Austin Butler Pays Tribute to Lisa Marie Presley Following BAFTA Win: ‘It’s Been a Really Unimaginably Tragic Time’

variety.com:

K.J. Yossman “Elvis” star Austin Butler has paid tribute to Lisa Marie Presley following his BAFTA win for Best Actor on Sunday evening. “It’s been a really unimaginably tragic time, you know, and grief is a long process,” Butler said in the winners’ press room following his win. “And so my heart and my love was with [the Presley family] always.

I feel honoured to have been welcomed into the family. It’s a bittersweet time.” Butler also expressed how lucky he felt to portray the legendary singer, a thought that often crossed his mind while he was making the film. “How lucky I was to get to have that experience,” he said. “The feeling of standing on an international stage and looking out and looking down at the jumpsuit that I was wearing and realizing there were certain moments where I was seeing the closest thing to what Elvis would have seen during his ’68 Special or whatever that was and I miss it a lot.

I miss that experience.” “I don’t miss the terror,” he added. But I felt every day that the elation that you feel with that.

And I miss the people that I got to make the film with, they became completely like family to me. I really miss them a lot.” When asked what he projects had coming up next, Butler cited Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part 2” and “The Bikeriders,” in which he stars alongside Tom Hardy. “But right now I’m unemployed,” he said. “Which is exciting because it means that I get to go on vacation after March.” Butler is also nominated for an Academy Award, with the ceremony set to take place on March 12.