-I'm so happy to meet you,
and thank you so much for coming on the show. You hit a home run
with this movie, buddy. I can't even tell you
what a great job you did. We saw it.
We screened it the other night. You're fantastic
in this movie. -Thank you.
-Congratulations. It was so good. I want to get down to all
the details and ask you all the questions. Here's some of the reviews,
by the way, just so you know, if you want to plug your ears. But one says that, "When
Austin Butler shakes his hips in Elvis's first gig
as a full blown rock and roller, it's like watching
two stars being born." That was time out.
I like that one. [ Cheers and applause ] "Vanity Fair" says,
"It may well be a star making turn for
Austin Butler." And I agree with that.
And then this one's my favorite. "Entertainment Weekly" says. "Austin Butler stares down
the lens and melts it." I've never heard that. Melted. But I did feel that when I was
watching the thing -- Baz Lurhmann did such an amazing
job directing. -Yeah, he did. I'm so proud
of everything he's done. -Yeah.
-It was incredible. -Did you feel -- When you were
auditioning, when you knew that there's an audition
for "Elvis" and you're like, "I'm close to it,"
did you get nervous? Did you always know Elvis? -Yeah.
-You did? -Yeah, it's terrifying. But it's that thing
where it's -- I mean, it's the biggest
responsibility I've ever felt. You feel such a responsibility
to him, to his family, to all the people around
the world who love him so much. And so, it's terrifying. But it's also the thing
where as an actor -- like, the actors that I always
looked up to when I was a kid, my dad always had Turner Classic
Movies in the house, and so "Raging Bull"
and "East of Eden" and "On the Waterfront"
and all those, so, I was always like,
"What did they do?" And so, it's always been
about the challenge. So, I leaned into that
as much as I could. -But then once you got cast
as Elvis, do you go like, "Okay,
now I got the gig. Now it's really hard.
I really got to get to work"? -You feel like you're about
to climb Mount Everest. -Yeah, it really is. And you did it perfectly. And I can't even tell you
you didn't do too much. It wasn't too little. Wait until you seen this
performance. I'm telling you, buddy,
it was a knockout. I mean, just even the accents
that Elvis had, the way he talked
in the '50s, the way he talked in the '60s
and '70s, like three different Elvises. And you sang differently. And
you actually sang in this movie. -Yeah.
-Yeah. Well,
I'm saying that because -- Sorry. But I mean, we've had
some actors on the show. They played parts in movies
and they don't sing and they lip sync,
but you can play guitar and you sang and you dance
and move just like him. But I mean,
how did you do the accents? How did you remember
what you were doing? -Well, you know, I mean,
for one thing, you listen to Elvis speak and there's these amazing
archives out there of every interview he ever gave. And that was the first thing
that hit me, was it's not
just one voice of Elvis. His voice changed so much
over the years. And so it's that thing of... -Could you could you give us
an example? I'm sorry to put you
on the spot. [ Cheers and applause ] -Alright, alright.
I'll do it. So, I mean, I haven't
done this at all, and it's been a long time,
so take it easy on me, Internet. Alright, so, like
an example is when he was 19 and he goes on
the "Louisiana Hayride". It's 1954. And his voice --
you know, he's nervous. His voice at that time,
you speak a lot faster when you're nervous,
and also, he was young. And so, his voice at that point
was like, [As Elvis] Well, I'd like to say
how happy we are to be down here. It's a real
honor for us to get a chance to appear
on the "Louisiana Hayride." [ Normal voice ]
It's like that. [ Cheers and applause ] And then, like, a couple years
later, he's 21, it's 1956, and honestly,
this one I thought of earlier, because it's how
I feel right now. It's that thing when
you're not sleeping at night, you're just buzzing. I can't believe --
I got to take a second. I'm on Jimmy Fallon talking about playing
Elvis Presley. Like, you're my hero. [ Cheers and applause ] I just blows my mind. I just -- Yeah.
So, at this point -- So, he's 21, and at that point,
he's more like -- he says -- because he's asked, "What are you thinking
about at night?" And he says,
[as Elvis] "Well, everything's happened to me so
fast in the last year and a half. I'm all mixed up, you know? I can't keep up with
everything that's happening." -Yeah. It's unbelievable. -[Normal voice]
So, there's that. [ Cheers and applause ] And then for, like,
a juxtaposition, like, we can fast forward
to '72. Like, there's this
great interview in '72, and one of the first thing
he says is... [as Elvis] Well --
because at this point, his voice goes more forward
into his face you know, and so, then he's like, "Well, you know,
we just came out here from Memphis," [normal voice]
and that sort of thing. -Yea, it's coming out
of the front. -It comes out of the front
of your face. -It's like three
different characters. It's such a great love
letter to Elvis and any Elvis fans.
Dude, ultimate respect. And I was reading some article
about this and you were saying what kind of hit home to you is
his love for his mother. -Yeah. Yeah.
