Austin Butler has taken an unconventional approach to prepare for his role in the upcoming thriller Caught Stealing. The 33-year-old actor, known for his transformative performances, spent an entire night on set to fully embrace his character, Hank, a former baseball player turned bartender residing in New York’s East Village.
Butler described this immersive experience during an interview with Variety, stating, “For one night, I had the whole apartment to myself. I played music, I danced around, and I ate Chinese food in there.” He went on to share that sleeping on set helped him feel as though he truly lived in the character’s environment. “I woke up to the crew coming in while I was in my underwear. It made it feel like it wasn’t a set anymore,” he added.
Preparing for Hank: A Personal Journey
Unlike his previous roles in Elvis, where he adopted the iconic persona of Elvis Presley, or in Dune: Part Two, where he trained with a Navy SEAL for the role of Feyd-Rautha, Butler revealed that playing Hank struck a personal chord. He admitted, “It scared me. One of the reasons I got into acting in the first place was that I am very shy. Getting to play characters let me put on this other skin and put on this other voice and become this other person. That made me feel free. But playing a character that feels more like myself left me with nowhere to hide and made me feel vulnerable.”
To authentically portray Hank, Butler also focused on his physicality. “He needed to have the physicality of somebody who was an elite athlete, but who was no longer in peak physical shape,” he explained. To achieve this balance, he combined workout sessions with a rather unconventional diet, saying, “I wanted to have a certain thickness. So I worked out, but I also drank a lot of beer.”
Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky, known for his acclaimed work on The Whale, first approached Butler with the concept for Caught Stealing during the 2022 awards season. At the time, Aronofsky was promoting his film, which ultimately earned Brendan Fraser an Academy Award.
Aronofsky praised Butler’s dedication to his craft, stating, “Austin goes really deep. In fact, I often asked him to work a little less hard and to relax a little bit because I wanted a certain looseness.”
A Relatable Hero in a Chaotic World
The film, adapted from a graphic novel, is set in 1990s New York. It follows Hank as he agrees to take care of a neighbor’s cat, only to find himself embroiled in a violent conflict involving law enforcement, the Russian mob, and Hasidic hitmen over a crucial key.
Aronofsky expressed his desire to create a character that audiences could relate to. “I wanted to make a film about someone people can relate to. Hank is a pretty good guy. He’s not hurting anyone. He’s just a small-town boy in a big city, and the world kind of crumbles around him. It’s nice to have a hero who doesn’t have a cape and is a normal person,” he stated.
As the release of Caught Stealing approaches, Butler’s commitment to authentically portraying Hank showcases his evolving artistry and dedication to his roles. The film promises to capture both the struggles and triumphs of an ordinary individual navigating a chaotic urban landscape, offering audiences a fresh perspective on heroism in everyday life.
