Lisa Marie Presley and 'Elvis' Actor Austin Butler to Appear on TV Together This Week
Austin Butler's portrayal of Elvis has Lisa Marie Presley smiling. On June 18, Lisa Marie updated her Instagram with a new photo of her and Butler, the titular star of the film Elvis, sitting together on a couch.
She captioned it, "Tune in to see Austin and I do an interview together on Exclusively Elvis, a special edition of [abc2020] airs Tuesday, June 21 at 10/9c on [abcnews]." Below the message, she added, "I do believe that this may be my first smile in 2 years."
In the upcoming 20/20 special, ABC News contributor Chris Connelly visits Elvis Presley's Memphis home, Graceland, to examine his life as it will be retold in the movie. Also featured will be exclusive interviews with Presley's surviving relatives, including his daughter Lisa Marie, ex-wife Priscilla, and granddaughter Riley Keough. Elvis cast and crew members, including Butler, Tom Hanks, and director Baz Luhrmann will discuss the film's origins, the shooting experience, and more.
An exclusive clip from Entertainment Weekly shows Butler and Lisa Marie Presley discussing bringing the King to life in the Jungle Room at Graceland. In the clip, Butler talks to Lisa Marie about the difficulties of portraying her father. "Looking at your dad, you watch him onstage and you just go, 'How are you doing that?'" he says.
"It's so remarkable, and it's hard not to feel like you're so small in comparison and that you're not enough. And so, for me all those things that I could then find that clicked into his spirit then became the thing that carried me through."
Butler's tactics worked because Presley could only praise him. "It's almost as if he channeled him," she says in the special. "He put everything he had, his heart, his soul, everything he had into researching, reading, watching, learning. He honored him in every way possible."
The Presley family has openly endorsed Butler's portrayal of Elvis, and both Lisa Marie and Priscilla have expressed how emotional the movie made them. Lurhmann said that even though he says he didn't expect or need it, it has meant a lot to him to be supported by the Presley family.
"I can't underline enough that no member of the Presley family needs to endorse this film, nor did I have to fulfill any particular direction from them," he told Entertainment Weekly. "They could have liked it, loathed it, whatever. Their response is genuine. And for them to kindly bring us into their house and to say the things they did, I didn't really see coming."
Butler acknowledged the immense support the family has given him and how it influenced his work on the project. "I got to meet Priscilla beforehand," he told Entertainment Weekly. "The first day I went to Graceland. It was profound for me. She just gave me a big hug and said, 'You have a lot of support.' Feeling her blessing beforehand [meant so much] because I wanted to make her proud. I wanted to do him justice — for her and for her family and Lisa Marie." Exclusively Elvis: A Special Edition of 20/20 will air on June 21 at 10 p.m. EST/PST, while Elvis opens in theaters on June 24.
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