We now know why Harry Styles was not chosen to portray Elvis Presley in the upcoming Elvis movie.
Baz Luhrmann, who directed the highly-anticipated film, has revealed the reason behind the coveted role not going to Harry. Austin Butler stars as the titular role of Elvis.
When asked about Harry going out for the part, the 59-year-old director said:
“I don’t audition. I do these really rich workshops. I’ll talk about Harry only because Harry said it himself just recently.
Harry is a really talented actor. I would work on something with him…”
Baz revealed this to be the reason the role was not given to Harry:
“The real issue with Harry is, he’s Harry Styles. He’s already an icon.
I think Harry and I came to a place, genuinely I mean, he was just desperate to put the suit on and explore. He’s such a great spirit and I have nothing but great things to say about Harry Styles.”
Baz also spoke about a kind of connection that Austin had with Elvis:
“The think about Austin was that he will tell you himself, I didn’t pick him it’s as if he was drawn like the role drew them in because he was almost born to play it.
You know, we can talk about it now, he like loses his mom at the same age that Elvis did. He sends a video to me with this thing and… He just happened like two years non stop living and breathing as Elvis. He’s not going through a sort of like deprogramming thing because he’s been a long time since he’s known who he was.”
