Austin Butler plays Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming film Elvis, in theaters June 24

The 30-year-old actor told British GQ that he was hospitalised and immobilised for a week after finishing filming for the next Elvis biopic in March 2021. Butler was diagnosed with a virus that mimicked appendicitis, according to the publication.

“The next day I woke up at 4 in the morning with excruciating pain, and I was rushed to hospital,” he said. “My body just started shutting down the day after I finished Elvis.”

Director Baz Luhrmann recalled about Butler’s performance, “Look, I’ve worked with every kind of actor and every kind of performer. And I accept that they have freak-outs, that’s okay. But Austin, he doesn’t freak out. He has the most polite panic of anyone I’ve ever met.”

Butler also stated why he was able to connect with Presley on an emotional level.

“His mother passed away when he was 23, and my mum passed away when I was 23. So when I learned that, it was one of those things where I got chills, and I just thought, ‘Okay, I can connect to that,’ ” he said, later adding, “I’ve never loved somebody I’ve never met more than Elvis.”

Riley Keough, Presley’s granddaughter, recently lauded Butler’s portrayal in the film. During a Variety Women in Motion panel at the Cannes Film Festival (where her directorial debut War Pony was exhibited), Keough, 32, remarked that watching Elvis was “a very emotional experience.”

“I started crying five minutes in and didn’t stop,” she said, adding, “There’s a lot of family trauma and generational trauma that started around then for our family. I felt honored they worked so hard to really get his essence, to feel his essence. Austin captured that so beautifully.”

Priscilla Presley, Elvis’ ex-wife, also gave the film her stamp of approval in an Instagram post, stating her daughter Lisa Marie, 54, is overjoyed with the way the drama, which centres on Elvis and his relationship with his manager Colonel Parker (Tom Hanks), has turned out.