Austin Butler is bringing his sister as his “date” to the 2023 Golden Globes.
The “Elvis” actor, 31, who has been with model Kaia Gerber, 21, since late 2021, said he would be taking Ashley Butler – who worked as a background actor alongside him on Nickelodeon sitcom “Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide” – to the January 10 ceremony.
He told Entertainment Tonight on Thursday when asked who would be joining him at the event: “I’m going to bring my sister.”
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Butler, nominated in the Best Actor, Drama category for his performance as The King in Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Elvis’ blockbuster, admitted the decision about who to take was “hard”, but said about his decision to choose Ashley: “She’s my one and only sister, so it’ll be nice to be with her.”
Butler and Gerber made their red carpet debut at the Met Gala in May, and recently returned from a holiday with her family in Mexico.
He added to Entertainment Tonight about idolising Elvis: “He was somebody who was so true to himself. It liberated a lot of people, even just audiences watching him.
“I know that was my experience playing him – it freed me in many ways. I’m very shy, so it forced me to get things out of me.”
Butler, whose exes include Vanessa Hudgens, 34, has said he constantly listened to nine Elvis songs in preparation for playing the King.
He told NME: “I wanted every gesture and everywhere that his eyes go and the way that he moves his entire body to feel as truthful and identical to him as possible but it’s got to feel as though it’s happening for the first time.”
His top nine Elvis songs to get him in the right frame of mind for shooting included ‘(There’ll Be) Peace in the Valley (For Me)’.
Butler said about the track: “Throughout his career, Elvis would go back to spiritual music as his solace so there’s a number of different gospel songs that I would return to, including ‘(There’ll Be) Peace in the Valley (For Me)’.
“When we went down to Nashville and recorded all the gospel numbers for the film, getting to be in these small churches listening to gospel being sung for eight hours straight, it sent chills down my spine and I couldn’t help but move.”
He went on about “Unchained Melody” being a significant song in his preparation: “Every time I watch or hear ‘Unchained Melody’, it brings tears to my eyes.
“It was a tricky one to sing, because at that point, I was quite large and so my breathing was constricted because you’re strapped into the jumpsuit.”