Harry Styles was too much of an "icon" to play Elvis Presley.
Harry Styles auditioned for Elvis
The 'As It Was' hitmaker went for the lead role in Baz Luhrmann's biopic of The King but ultimately lost out to Austin Butler, and although the 59-year-old filmmaker would happily work with the former One Direction singer on a different project, he felt he was too recognisable for the musical.
Speaking on Australian Radio show 'Fitzy and Wippa', he said: “I don’t audition. I do these really rich workshops. I’ll talk about Harry only because Harry said it himself just recently.
“Harry is really talented actor. I would work on something with him… The real issue with Harry is, he’s Harry Styles. He’s already an icon.
“I think Harry and I came to a place, genuinely I mean, he was just desperate to put the suit on and explore.
"He’s such a great spirit and I have nothing but great things to say about Harry Styles.”
Baz believes Austin was "born" to play Elvis because he had so many connections to the 'Jailhouse Rock' hitmaker.
He continued: “The thing about Aust was that he will tell you himself, I didn’t pick him it’s as if he was drawn like the role drew them in because he was almost born to play it.
"You know, we can talk about it now, he like loses his mom at the same age that Elvis did. He sends a video to me with this thing and… He just happened like two years non stop living and breathing as Elvis."
And Austin got so tied into the role, he's now going through a "deprogramming thing" to get back to his true self.
Baz added: "He’s now going through a sort of like deprogramming thing because he’s been a long time since he’s known who he was.”
Harry previously admitted he "almost" didn't want to audition for 'Elvis' because he was always such a big fan of the singer.
He said: "[Elvis] was such an icon for me growing up.
"There was something almost sacred about him, almost like I didn't want to touch him. Then I ended up getting into [his life] a bit and I wasn't disappointed."
Tagged in Baz Luhrmann Austin Butler Harry Styles