Austin Butler has said award season success for his starring role in Elvis was “bittersweet” following the death of Lisa Marie Presley, after he took home the Bafta for best actor.
Presley, the only child of Elvis, died last month at the age of 54 and was later laid to rest at her father’s Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee.
The shock news came just two days after the singer-songwriter attended the Golden Globe awards in Los Angeles, where Butler won best actor for his role in Baz Luhrmann’s biopic Elvis.
An extraordinary moment for Austin Butler #EEBAFTAs pic.twitter.com/pnigQzcZfq
— BAFTA (@BAFTA) February 19, 2023
In the Bafta winner’s room, Butler, 31, told the PA news agency: “It’s been a really unimaginably tragic time.
“Grief is a long process and so my heart and my love is with them always.
“And I feel honoured to have been welcomed into the family. It’s a bittersweet time.”
The US actor said he feels “lucky” to have been given the experience to embody the King of Rock and Roll.
“The feeling of standing on that Nashville stage and looking out and looking down at the jumpsuit that I was wearing and realising there were certain moments where I was seeing the closest thing to what Elvis would have seen… I miss it a lot,” he added.
“I miss that experience. I don’t miss the terror that I felt every day, but the elation that you feel with that.
“I miss the people that I got to make the film with. They became completely like family to me. I really miss them a lot.”
The biopic secured three other wins on the night – best casting, best costume design and best make-up and hair.
Butler admitted he felt a “little extra nervous” attending the award ceremony on Sunday at the Royal Festival Hall due to the prestigious nature of Bafta.
He said: “Just being here in London and the history of Bafta and all the amazing British actors that I’ve admired my entire life, it just feels very extra prestigious or something.
“I felt a little extra nervous because of just my reverence for all the British actors that I’ve just admired for so long. So it means a lot to me, truly.”