Austin Butler reveals diva behaviour of co-star he ‘couldn’t look in the eyes’

Austin Butler has jokingly claimed one of his Caught Stealing co-stars ‘had it in his contract he couldn’t look him in the eyes’.

The American actor, 34, kick-started his showbiz career aged just 14, working alongside stars including Tom Hanks, Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya in more recent years.

However, it’s his latest blockbuster – Caught Stealing – that saw Austin faced with a co-star who very nearly stole the show.

The Hollywood blockbuster, directed by Darren Aronfsky (The Whale, Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream), follows Hank Thompson (Austin), a high-school baseball phenomenon who screwed up his chance to make it big – with devastating consequences.

A decade on he’s seemingly satisfied – working at a dive bar in New York and dating paramedic Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz) – but when his punk neighbour Russ (Matt Smith) asks him to take care of his cat Bud for a few days, Hank finds himself being dragged into the criminal underworld of 1998 New York City and targeted by violent gangsters including Russians, Puerto Ricans and Hebrews …but has no clue why.

Cue plenty of jaw-dropping twists and turns, with the gritty crime caper set to keep viewers on the edge of their seats.

Although the adage of ‘don’t work with children and animals’ came to mind when seeing the fundamental role the cat played in the story (Bud is quite literally the catalyst for the misfortunes that strike Hank), the stars of the film joke that their furry co-star made sure he was the centre of attention rather than failing to carry out his job.

‘I wasn’t allowed to look him in the eyes- it was in his contract,’ Austin joked when speaking to Metro about the once street-cat Tonic.

‘He did his four years of drama school, but he always knew his lines and when he showed up, he would show up with a flair.’

Despite him poking fun at Tonic, the pair actually developed a close bond, with Austin so concerned about his welfare he would make sure to give him treats after tense scenes to make sure the cat knew ‘they were friends’.

Although Zoe quipped the feline was a ‘diva’, she went on to clarify: ‘But he was actually great – it wasn’t as hard as we thought to work with him.’ 

After Austin famously worked so hard to mimic Elvis Presley’s voice in Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 Elvis biopic (and then required the assistance of a dialect coach to get rid of it), he embraced the prep Darren asked him to take on for this project too.

Throughout the high-octane Caught Stealing, Austin performs all of his own stunts – which one of his other co-stars Liev Schreiber said was ‘extraordinary’. 

‘I thought about Jackie Chan, because I loved watching the behind the scenes on Jackie Chan movies when I was a kid, so I think I’ve just always loved doing physical things and throwing myself into things. I just like to commit!’ he said.

‘I did everything I could, and that ended up being everything we needed for the film. They hung me out of a building six floors up in the East Village all day from one arm. That was hardcore.

‘There was a lot of running and getting hit too. I got headbutted in the side by a little Russian (Nikita Kukushkin). He had a really hard head and hit me like a ram. It was wild how hard he could hit. I thought he was going to hurt his neck, but he was fine.’

Instead, Austin was left facing ‘nearly cracking a rib’ and being ‘covered in bruises’ all over his body.

The actor put himself through an intense workout regime to buff up for the role as a former star baseballer, while also downing pizza and beer to reflect Hank’s drinking problem too.

‘I was asked to do a lot of hip thrusters and squats – front squats and back squats – and then I couldn’t fit in my pants anymore! I had to get new pants,’ he laughed, with Darren previously detailing how they compared notes and photos of ‘baseball butts’ for Austin to aspire to.

Although Hank is completely unaware of the apparent robbery he’s been caught up in, have Austin or Zoë ever been caught red-handed stealing things in a sticky situation too?

‘Just hearts and kisses,’ Austin quipped.

However, Zoë detailed how she once narrowly avoided the heavy hand of the law.

‘Ok the one thing…I stole earrings from Claire’s when I was a kid but the security guard came up to me and asked what was in my pocket. It’s not great- but it’s all I got!’

Caught Stealing, which is based on the novel of the same name by Charlie Huston, also stars Regina King, Bad Bunny, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Carol Kane.

Caught Stealing is screening exclusively in cinemas in the UK and Ireland from August 29. 

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