Austin Butler ‘Danced And Danced And Danced’ At A Janelle Monáe Concert, He Admits

by

The 17th season of Variety‘s “Actors On Actors” series has already included the likes of Viola Davis and Jennifer Lawrence and has fans impatiently awaiting the episode with Joe Alwyn and Paul Mescal. The latest installment dropped on Sunday, featuring Austin Butler with Janelle Monáe. The crux of the conversation was Butler’s leading man turn in Elvis and Monáe’s standout performance in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. But there was room for Butler to make an endearing admission.

At one point Butler asked Monáe about their upbringing in the Baptist church, and Monáe noted they appreciated that Elvis made clear that its titular icon borrowed heavily from Black artists. Butler then shared that he went with director Baz Luhrmann to a Nashville church after he was cast to observe gospel singers, which taught him about “what movement means in music when you can’t help but move because your spirit is being moved.”

“I’ve only had a couple moments before filming Elvis where I danced in public because I was very, very shy. I’d always be a wallflower at party,” Butler told Monáe. “One of them was at that gospel church, and another was at one of your shows. You moved me in such a way that I couldn’t help but move. [I was with] some of my friends, they said, ‘Austin, I didn’t know you could dance.’”

He continued, “But you were up on stage and I was in the audience, and I just couldn’t help but dance. It was so beautiful.”

Monáe was visibly flattered and asked which of their shows Butler had attended. After coyly calling Coachella “the music festival that shan’t be named,” Butler said it was Coachella and recalled, “I danced and danced and danced. I couldn’t stop.”

Monáe played Coachella’s main stage in 2019 as part of their Dirty Computer Tour. The acclaimed set featured a twerk-off with Lizzo.

Watch Butler and Monáe’s full “Actors On Actors” above and see outtakes below.