Austin Butler on 'Caught Stealing,' Men's Health, Method Acting

You have undoubtedly seen Austin Butler disappear into his roles from that Oscar-nominated performance in Elvis to terrifying audiences in Dune II. But for his latest film, Caught Stealing, there's no prosthetics, no big special effects, just Austin up on the screen getting in his steps. Take a look. Hey, it's Hank. The key I gave you last night, I need to get it. Can you call me at Austin, good morning. You're saying you can't run too fast as you're watching that clip. You're going to outrun the camera guy? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because you got to time it off of the car that's in front of you. You're just in that good of shape. He's running so fast. He's probably slowing down. The new movie is so much fun. It's a little bit frantic, a little bit frenetic, a little bit dark, a little bit violent at times. And you are known for throwing yourself into roles, but you say this one almost hit a little too close to home at times. Well, it just, it was more, you know, I'm not, it's not as much of a character, you know, that you're within somebody else's skin quite as much. So, but I had so much fun. I'd wanted to work with Darren Aronofsky since I was a kid. I watched his film, Rec Room for a Dream, far too young, at 12. Seems a little underage. Yeah, but we, and we got to film all here in New York. I mean, that, that sequence right there was in Chinatown. And yeah, we filmed in the East Village and all over, all over Brighton Beach, Coney Island. It's amazing. So you get beat up in the film quite a bit. You may or may not have been on the verge of breaking a rib. Yeah. So there's this little, there's this little guy in, I shouldn't say that. He's, he's, he's very stocky and his name's Nikita. And he head butts me in the ribs at one point. It was his idea. And he'd been kicking me for a while, but it was nothing like the head butt. He hit me like a battering ram. Okay. And was there like, was there a bruise? Was there a hospital visit? Is he okay? I was exaggerating a bit when I said the broken rib. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So tell us about, tell us about the, the, the method acting. It seems like you've been, you've been given some advice I've heard that maybe you need to dial it back a little bit. Are you, are you rethinking your, your ways? Uh, I don't know. Things get taken out of context. I, I, I mean, I think you're referring to Laura Dern. Yeah, no, she just, she's so, she's such a great, um, person in my life. Who's, who's like, uh, been a very We've just been talking about how, um, how, how, how beautiful it can be to explore, uh, every aspect of yourself through these roles. And it doesn't have to, it doesn't have to destroy your life. You know, like sometimes when you really care about something, you can, it can, um, kind of take away from the balance of the rest of your life. And so I'm just learning how to balance my life. Okay. Well, speaking of balance, one of your other co-stars, a cat that you apparently befriended in this named tonic. Uh, what was it like with a cat as a co-star? We heard you were really friendly. You're feeding the cat. You're worried about yelling at the cat. You're just an animal guy. Yeah. I mean, well, cause you have to do things where you, you have treats hidden all around. So I'd have this thing called the Licky stick that he loved, which was like, like blended up chicken. Sounds messy. Yeah. Very messy. And it smells great. Um, so I would have that hidden around and I have little treats sitting around, but then I, at certain points in the movie, I'm trying to like get him to, to leave, you know, but I'm, but I'm also kind of luring him. So yeah, he's, uh, but he was so smart. He can ride a skateboard. He's a very smart. He can, he can drive a car. All right. Well, it sounds like you're able to charm your co-stars quite well. Another one of your co-stars to be Jeremy Allen white of who everyone loves from the bear. Uh, I don't know that, uh, we have a photo, maybe we do of you two together. You've been filming in Chicago. What's it like work? What's it like working with him? He's the best. I love him. Yeah. Yeah. We had a great time. We went to, was he giving you workout tips? Cause you guys, for your abs, if you were to put them side by side, he's very strong. He can do a lot of pull-ups. Okay. Strong guy. Uh, no, we had a blast. We went to, we went to a Cubs game together. We, we did a lot. We were always, yeah, I felt very lucky. You never know who you're going to be with. And I was lucky with him. We got to ask you about the cover of men's health, right? Cause we had your, your co-star and Matt Smith. He was in, we chatted with him this week and here's what he had to say about the cover. Very humble, very kind, very hardworking. He's he's really humble. Did you catch the cover of men's health? I'm telling you, man, that is a guy of great humility. And I reckon he needs to hit the gym. Look at the state of that. And yet you were drinking beer. You were eating pizza. How do you get abs like that? I don't know that, you know, well, not, not for that. Okay. So that, that there was no pizza required for that. No pizza required. Yeah. As fun as that would be. What's it like working with Matt? I love him. What a stud. He's a great guy. He's hilarious. He's the most charming person I know. I love Matt. Well, we know you celebrated a birthday last week. Happy birthday to you. The movie is great. It's a really fun role. Always great to talk to you. Nice to see you.