept that attention to detail when making Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. He's told a few outlets what exactly he did for the movie, and how he felt about working with Quentin Tarantino. Here's everything to know.
What Was Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood Film About?
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is a film that sort of defies genres. Primarily, it is a drama about the transition between the two eras of Hollywood, filmmaking, and society in general. However, there are a lot of elements of comedy and action sprinkled throughout the movie that make it hard to claim it's an outright drama. The jokes typically hit well enough, and the action is par for a Tarantino movie.
The biggest dynamic of the film is that there are two main characters. Leonardo Dicaprio's character Rick Dalton is an actor past his prime while Brad Pitt's character Cliff Booth is Rick's war veteran stunt double. Leo and Brad aren't the only big cast members. Big names such as Margot Robbie, Margaret Qualley, Dakota Fanning, Sydney Sweeney, Kurt Russell, and Luke Perry also show up in the film at some point, forming quite the ensemble cast.
The film also included some characters that were real-life historical figures, such as Sharon Tate and Bruce Lee. Bruce's role in the film actually sparked some controversy due to what people perceive to be an inaccurate portrayal. Quentin has defended his likeness of the martial arts legend.
Who Did Austin Butler Play In Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood?
Austin Butler interestingly enough played a real-life character as well. He played Tex, whose actual name was Charles Watson. A crucial Manson family member, he only showed up in a few scenes. They were all integral to the film, however. His first appearance was when Cliff was touring the Manson ranch. He then showed up in the final battle, which he lost in a glorious and memorable fashion.
While his portrayal was a fictionalized one, it seems to be pretty accurate to the real person. While the real Tex Watson is still alive, he hasn't commented on Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. However, All That's Interesting did an in-depth profile on Tex Watson, and it's eerily similar to Tarantino's version of him.
It makes perfect sense that Tarantino would do such a fantastic job with Tex's character. Quentin always has the utmost attention to detail. Austin in particular had to go through a 12-hour audition. Just because it was a supporting role doesn't mean it's neglected of care and attention.
What Did Austin Butler Say About Working With Quentin Tarantino In Once Upon A Time In Hollywood?
There was more to Austin's commitment besides a 12-hour audition. He told IndieWire that once he got the part and they were filming the movie, they would shoot multiple takes for every single scene. Quentin was aware of this and got the cast to repeat "we love making movies!" to remind them why such a grueling process is important.
Austin made it clear he understood why they had to go through so much hard work. He seemed to enjoy the entire experience as well. While big-name actors could take it for granted, Austin constantly reminded himself that he was acting in a Tarantino movie. Austin specifically told Indie Wire that it was a "dream" to appear in a Tarantino film.
The funny thing is, Austin has claimed that besides the extensive auditions and shoots, it never really felt like work to him. He noted that most movie sets aren't as joyful as people believe them to be. Austin even referred to the typical set as "sterile". However, Tarantino's set was so fun that the phrase "we love making movies!" was something Austin truly believed in by the time he was done filming his parts. He credits Tarantino's love for filmmaking, as well as his humbled power to do whatever he wants, as the reasons for this.
Despite only appearing in a couple of scenes, Austin was a borderline scene-stealer. A Cosmopolitan review felt it was because he's attractive, but most reviews that talk about Austin mention how menacing his character was. It's funny that Austin did a tremendous job with Elvis, a person who was light-hearted and innocent behind the scenes.
Quentin has talked about making a spin-off show for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, but a few years later nothing's still been confirmed about it. It's unknown if Austin will return to play Tex - judging off his original experience, there's little doubt he'd be down to return.
Now that Elvis is out and has become a monumental film, much attention has been directed at Austin. He's broken into A-list status. Austin's come a long way from being accused of committing vandalism. His portrayal of Elvis is up for numerous Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. As nice as they'd be, he's already won multiple awards for his time in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
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