Elvis: Austin Butler Reveals How Tom Hanks Helped Save His "Mental Health" After Filming

It has been a little over a year since the debut of Elvis, Baz Luhrmann's big-screen take on the life of Elvis Presley. At the center of Elvis was Austin Butler's Oscar-nominated take on the music icon, which was buzzed about a lot due to the years-long preparation process he had. As a new Butler reveals, his co-star Tom Hanks played a major role in helping his emotional state after the end of Elvis' production. As Butler told The Times of London, he signed on to one of the lead roles of Apple TV+'s upcoming Masters of the Air after Hanks, who played Colonel Tom Parker in Elvis, suggested that Butler take another project immediately after.

"'You have immersed yourself so deeply in Elvis that, for your mental health, it would be wise to go straight into something else. If you just jump off the train, you might have emotional whiplash… and, you know, I've got this thing I'm producing,'" Butler recalls Hanks of saying, adding that Elvis caused him "to go to the very edge of what is possible, and not every experience will be like that. I don't think I'll ever have an experience like that again, but if I have to really dig, it makes me feel alive."

Will There Be an Extended Cut of Elvis?

As Luhrmann hinted to ScreenRant last year, his rumored four-hour cut of Elvis could potentially be released — at a later date.

"Not now, and not probably next year," Luhrmann explained. "But I don't close my mind to the idea that in the future, there might be a way of exploring another [cut]. I've got to be really careful here, because the moment I put it out there... I tell you what, all my tweets are nothing but, 'We want the four-hour version! We want the four-hour version!' I think people are at my gates with pitchforks saying, 'We want the four-hour version!' But I don't close my mind to the idea that there would be an extended cut. Right now, with how long it's stayed in the theaters and how well it's done, it's crossed the line. But it's done so well on HBO Max over the weekend, so it's about the parent company going, 'Wow, it's really worth spending the money.'"

"Because it isn't just like I've got it, and you just put it out there," Luhrmann continued. "Every minute in post-production, you have to do visual effects, grading, cutting, refining, and ADR sound. It's not like it's just sitting there finished, and I can just push a button and it comes out. You'd have to get back in and work on it. To do an extended cut, you'd be working on it for another four or six months something. I'm not closed to it, but not now. I'm a little bit on the tired side."

What did you think of Elvis? How do you feel about Tom Hanks' new comments? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!