Austin Butler is quickly becoming a fully-fledged movie star. He earned his first Oscar nomination last year for his seminal turn as Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann‘s extravagant biopic “Elvis” while he’s also got a role in the upcoming “Dune: Part Two.” It’s his performance in Jeff Nichols‘ “The Bikeriders,” however, that secures him as a rock-solid film star.
“The Bikeriders” depicts the lives of the members of a Midwestern motorcycle club in the 1960s and 1970s and Butler stars as the lead, Benny. Benny isn’t the leader of the club (that role belongs to Tom Hardy‘s Johnny) but he is a charisma magnet, exerting an aura that just screams cool. Butler is very much his generation’s James Dean and his brooding stars, his striking silhouette, every drag on his cigarette, and glance at his leading lady, Jodie Comer, just further cements that notion. Benny is a non-verbose role but Butler has such a movie star presence that you just know you are watching some serious mega-wattage on screen, even if all he is doing is draining a glass of whiskey or billowing out cigarette smoke. And critics agree, Butler makes a big impression.
Peter Debruge (Variety) noted: “A born movie star, Butler is still in Elvis mode, to a degree, with bare arms, tattoos and tousled blond hair. The less he says, the more she falls for the guy. ‘Five weeks later, I married him,’ Kathy says. Half the audience will be ready to walk down the aisle at that point too.”
Maureen Lee Lenker (EW) observed: “If anyone still had any doubts as to whether Austin Butler was a bonafide movie star after last year’s ‘Elvis,’ his performance in ‘The Bikerider’ should clear that up. He’s not given a tremendous amount to work with — Benny is a laconic guy who loves the thrill of riding a bike more than anything, but we never get to dig much beneath the surface. Yet, Butler instills him with a mercurial, chaotic energy that threatens to run the proceedings of the Vandals off the road at any moment.”
Matt Neglia (Next Best Picture) opined: “Hot off the heels of his Best Actor Oscar nomination for ‘Elvis’ last year, Austin Butler oozes more sex appeal than ever before. His introductory shot, wearing a sweaty sleeveless shirt with his biceps and triceps stretched out as he leans forward on a pool table, a cigarette in his mouth as the camera slowly pushes in on his face subliminally clues you in that this is a James Dean level movie star, and Nichols knows precisely how to frame him as such. Butler’s calm exterior is clearly fueled by a rough, volcanic interior that makes him an ever-compelling performer to watch, even if the screenplay sometimes lets him down by giving him too little to say in certain scenes.”
As such, Butler deserves to be much higher up in our Oscar chart odds than he currently he is. Presently, he is well outside of our predicted nominees in this category: Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”), Leonardo DiCaprio (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Bradley Cooper (“Maestro”), Colman Domingo (“Rustin”), and Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”). But don’t count him out, because Butler could still sneak the top five.
Firstly, Butler could experience the afterglow of an Oscar nomination. When a performer receives one nomination, it isn’t uncommon to see them pick up another nomination the following year or maybe two years after. We call this the afterglow because the actor or actress is still benefitting from the love they received from the academy with their initial nomination. Basically, they are striking while the iron is hot. Eddie Redmayne followed up his 2015 Best Actor win for “The Theory of Everything” with a nomination in the same category the year later for “The Danish Girl.” Adam Driver was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 2019 for “BlacKkKlansman” before landing a Best Actor bid in 2020 for “Marriage Story.” Olivia Colman won Best Actress in 2019 for “The Favorite” before securing a Best Supporting Actress bid in 2021 for “The Father” and a Best Actress nomination in 2022 for “The Lost Daughter.” Butler, who likely came close to beating out eventual winner Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) earlier this year (Butler won the BAFTA and the Golden Globe) could be the next beneficiary of the afterglow phenomenon.
Butler is also a young, up-and-coming movie star — that profile of actor has been doing well in this category in recent years. Paul Mescal was nominated last year for “Aftersun,” Riz Ahmed was nominated in 2021 for “Sound of Metal,” Timothée Chalamet (“Call Me By Your Name”) and Daniel Kaluuya (“Get Out”) were both nominated in 2018, and Redmayne, of course, was nominated in 2016 for “The Danish Girl” after winning in 2015 for “The Theory of Everything.” Plus, don’t let the fact that this isn’t a dialogue-heavy role fool you. Quieter roles like these can do well for the right movie star. DiCaprio won in 2016 for “The Revenant,” Steve Carell was nominated for “Foxcatcher” in 2015, and Jean Dujardin won for a quite-literally silent role in 2012 for “The Artist.” Butler could quickly solidify himself as a leading man to reckon with with this worthy role.
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