He added, “My mom was my best friend and his mom was his best friend. I know what that felt like losing my best friend and my mother at that particular time in my life so that really connected me to him and made me just feel so much love for him.”
Soon after taking on the role, Austin fully dedicated himself to doing the part justice.
“[I] wallpapered the entire apartment with images and a timeline of Elvis’s life,” he said. “I’m extremely grateful I had the film and the, for lack of a better word, obsession with Elvis to occupy my days. It gave me the feeling that there was a reason to get up every morning.”