'Elvis' star Austin Butler says he 'went home in tears' after the director had people boo him while he was singing

• Austin Butler said he was heckled on set while singing as Elvis Presley.
• "I went home in tears that night," he said.

Austin Butler went through a lot to portray the king of rock n' roll, Elvis Presley, in "Elvis." He spent months getting the voice right and was even rushed to the hospital.

But Butler revealed he also had to deal with mind games from his director.

In a cover story for VMAN, Butler said that, during filming, director Baz Luhrmann orchestrated a setting where he would be heckled while trying to sing like Presley.

"When I was on my first day in the recording studio, Baz wanted me to get as close to performing as possible," he said. "He had all the executives and everybody from RCA, who were back in the offices, he brought them into the recording studio and he goes, 'I want you all to sit facing Austin,'...and he told them to heckle me."

"So then they were making fun of me and stuff while I was singing," he said.

But he realized there was a purpose for Luhrmann doing that.

"When we were filming this moment when Elvis first goes on stage and he's getting heckled by the audience, I knew what that felt like," Butler said. "I went home in tears that night. I really did."

Butler delivered a powerful portrayal of Presley, going from his early rise as a heartthrob to his soul-draining residency in Las Vegas later in his career.

While reflecting on working with Luhrmann, Butler told VMAN about a warning Leonardo DiCaprio gave him. DiCaprio had worked with Luhrmann on 1996's "Romeo + Juliet" and 2013's "The Great Gatsby."

"He said, 'Baz is gonna push you in ways you didn't know somebody could,'" Butler said. "'He's gonna push you off balance and keep you off balance.'"

Luhrmann's approach helped lead Butler to his new status as a possible 2023 Oscar contender.