See Ashley Tisdale’s Reaction To Austin Butler’s Oscar Nomination

“The month before I heard that Baz was making the movie, I was going to look at Christmas lights with a friend,” he recalled during The Hollywood Reporter‘s Actors Roundtable Jan. 10. “And there was an Elvis Christmas song on the radio and I was singing along and my friend looked over at me and goes, ‘You’ve got to play Elvis.’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s such a long shot.'”

He added that weeks later she nudged him further after seeing him play the piano.

“I never really sang for any of my friends or anything,” he continued. “That same friend was there and I was playing the piano. She said, ‘I’m serious. You gotta figure out how you can get the rights to a script.’ Then my agent called and said, ‘So Baz Luhrmann is making an Elvis film.'”

Of course, Austin’s story is reminiscent of one Vanessa told in 2019 following his casting as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

“Last December, we were driving along and we were listening to Christmas music, and then an Elvis Presley Christmas song came on,” the 34-year-old recalled on Live with Kelly and Ryan at the time. “He had just dyed his hair dark. He’s a natural blonde, blonde and I was looking at him and he was singing along and I was like, ‘Babe, you need to play Elvis.'”

Click here to check out other first time Oscar nominees.