Austin Butler’s Voice Coach Irene Bartlett Defends His Ongoing Elvis Accent: ‘It’s Difficult to Switch Off’

usmagazine.com:

Not an act. Austin Butler’s voice coach Irene Bartlett addressed how the actor’s voice changed since playing the iconic Elvis Presley.“Because of COVID shutdowns, he was working on it all the time and it’s difficult to switch off something you’ve spent so much focus [and] time on,” Bartlett told ABC’s Gold Coast on Monday, January 16, about Butler’s time filming Baz Luhrmann‘s Elvis biopic.The California native’s accent became a topic of conversation after it continued to resemble the famed musician.

Bartlett, for her part, defended Butler’s technique and said it wasn’t being done for show.“What you saw in that [2023] Golden Globes speech, that’s him.

It’s genuine, it’s not put on,” she shared, referring to Butler’s acceptance speech at the awards show after winning for Best Performance in a Drama Motion Picture. “I feel sorry people are saying that, you know, it’s still acting [but] he’s actually taken [the voice] on board.

I don’t know how long that will last, or if it’s going to be there forever.”Shortly after his big win, the Life Unexpected alum, 31, addressed fans who think he speaks like Elvis.“I don’t think I sound like him still, but I guess I must because I hear it a lot,” he told reporters earlier this month. “I had three years where that was my only focus.