Sorry, Harry Styles! Maybe next time, Miles Teller! Try again, Ansolo! Deadline reports that sharp-jawlined Austin Butler (who can be seen this summer in The Dead Don’t Die and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) has won the role of Elvis in Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming biopic. Styles, Teller, and Elgort all reportedly tested for the role, but Luhrmann selected Butler to star opposite Tom Hanks, playing Elvis’s longtime manager Colonel Tom Parker.
Luhrmann will start shooting next year in Queensland, Australia, from a script he wrote with Craig Pearce. “Throughout the casting process, it was an honor for me to encounter such a vast array of talent,†Luhrmann said in a statement to Deadline. “I had heard about Austin Butler from his stand-out role opposite Denzel Washington in The Iceman Cometh on Broadway, and through a journey of extensive screen testing and music and performance workshops, I knew unequivocally that I had found someone who could embody the spirit of one of the world’s most iconic musical figures.â€