Just a few days after Lisa Marie Presley attended the Golden Globes and watched Austin Butler take the stage to accept a golden trophy for portraying her father, the daughter of Elvis Presley died at the age of 54. Following the singer’s death, the Elvis actor reflected on his experience meeting Lisa Marie and the bond they formed prior to her unexpected death.
Lisa Marie Presley hyped up Austin Butler’s performance in Elvis long before the its award season buzz. Prior to the movie’s release, Lisa Marie called it “nothing short of spectacular,” and she and her mother attended numerous events in support of the film since. Butler recently recalled:
I first met Lisa when we screened the film at Graceland. I’ve never had an experience where I met somebody and felt an immediate depth of relationship to them. She’s also, she’s a person who didn’t have anything to prove and wouldn’t open up to everybody and she just opened up to me. We got so close so fast, so it’s just devastating.
As Austin Butler shared, he had an unspeakable connection with Lisa Marie Presley immediately. He quickly had a “depth” with Elvis Presley’s daughter, and she even showed the actor her father’s bedroom and told him stories about her dad. Butler spoke to his memories of Lisa Marie while he was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Check out the interview below:
During the late night appearance, Austin Butler also shared his reaction to Elvis’ eight 2023 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. The actor received his first Oscar nomination in the Best Actor category alongside Colin Farrell for The Banshees of Inisherin, Brendan Fraser for The Whale, Paul Mescal for Aftersun and Bill Nighy for Living.
He’s called the recognition “bittersweet” following Lisa Marie’s death because it’s amazing to see the film soar to these heights, but he wishes he could have celebrated alongside Elvis Presley’s daughter. Two days after the Golden Globes, she suffered a cardiac episode that sent her to the hospital, and she died later that day. Getting to see Butler win the Golden Globe was her last public appearance, though no one knew it at the time.
Despite Lisa Marie Presley’s sudden and tragic death, it’s incredible she had the chance to see her father being honored with Baz Luhrmann’s movie and share some of the experience with Austin Butler. The actor was so committed to portraying Elvis Presley accurately that he spent three years perfecting it, and may have permanently changed his voice with the likeness of The King.
Ahead of Austin Butler’s appearance at the 95th Academy Awards on March 12, you can check out Elvis on streaming with an HBO Max subscription.