-And now he lost his mom. -Yeah.
That was the first thing, because when I first
started approaching it, it's that thing of Elvis
is always 40 feet tall. He's like --
you could only look up to him. And it's hard to, in the
beginning, to feel anything but small compared to him,
and all those questions. You know, I'm a shy person. I feel very, you know --
those moments of "Am I enough?" and imposter syndrome
and all those things. And so, it was a process
in the beginning of just trying
to find his humanity. And I tried many things,
but I watched this documentary, and I learned that his mom
passed away when he was 23. And that's how old I was
when I lost my mom. And that hit me
like a freight train, because it's the most
human thing. Like, that grief that you feel. And I know you've experienced,
you know, that feeling. And that's the thing
where it just humanizes somebody and you suddenly
don't feel alone in that. And so, that that became
the first key into finding his humanity. -Yeah, you just played it
perfect. And you got to -- obviously,
you had to go to Graceland, I'm assuming,
and meet Priscilla. -That was so surreal. The first time I went, it was about a month
after I was cast. And Baz and I took this road
trip from Nashville to Memphis and I got to record -- the first
recording studio I ever was in was RCA, where Elvis recorded
over 250-something songs. You know, it's insane. And so, then
we drove to Memphis. -I'm freaking out.
This is unbelievable. -Also, I was just in Graceland. And Angie, who runs the spot,
she said, "Tell Jimmy, because I know
he's a big fan, tell him I will
show him everything." So let's take you
in the archives, everything. -Really?
'Cause I've not been. Because I was waiting -- I want to wait for the exact
right moment to go to Graceland. -Oh, you'll get all the hookups.
-Really? -Yeah, for sure. -Someone sent over this photo
of you in the Jungle Room playing Elvis's guitar. -Yeah. I still am waiting
for somebody to wake me up. -I mean, wait, so how
did you end up-- -Well, like they had wanted me, you know,
for social media or something. They were like,
"Well, we'll get you, like, playing the guitar,
playing a guitar." And they were going to just
have me play some random guitar at one point.
I kept putting it off because I'm not a big social
media person as well. And then when we got
to Memphis, they were like, "We're making you do it." And so they got
some other guitar. And Angie heard that I was going to be
playing a song, and she said, "What guitar you playing?" I said,
"Oh, it's a 1937 Epiphone." And she goes,
"Well, I got a 56 Gibson," and I realize
what she's saying, and this is -- I actually
didn't know this, but that guitar is the guitar
he played in "Loving You", "Jailhouse
Rock", "King Creole". It's also the guitar --
Scotty Moore had it redone. So, it's the same guitar
he plays in "That's the Way It Is.
-No way. -Same guitar he plays in Vegas. [ Cheers and applause ] -And the last person
to play it in the archives was Paul McCartney. -Last person to play it
was Paul McCartney? Come on. What is going on?
How great is that? And what was Priscilla like?
-Oh, man. She's just the loveliest person.
And when I first met her, she said very few words, but it was more
looking in our eyes. And you realize
this is the woman that Elvis fell in love
with all those years ago, and she still loves him
to this day. She's the mother
of his only child. And that was so surreal. But she said
a couple of things. She said,
"You have big shoes to fill." And I said, "I know", and
just -- you feel the pressure. And then she said -- and then she gave me
this big hug and she said, "You have a lot of support."
And then that was huge. And then she said,
"Have you been a Graceland yet?" I said, "I'm about to go in
for the first time." And she said, "I truly believe
that's where his spirit is." And then I went over there
for the first time and I spent the whole day
in there by myself. And now getting to,
you know, spend time with her and be in the Jungle Room
and be with Lisa Marie, it made me feel like
I was a part of the family. It was so amazing. Are you a dancer? I'm sorry to
ask this, because -- -Oh, no.
[ Chuckles ] -I don't know. I was like,
I don't know if I've seen you -- -I wasn't a singer or a dancer.
-No. You definitely dance in this. I mean, you're just like --
You're, like, a shy person. Like at a party,
would you -- -I was always a wallflower,
you know? -Really?
-Yeah. But that was the thing, is you
realize that Elvis wasn't -- he didn't do choreography in the way that Michael did
or something like that. It was
all the music moving him. And obviously, there are
signature things that he did that, you know,
you have to be specific about. But it was all about the way
that the music moved him. -Could you show me a move?
-Oh, God. [ Cheers and applause ] -If you can't -- -Alright. Alright.
Get out here. It's been a long time. Alright. From the '50s,
he had this one that was really fun.
I just called it the Sidewinder 'cause you can go from walking
into a side. [ Cheers and applause ] It's hard on the carpet.
