Austin Butler has described the aftermath of Lisa Marie Presley's death has been a "really unimaginably tragic time".
Austin Butler won the Best Actor BAFTA
The 31-year-old actor has recently enjoyed a string of awards success, including at the Golden Globes in January and the BAFTAs on Sunday (19.02.23) thanks to his performance as Elvis Presley in 'Elvis' but he admitted the last few weeks have been "bittersweet" following the death of The King's daughter on 12 January.
Austin - who struck up a close friendship with Lisa Marie while making the film - said backstage at London's Festival Hall after winning the Best Actor BAFTA: “It’s been a really unimaginably tragic time, you know, and grief is a long process.
"And so my heart and my love was with [the Presley family] always. I feel honoured to have been welcomed into the family. It’s a bittersweet time.”
While Austin doesn't miss "the terror" of trying to do justice to Elvis, he feels incredibly grateful to have been given the oportunity to play the iconic singer.
He said: “How lucky I was to get to have that experience.
“The feeling of standing on an international stage and looking out and looking down at the jumpsuit that I was wearing and realising 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 and I miss it a lot. I miss that experience.
“I don’t miss the terror. But I felt every day that the elation that you feel with that. And I miss the people that I got to make the film with, they became completely like family to me. I really miss them a lot.”
While the actor will be filming 'Dune: Part 2' and 'The Bikeriders' in the future, he's excited to have a period of time off ahead of him once awards season comes to an end.
He said: "Right now I’m unemployed. Which is exciting because it means that I get to go on vacation after March.”
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