Austin Butler on sharing one major quality with bastions of mid-century: Deets inside

Austin Butler has weighed in on depicting mid-century men in most of his recent movies.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Butler said, “For whatever reason, I ended up playing in this space for a while.”

Last year, the actor played his role in Elvis and now he’s representing the pilot Major Gale 'Buck' Clevens character in Apple TV+'s World War II drama Masters of the Air.

Not only that, Butler will also portray the role in upcoming The Bikeriders.

“There's something that resonates with me. A lot of my favourite films take place around that time period,” remarked the 32-year-old.

Butler explained, “The actors that I look at a lot, who impacted me from a young age — like Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Montgomery Clift, and Marlon Brando — are from that era. That whole time period has impacted me a lot.”

Reflecting on a major quality he shares with men of mid-century, Butler pointed out, “I tend to be still a lot of the time in my life and feel very sensitive to what's going on around me.”

“I also have moments where, if I'm around the right people, I can be very outgoing and have a lot of energy. There are times where I can be very fired up about something,” stated the Dune actor.

Butler mentioned, “But with the still characters, what I always have loved in other people's performances is when you are able to somehow channel that in a way where it's not coming out as physically at times.”

“It's coming out through your eyes and then finding the moments where you let it erupt and let it rip,” added the actor.