Austin Butler’s Method Acting Sleepover: Living in Character Overnight

Austin Butler took his dedication to method acting to an intense new level during the filming of the upcoming thriller Caught Stealing. The Oscar-nominated actor revealed that he spent an entire night inside the East Village apartment set that serves as the home for his character, Hank, to truly embody the role.

By living in the space overnight, Butler aimed to discover what it felt like to really inhabit the character’s world, helping him connect deeply with Hank ahead of shooting.

Getting Comfortable in Hank’s World

Butler told Variety about the experience, saying,

“For one night, I had the whole apartment to myself, I played music, I danced around, and I ate Chinese food in there. It made me feel like I really lived there. I slept there all night, and I woke up to the crew coming in while I was in my underwear.”

—Austin Butler, Actor

This unusual sleepover helped Butler erase the artificial feeling of acting on a set. He described the challenges of filmmaking, explaining how the environment often works against immersion because of the technical equipment and lack of real ceilings on sets.

He expanded on his method, stating,

“It made it feel like it wasn’t a set anymore. There are many things that conspire against you when you’re making a movie. You’ve got the lights and the camera and the set doesn’t have a ceiling, because they’ve got to light it from above. It’s tempting to look around and break the illusion. So the more I can do to trick myself, the more important it is.”

—Austin Butler, Actor

Navigating an Intimate and Vulnerable Role

Unlike Butler’s famously transformative parts, such as mastering Elvis Presley’s voice for Elvis or gaining muscle for his role as Feyd-Rautha in Dune: Part Two, Caught Stealing required him to play a character closer to his own personality. This proximity brought unexpected challenges for the 34-year-old actor.

Reflecting on the experience, Butler said,

“One of the reasons I got into acting in the first place was that I am very shy. Getting to play characters let me put on this other skin and put on this other voice and become this other person. That made me feel free. But playing a character that feels more like myself left me with nowhere to hide and made me feel vulnerable.”

—Austin Butler, Actor

To fully embody Hank, an ex-baseball player turned bartender, Butler paid special attention to his physicality. His character required the look of someone once elite in sports but now slightly out of shape.

He explained,

“He needed to have the physicality of somebody who was an elite athlete, but who was no longer in peak physical shape. I wanted to have a certain thickness. So I worked out, but I also drank a lot of beer.”

—Austin Butler, Actor

Director Darren Aronofsky on Butler’s Deep Commitment and Film’s Tone

Director Darren Aronofsky, who adapted the film from a graphic novel, noted Butler’s intensity in diving into character. Aronofsky sometimes encouraged the actor to take a step back to keep a more relaxed feel in the performance.

He shared,

“Austin goes really deep. In fact, I often asked him to work a little less hard and to relax a little bit because I wanted a certain looseness.”

—Darren Aronofsky, Director

Aronofsky described Caught Stealing as a nostalgic throwback that tells a relatable story about an ordinary hero.

He added,

“I wanted to make a film about someone people can relate to. Hank is a pretty good guy. He’s not hurting anyone. He’s just a small town boy in a big city, and the world kind of crumbles around him. It’s nice to have a hero who doesn’t have a cape and is a normal person.”

—Darren Aronofsky, Director

Butler’s Complex Relationship with Hank’s Flaws

Playing Hank asked Butler to confront the character’s imperfections without judgment. He admitted that sometimes it was difficult to fully embrace Hank’s decisions and personality.

He reflected,

“Sometimes I’d go, ‘Man, I want to like Hank more. I want him to make better decisions. I almost started to feel the seeds of judgment for my character. And that’s dangerous. That’s something I needed to stay away from. So a lot of my journey was finding his good heart.”

—Austin Butler, Actor

A Story Set Against a Distinct 1990s Backdrop

Caught Stealing unfolds in the late 1990s, centering on Hank’s attempt to do a simple favor—looking after a neighbor’s cat—that spirals into conflicts involving the police, the Russian mob, and Hasidic hitmen.

Aronofsky highlighted the significance of setting the story before the smartphone era, emphasizing,

“There’s a lot of miscommunication involved in our story. And that’s hard if you have it take place at a time when everyone has a cell phone and is so deeply online.”

—Darren Aronofsky, Director

The nostalgic atmosphere adds to the film’s charm. The director recalled the unique cultural flavor of the ’90s decade.

He explained,

“There was something really fun about the ’90s. The music was amazing, the Soviet Union had collapsed and the only thing people were scared of was Y2K. Our biggest controversy was the president’s extramarital affair. Audiences will hopefully enjoy going back to all that and seeing answering machines and pay phones again.”

—Darren Aronofsky, Director

Anticipating Audience Reception When Caught Stealing Opens

Caught Stealing is scheduled to premiere in theaters on August 29, inviting viewers to experience a gripping story rooted in authentic character work and a richly rendered nostalgic setting. Austin Butler’s immersive preparation and Darren Aronofsky’s vision promise a film that balances intensity with relatability, focusing on a hero who feels like someone you might meet in everyday life.