Austin Butler was hospitalised day after wrapping Elvis

Austin Butler's body started "shutting down" the day after he completed filming Elvis.

The actor revealed in a cover interview for U.K. GQ magazine that he had given so much of himself to his portrayal of Elvis Presley that his body revolted immediately after Baz Luhrmann's biopic wrapped in March 2021.

"The next day I woke up at four in the morning with excruciating pain, and I was rushed to hospital," he shared, before revealing he was bedridden for a week and diagnosed with a virus that simulates appendicitis. "My body just started shutting down the day after I finished Elvis."

During the interview, the 30-year-old admitted that he struggled to shake off Elvis and return to Austin once the shoot was done, even when he started filming the new series Masters of the Air in London soon after he recovered from his medical emergency.

"You can lose touch with who you actually are. And I definitely had that when I finished Elvis - not knowing who I was," he said, later adding: "My family said I didn't sound like me anymore."

He also kept thinking about the rock star while he was put through a boot camp in preparation for the WWII miniseries.

"I was like, 'This is what Elvis felt when he was put into the Army,'" he explained. "You know, performing, and the glamour of it and hearing screaming fans, and then suddenly you're just dressed like everybody else in those fatigues."

Director Cary Joji Fukunaga confirmed Austin hadn't shaken off his past role when he joined the production, saying, "I was aware when he showed up, he was still very much Elvis."

Elvis premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday evening.