Austin Butler is still mourning for the late Lisa Marie Presley, despite his most recent award-season triumph.
Butler, 31, said his victory for best actor in Elvis at the 2023 BAFTA Awards was a “bittersweet moment” following Lisa Marie’s unexpected death in January at 54.
After winning, Butler told reporters in the press room, “It’s been a truly unimaginably painful period, you know, and mourning is a protracted process,” according to Variety. “As a result, the Presleys were always in my heart.”
“I am glad to have been accepted into the family,” he continued. The situation is “bittersweet.”
In an interview with reporters, the actor explained how fortunate he was to be able to play Elvis Presley in the biopic Elvis, for which he has subsequently received a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award.
“I miss the feeling of standing on an international stage, looking out, looking down at the jumpsuit that I was wearing, and realizing there were certain moments where I was seeing the closest thing to what Elvis would have seen during his ’68 Special or whatever that was,” Butler said of the filming experience.
During the 95th annual Oscar nominees luncheon in Beverly Hills, California, the actor said that he and Lisa Marie “bonded very, very quickly.”
“And all those great times just getting to spend life with her, I’ll cherish it forever,” he concluded.
“There was no filter to how she felt because she was such an honest person,” Butler said of Elvis Presley’s daughter. “And she instantly welcomed me into her heart.”
On January 24, shortly after the Oscar nominations were announced, the actor appeared on Today with Hoda and Jenna. He described his nomination for the role as “sort of a bittersweet event right now” in light of Lisa Marie’s death.
“I wish she was here to celebrate with me,” the actor said. I desired they could be present at these events like I wished Elvis could be.”
“Simply simply, rejoicing during such a sad time of bereavement feels weird,” he said. “Still, I see it as a way to memorialize her somehow. She’ll understand.”
