Austin Butler’s voice coach Irene Bartlett defends her accent during her acceptance speech at the 2023 Golden Globes.
“What you saw in that Golden Globes speech is him. It’s genuine, it’s not set up,” Bartlett said on ABC. Golden Coast on Monday, January 16, 2023, via Page 6.
Butler received his first award for his first-ever Golden Globe nomination, for portraying the king of rock ‘n’ roll Elvis Presley in the Baz Luhrmann-directed biopic, Elvis.
When the accent became a topic of conversation after he continued to sound like the famous musician, Bartlett, for his part, defended Butler’s technique and said it wasn’t done for show.
“I’m sorry people say that, you know, he still acts [but] he is actually taken [the voice of Presley] on board,” she said.
“I don’t know how long this is going to last, or if it’s going to be there forever.” She also noted, “Due to the COVID shutdowns, he was working on it all the time and it’s hard to turn off something you’ve spent so much focus on. [and] time,” she said.
Explaining her strategy on how she was able to train Butler, she shared, “Basically what I’m looking for is what their natural voice does. I take out all the effects that somebody puts on, and I’m like, “What does that natural voice sound like?” And what works and what needs help in terms of improvement, in terms of support, flexibility, endurance, all those things,” via Page 6.