Austin Butler Revealed Ryan Gosling’s Trick That He Used to Gain Weight for ‘Elvis’

Austin Butler transformed into Elvis Presley for his Oscar-nominated role in Elvis, and he pulled inspiration from Ryan Gosling to pull off one part of the dramatic change.

The 31-year-old actor explained that there were concerns that he wouldn’t be able to portray the music legend in his later years, which inspired him to put on weight for the role before he was even cast in the project.

He used a method Ryan had previously utilized to do so.

Austin told Variety that his manager encouraged him to put on weight for the role to convince the team that he could play Elvis in his later years.

“I heard that Ryan Gosling when he was going to do The Lovely Bones, had microwaved Häagen-Dazs [ice cream] and would drink it. So I started doing that. I would go get two dozen doughnuts and eat them all. I really started to pack on some pounds,” he recalled.

He continued, saying that “It’s fun for a week, and then you feel awful about yourself.”

His plan to put on weight for the role was waylaid by the COVID-19 pandemic, which put a halt to plans to shoot the film in chronological order. After the pandemic, Austin instead wore a “body adjustment suit” for some of his later scenes.

See who Austin is planning to bring with him to the 2023 Oscars next month. Spoiler alert, it isn’t girlfriend Kaia Gerber.

Press play on Austin Butler’s interview segment about Ryan Gosling below…