“Then you feel awful about it”: Elvis Star Austin Butler Reveals He Took Ryan Gosling’s Advice to Gain Rapid Weight That Left Him Feeling Disgusted

When it comes to advise, do not listen to Ryan Gosling – or at least that’s how Austin Butler was left feeling when he started preparing for his role in the Elvis Presley biopic by chugging down tubs of Häagen-Dazs. Although all that ice cream, unfortunately, did not contribute to Butler’s end goal of adding the requisite pounds to look the part, it did teach him a lesson regarding his tolerance level for sugar and fat. When he came out the other end, with an eerie baritone and holding his first-ever Oscar nomination, everything somehow seemed worth all the trouble.

Also read: “She hugged me with tears in her eyes”: Late Singer Lisa Marie Thanked Austin Butler For Bringing Her Dad Elvis Presley to Life, Honoring His Legacy

Austin Butler Listens to Ryan Gosling (With Some Regrets)

Baz Luhrmann’s biopic drama that won hearts and standing ovations across the globe had found its lead in Austin Butler when the latter sent in a soul-wrenching, bathrobe-clad audition tape with him singing Elvis’s Unchained Melody. The filming that was then supposed to begin after a grueling 5-month auditioning process that left Butler feeling like he had been “put through the wringer” was brought to a halt due to the unexpected arrival of a global pandemic.

In the meanwhile, being the devoted actor that he is, and willing to put in the work to look his hard-earned part, Austin Butler launched himself on an unexpected dietary routine:

“I heard that Ryan Gosling when he was going to do ‘The Lovely Bones,’ had microwaved Häagen-Dazs and would drink it. So I started doing that. I would go get two dozen doughnuts and eat them all. I really started to pack on some pounds. It’s fun for a week, and then you feel awful about yourself.”

Also read: “My dreams are never going to come true”: Elvis Star Austin Butler Was Insanely Jealous of Leonardo DiCaprio After Titanic, Felt He Could Never Achieve His Level of Fame

Elvis follows the story of the troubled King of Rock ‘n’ Roll from his late teenage years well up to his death at the age of 42. Austin Butler’s packed performance was the epitome of perfection and even as his delivery landed him his first Academy Award nomination, it also sent him to the hospital with his body shutting down a day after the end of filming. It was later revealed to be a virus and Butler was left bedridden for a week.

The Story Behind Ryan Gosling’s Microwaved Häagen-Dazs

Also read: “I was fat and unemployed”: Ryan Gosling Lost Acting Role to Mark Wahlberg For Gaining 60 lbs, Went From Most Desirable Man to Ugly Mess

The Lovely Bones – the 2009 Academy Award-winning Peter Jackson film tested the limits of Ryan Gosling’s dedication to his art. The role that Gosling was cast in required him to play the role of a grieving, guilt-ridden, and worn-down father equipped with the identity of his daughter’s murderer and yet unable to see justice being carried out.

The microwaved Häagen-Dazs was supposed to make him look the part of an older man searching against all hope for a way to make sense of the tragedy and bring the killer to the (metaphorical) gallows. But Gosling’s strategy didn’t exactly go according to plan. He was fired two days before filming was scheduled to begin (for showing up on set overweight), and Mark Wahlberg was cast in his place.

Source: Variety