Vanessa Hudgens Fans Buzzing Over This Austin Butler Interview

Austin Butler has this fanbase all shook up.

The Golden Globe winner recently reflected on his road to playing Elvis Presley in the biopic Elvis, explaining that it was a “friend” who convinced him he was perfect for the role. However, many fans have work, work, worked it out that Austin was potentially referring to ex-girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens—and with good reason.

“The month before I heard that Baz [Luhrmann] was making the movie, I was going to look at Christmas lights with a friend,” he recalled during The Hollywood Reporter‘s Actors Roundtable published 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.'”

But he notes his unnamed friend was persistent, giving him the same note a little while later.

“A couple of weeks later, I was playing the piano,” he continued. “I never really sang for any of my friends or anything. 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.'”