'A bittersweet time': Austin Butler pays tribute to Lisa Marie Presley after winning best actor BAFTA for 'Elvis'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The 76th BAFTA Awards were held on Sunday, February 19, at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The event was hosted by Richard E Grant. As many have predicted, Austin Butler took home the award for best actor for 'Elvis'. After winning, he thanked and paid tribute to Lisa Marie Presley for her immense support and dedication towards the movie. Elvis' only child died in January, shortly after the film triumphed at the Golden Globes.
Butler will next be seen in Denis Villeneuve’s 'Dune: Part 2' and 'The Bikeriders,' in which he will co-star with Tom Hardy. He has also been nominated for an Academy Award, with the ceremony set to take place on March 12.
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'Grief is a long process'
After his BAFTA win, Butler thanked Presley in the winners’ press room. "It’s been a really unimaginably tragic time, you know, and grief is a long process. And so my heart and my love was with [the Presley family] always. I feel honoured to have been welcomed into the family. It’s a bittersweet time," he said, according to Variety.
The actor continued, “How lucky I was to get to have that experience… The feeling of standing on an international stage and looking out and looking down at the jumpsuit that I was wearing and realizing there were certain moments where I was seeing the closest thing to what Elvis would have seen during his ’68 Special or whatever that was and I miss it a lot. I miss that experience."
When asked about his next project, Butler stated, "Right now I’m unemployed, which is exciting because it means that I get to go on vacation after March. I don’t miss the terror. But I felt every day that the elation that you feel with that. And 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 finale is yet to come
Baz Luhrmann's Elvis Presley biopic was another big winner at BAFTAs. The movie took home four prizes, best casting, costume design, make-up and hair and best leading actor. All of these prestigious awards are just a stepping stone to winning an Oscar.