Austin Butler covers the latest issue of Men’s Health as part of his promotion for Caught Stealing. In that film, he plays a former baseball player-turned-alcoholic-bartender. So, he had to transform his body a bit, and like many younger men (Austin is 34), he finds it easy to lose and gain weight and make radical transformations in a short amount of time. He bulked up in a big way for Dune 2, then he lost a lot of weight soon after without really trying. Well, apparently Caught Stealing director Darren Aronosky wanted Austin to have a baseball player’s ass, meaning a bubble butt. Austin somewhat hilariously laments how he can no longer fit his new ass into his old Celine pants. Some highlights from this Men’s Health piece:
Coming down from the Elvis experience: “And then it’s done, after three years. And then it’s like, Wait, what do I focus on now? What do I read about? What do I watch? What do I like? And also, I haven’t talked to my friends. Who do I call?”
Learning the hard way that acting doesn’t have to be a tortuous process: “For a long time, I felt that it had to be a tortured process and I would come out the other side broken,” he says. Acting had meant erasing himself. But he saw glimmers of another way. “Rather than just putting parts of yourself away and trying to pretend that they don’t exist, it’s like going into the gross bits of yourself—going into the bits that you don’t want to look at—and finding a way of integrating that into the whole.”
Being trained by Navy Seal Duffy Gaver for Dune 2: “He just ramps up the weight, so you’re just getting heavier and heavier. I remember him telling me, ‘Chicken, broccoli, brown rice, and lift, motherf–kers.’ ”
His physique for Caught Stealing: He had the unusual challenge of transforming himself into a former baseball player: He had to look athletic but not too Marvel. Aronofsky would send him pictures of baseball players for reference. “I actually have a whole section of just baseball players’ asses that he would send me. He was like, ‘Look how thick they are!’ ” But Aronofsky wanted Hank to look like a bartender with a drinking problem too. So Butler worked out hard with trainer Beth Lewis but he also ate constantly—a lot of pizza—and drank beer so he wouldn’t appear overly cut. (“Drinking has never been my thing,” he says after ordering a soda and bitters with dinner. “I don’t like the way it makes me feel.”)
He gained 35 pounds for the role & his weight was up to 185. After “a ton of hip thrusters,” he achieved the mandatory tokus. “I’ve got a whole section of Celine pants that I just can’t even wear anymore,” he says woefully.
He loves Laura Dern: He met the actor Laura Dern, for instance, at an event. “It was like the whole room just quieted, and we connected on a soul level,” he says. “We felt like kindred spirits.” Losing his mother in 2014 was profoundly difficult for him, and he saw serendipitous threads between her and Dern. “My mom was even told that she looked like Laura Dern, and so as soon as I see her, it’s like: She looks like my actual mom.”
I can’t believe my nemesis Laura Dern is friendly with Austin! STAY AWAY FROM HIM. No, honestly, I don’t care, let them hang out, it is what it is. I found all of the conversation about his body and his training really interesting. I like that his goal never seems to be “I want to look cut and dehydrated!” The piece starts out by talking about all of Austin’s health issues in recent years, including a brief migraine-induced bout of blindness and an apparently excruciating ordeal with a shred of glass in his foot. This dude just wants to feel strong and healthy and he wants to NOT physically break down every six months. He looks great though, I love him at his weight in these photos.
Photos & cover courtesy of Men’s Health.
What a tragedy.
Completely agree.
Every movie I went to had the trailer for Caught Stealing, and tbh it looked pretty bad. I’ve never seen Elvis but the stories about him not being able to shake off the accent have become legend lol
It’s already been out and bombed pretty badly, even on a low budget. Decent reviews but no one cared.
He has the same problem most of these young actors have now. He got nominated for awards but people went to see Elvis, not him. So when they put his name above the title it means nothing. He can’t open. Genre and concept are key, and actors can help make that work but the “movie star” is just not happening for the most part. It’s a fascinating shift.
Purely anecdotal, but I don’t know anyone who goes to a movie because a specific actor is in it. It’s just not the 90’s anymore so this idea that there are stars who are bankable and those who aren’t seems kind of silly to me. Unless a movie belongs to a really popular IP (e.g., Minecraft, Wicked, Marvel, DC…) or is associated with some kind of cultural zeitgeist (Barbenheimer, etc.), I think most people would rather wait to watch until it’s streaming. Movie tickets are already expensive as it is and in this post-Covid world, I just don’t think anyone cares about “movie stars” anymore… not enough to get butts in seats, at least.
He was great in Caught Stealing and I thought it was a really fun movie. I think people are harsh about him because they think he’s pretentious from the accent thing, and there’s been an effort to make him ‘happen’. He’s genuinely talented I think.
I am way more into him than my perimenopausal dignity should allow. He is going to have a great career.
I’m going to say something controversial, maybe. His California dude accent reminds me very much of another California dude – Paul Walker. And honorary California dude Keanu Reeves. Both those guys got a bad rap for years because the way they spoke made them sound…less than bright. Same with Chris Pine to a lesser extent.
Why does every young male actor end up looking like a version of Johnny Depp? lol, that’s what I see in the cover shot.
Okay. I admit it. He does look hot in the header picture. Thus far his appeal has eluded me.