Hollywood heartthrob Austin Butler, 31, has had a pretty impressive year and it’s only February! After gracing Vanity Fair‘s 2023 Hollywood Issue alongside Only Murders in the Building star Selena Gomez, 30, the Elvis star revealed how impressed he is with his dear friend. “I’ve known her [Selena] for so many years, so it is nice to get to share space with somebody for a long period of time, and I’m just so proud of her,” he gushed to ExtraTV on Thursday. “Her documentary [Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me] really moved me as well, getting to see that… I thought that was so brave.”
By the end of the interview, Austin noted that he felt “honored to be in her company” while on the set of the Steven Klein photoshoot. During his interview with Vanity Fair, Austin recalled a sweet moment that Selena shared with him while he was filming Elvis. “When I was filming Elvis, Selena found this photograph of the two of us when I did a guest-star thing on her show Wizards of Waverly Place. And she sends it to me, just going, ‘Wow, remember this?’ It feels like another life,” he told the outlet. “When you’re a child actor, you see so many people come in from Texas or something, and at a certain point they may quit or go back. We’re just so fortunate to have careers in this industry for this amount of time.”
Aside from his adorable moments with the “Same Old Love” hitmaker, the blonde hunk also chatted about his continued success following Elvis. Not only is Austin glad his success took time, he also is glad he is older to appreciate it. “I mean, I had times where I just thought, Oh, maybe it’ll never happen or I’ll never get those opportunities. But now, in retrospect, I can look back and go, if I had some film that hit really big when I was younger, I wouldn’t have had to keep going back to the drawing board and saying, ‘How do you get better at this?'”, he said.
In addition, the Golden Globe winner admitted that portraying Elvis Presley in the 2022 biopic taught him more about working in Hollywood and the possible emptiness that can come with success. “I think it’s definitely made me consider who I ask for advice and who I keep close to me. Playing Elvis also just made me think about the fact that you can have seemingly everything and yet still feel empty,” Austin shared. “You can have all your dreams come true and still be searching for something deeper and feel very alone. You experience a ton of public love, then you’re back in a silent room.”
The Carrie Diaries alum has had a rise in his success after starring in Baz Luhrmann‘s film last year. Not only did Austin earn a Golden Globe Award for his work on the project, but he’s earned an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role! Upon receiving the prestigious nomination, the 31-year-old told The Hollywood Reporter that his greatest achievement was impressing the late Lisa Marie Presley and Priscilla Presley. “Those moments when Lisa Marie and Priscilla got to see the film and then I first saw them after… nothing I would do would ever top that,” he said in the statement. “And especially with Lisa Marie not being here with us. I just wish she was here to celebrate today with us.”