-Wait, so you start here. -Yeah. So, basically what you're
doing is like -- you know, when you move
like this? -Okay. -But you're going to put all
your weight on your right foot and then your left foot's
just going to sort of tap. So, you go to the side first, and then from there,
you just tap to the side. But you use this arm
almost like a windmill. -A windmill. Okay. Ready? And this hand
can almost be like you're holding a cane
or something. So you kind of --
from the side. [ Cheers and applause ] -That's why he's the best. It works exactly
like "Pictionary", okay? Except all the clues
that we're guessing are titles
of popular biopics. Okay? Now, we each have
a stack of cards. You have one. I have one. Okay?
Now you're going to pick a card, then start drawing
on these iPads. Everything you draw
will be seen on the screen. -And then we show it to
each other? -No, it's going to be seen
on a screen behind us. -Oh, wow.
-Right there. Yeah. Look at that.
Is that amazing? -Yeah. I'm not that
good at drawing. -That's alright. Once you once you start drawing, the other person has
20 seconds to guess. -Okay.
-Okay? And it's the name of a biopic. So, some biography thing.
Alright. So since you're my guess
and it's your first time on "The Tonight Show",
you go first. -I draw first?
-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna make it hard for
you. Yeah. Come on, partner. -Alright. Okay.
So, I look at this first? -Yeah.
-And I got 20 seconds to get it? Alright, hold on.
-Yep. No problem. -Okay. Here we go. Oh, geez.
Alright. Horn. Bull.
Chicago Bulls. Michael Jordan. The five -- something.
"Game Five" or something. What is it? The five...
Oh, it's the devil. -No, no, no, no.
-It's not the devil. It's a bull.
No, no, no, no. -Alright, so hold on.
-Alright, sorry. -Grr.
-Is that a basketball? No. [ Buzzer ] -Sorry. I was totally off.
-No, no. He's angry. He's raging. -"Raging Bull".
Oh, it's -- Alright, alright. That's fine.
Alright. Sorry about that. Okay, so now you press
that to clear it. Yep. Sorry.
I didn't get that one. I was thinking
the Michael Jordan one. Okay, that's alright. I still couldn't think of
the name. Oh, okay. Ooh. Ooh, okay.
Alright. Ready? -Yes.
-Okay. - A box. Book? Dollar. Dollar. Money. Money. Man. Breasts. What? Arms. [ Buzzer ] -Sorry.
Not breasts. Sorry.
That was supposed to be -- Oh, my God. I'm sorry.
-Sorry. What? That was supposed to be a
guitar. Sorry. -Oh, geez. Guitar. -Don't ever let him see this.
Yeah, this is -- or any of the family -- that is
supposed to be Johnny Cash. -That was "Walk the Line"?
-That was "Walk the Line". Sorry about that. Wow. How do we clear that?
How do we clear that fast? Sorry, that was a guitar and that was a stack of cash. -So he's making money
playing the guitar. -I figure Johnny Cash,
if you said "cash". -Oh, cash.
-Yeah, we would have got it. Yeah, but anyways, it did not
look anything like a guitar. Okay.
-Alright. So, what are we? -We're zero-zero. Yeah.
We need to get one. Here we go.
Pick up this card. We can do it. Come on, Austin.
We got it. -[ Clears throat ]
-[ Exhales deeply ] -Okay, you got this one. This is round two. Here we go.
-Alright. Come on. -House? -Yes. -Doorknob's in the middle of the
door. Interesting. Window. -No.
-No, not a window. Oh. "House of Gucci".
-Yes. -Wow!
[ Bell dinging ] [ Cheers and applause ] That's what I was talking about!
I knew the bag! House and the bag!
That's it! Well done! -Alright.
-Lady Gaga! Love it.
Alright, bud, here we go. Okay, now. Alright. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. We got this.
We got this. We got this. -Okay.
-Alright. Ready?
-We're merging our minds. Here we go.
Alright, here we go. Okay. I can look at that, too? -"Lincoln"?
-Yes! -Oh, my God! I wasn't expecting that one. -That's the best drawing
I ever did. -That was amazing. -That was the best drawing
I've ever done. -That was incredible. -I've never done a better
drawing in my life. Compared to the Johnny Cash one,
that's much better. -That was good. -♪ Uh-huh-huh ♪
-Oh, wait a sec. That sound means it's time
for the final round. [ Laughter ] What else would that sound mean? So this one, you and I
will be drawing together, and we're going to try to get
Questlove to guess the biopic. -Oh. Oh. Quest, are you good with your
biopic? -I'm good with it. Can I hear
that theme again, though? -♪ Uh-huh-huh ♪ -Alright. You got to know it.
That's one of our writers. -We both are synced
to the same thing? -We're synced to the same thing.
We're both drawing the same screen.
We help each other out. And we're gonna get Quest
to guess this. You ready for this?
-Yeah. Okay. Alright, you want to do
that part? -Yeah.
-Alright. -Alright, go. -You gonna draw that?
Oh, oh. Yeah, yeah.
So, then... -Alright, "Rocketman"?
-Yes! [ Bell dinging ] [ Cheers and applause ] It's that easy. It's that easy. Good man, Quest.
Austin Butler, everybody!
