Old Hollywood and retro watches make Austin Butler tick

Most people will know Austin Butler best for his turn as Elvis, which scored him a best actor nomination at the 2023 Academy Awards. It was a role that fit him perfectly, not just because he has the acting chops to really take on one of the meatiest portrayals in film history, but because those stalwarts of yesteryear are exactly who inspire him. With an expanding CV, boasting further roles in The Bikeriders, an uptempo motorcycle flick based in Chicago in the 1960s, and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, a look back at the Golden Age of Tinseltown, it’s all too clear that he’s invested in a bygone era.

Butler, however, isn’t just into playing those characters living within those times on screen, but actually getting his teeth stuck into it all IRL. It’s been something he’s long been invested in. “I do think about other times,” the 33-year-old actor told Gentleman’s Journal over a Zoom call. “You know, when you see pictures of Studio 54 or something, you think, ‘Oh my gosh.’ What they got up to before people could just film on phones. It seems like there were more possibilities for just walking the streets and not worrying about whether somebody was going to film you, I guess.”

And that is something he is accustomed to doing. When he’s not filming, he’s on the road, switching off from 21st Century life and speeding along highways as if he were Kerouac or William S. Burroughs. “I recently did a road trip to the Grand Canyon - I hiked down into the centre, camped there, stopped at little cafés along the way,” Butler shares. “So, I think that spirit of adventure is still very possible,” he says, referring to the freedom of previous eras. “Doing Elvis, that was one of my favourite parts - driving those old Cadillacs.’ For him, it almost fulfils that sense of longing he has for the more simplistic glory days. “It’s hard to beat the 60’s, isn’t it? The 60’s and 70’s.”

"The thing is, with each era, I feel there’s a different part of my personality that connects to it at different times in my life," he shares. "When I started playing the guitar at 13, all I wanted was to live in the time of Jimi Hendrix and be able to see him. But I’d say, day to day, probably more '50s or '60s."

A large part of the actor’s being has become associated with that now disposed of “studio era” of Hollywood, and it even comes down to the way in which he dresses. Take a look at Butler and you’ll see that, unlike many of his contemporaries on the red carpet who only go back as far as y2k, he’s trialled and succeeded with an Old Hollywood aesthetic. His contemporary suits - usually from Celine and Saint Laurent - feature subtle kick flares and peak lapelled blazers. You'd be forgiven for thinking he was an actor from the Fifties. “When you look at images of Paul Newman—there’s a great one, I think from the Venice Film Festival—his tuxedo, the way it fits, the fabric, it will always be timeless,” Butler says. Meanwhile in his downtime he’s taken on a Fifties-style aesthetic, and never fails to look downright cool as hell. “We were just talking earlier about that first scene with Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire—the way his T-shirt fits in that film—it will never not be cool. For me, I don’t really keep up with trends. It’s much more about fabric, fit, and quality.”

When asked if he has a style icon, Butler can’t decide between those heroes of the Golden Age of cinema, but he admits that today Steve McQueen will always come close to the top, in all aspects of his life. “I’m a big fan of McQueen. What was so cool about him was not just his style but the way he lived his life,” he says. “I heard a story from Barbara McQueen—she said that if you were going out to lunch with him, you always packed an overnight bag, because he would just say, let’s drive—and suddenly, that lunch turned into a two-day road trip,” he adds, reflecting that the aforementioned road trips are sort of down to McQueen’s influence. When I spoke to Butler a couple of years ago, months ahead of the release of The Bikeriders, he told me: “There was a particular vintage motorcycle jacket that I loved, so I called my agent and we arranged that I could buy it. When I'm acting, I'm immersing myself in this other world and another time period and somebody else's life,” he says. “So I end up picking up bits from each person that I play and adopting as my own.”

Those aforementioned guys, notably Newman and McQueen, are what have influenced his not-often-talked-about love of watches. Butler, who is no stranger to fronting a campaign (Saint Laurent, for instance) has just been unveiled as the new face of Breitling and on this Zoom call he is flexing the watchmaker’s brand-new Top Time B31, a watch that appropriately for Butler was introduced in 1964. At just 38 millimetres, the Top Time B31 is the smallest men’s watch that Breitling has ever produced, and the more retro, vintage sizing aligns with Butler’s personal aesthetic. “I would say it probably started when I was very young, seeing those pictures of Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. McQueen riding a motorcycle and having a cool watch on,” he says. “Yeah, the Paul Newman watch is beautiful,” he says, in reference to the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona that the actor wore. “There’s also a great image of James Dean taking a photograph, and he’s got a watch on. I see a watch in the same way as clothing—it’s an expression of our personality and style. But then, also having the element of something that’s very functional and practical.” And true to form, he’s got a natural passion for a retro timepiece. “And I also love analogue, you know - I love not having to take my phone out to read the time.”

Even the new Breitling campaign suits Butler. In it he's out in the wilderness of the American wasteland, rocking those menswear staples - rugged jeans, denim shirts and heavy leathers - that you'd likely see on Robert Redford, Jimmy Dean et al, proving that he's the guy for this job.

Now read an interview with actor David Shields

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