The War Over Who Will Play Elvis Presley Is Over, and It Is Not His Goth Grandson

Austin Butler has won. According to Deadline, director Baz Luhrmann has selected Vanessa Hudgens’s beau to play Elvis in his upcoming biopic, beating out Miles Teller, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ansel Elgort, and my husband, Harry Styles, for the role. I was rooting for Elvis’s actual grandson, Benjamin Keough, a goth, to take on the job, but apparently Luhrmann doesn’t read my blogs. Tragic.

Butler will star in the film alongside Tom freakin’ Hanks, who has signed on to portray Presley’s longtime manager Colonel Tom Parker. Luhrmann released a statement about his casting decision:

“I knew I couldn’t make this film if the casting wasn’t absolutely right, and we searched thoroughly for an actor with the ability to evoke the singular natural movement and vocal qualities of this peerless star, but also the inner vulnerability of the artist. Throughout the casting process, it was an honor for me to encounter such a vast array of talent. I had heard about Austin Butler from his stand-out role opposite Denzel Washington in The Iceman Cometh on Broadway, and through a journey of extensive screen testing and music and performance workshops, I knew unequivocally that I had found someone who could embody the spirit of one of the world’s most iconic musical figures.”

That’s all fine and good, and I will definitely see the movie, even though Butler looks nothing like the King of Rock and Roll to me. Justice for Benji.