‘Elvis’ Star Austin Butler Shares the Career Advice That Tom Hanks Bestowed Upon Him

Austin Butler, 31, may have burst onto the Hollywood scene with roles in teen shows like Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide and Zoey 101, but he's now got an Oscar nom under his belt, thanks to his totally transformative role in Elvis. For his performance as the titular icon, Butler won the Best Actor prize at the Golden Globe Awards, the British Academy Film Awards and the Satellite Awards. And while Butler enjoyed these accolades, he also got to work alongside one of the industry's biggest stars—Tom Hanks, 67—who apparently advised him that he needed to avoid “emotional whiplash” after wrapping the film.

In a new interview with The Times, Butler divulged the advice that Hanks gave to him. According to the 31-year-old, Hanks said, “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.”

This led to Butler landing a role in the forthcoming miniseries Masters of the Air, a war drama based on Donald L. Miller’s 2007 book of the same name. The Apple TV+ show, which doesn't have a release date yet, is being executive produced by Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Gary Goetzman and Cary Joji Fukunaga.

In addition to accepting one of the lead roles in Masters of the Air, Butler has a number of other projects on the horizon.

This November, he's set to appear in Dune: Part Two as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, and then he stars as Benny in the Fred Nichols-directed The Bikeriders, which hits theaters in December. Meanwhile, he's also slated to portray a crime boss in an upcoming adaptation of Don Winslow's novel, City on Fire.

Seems Austin took his co-star’s advice to heart (and considering Hanks has two Oscars to his name, he's probably a good person to listen to).

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