He had trained himself to stay in character, even in-between takes. He lived and breathed Elvis Presley; curating what he wore and how he sounded, walked, and looked, all the way down to his coffee order.

The chaotic, early-morning hubbub of the hair and makeup trailer fills with overlapping voices, laughter, the artificial, stale smell of prosthetic glue, and music. Austin Butler sits in the chair as artists tend to his character makeup, wig, and prosthetics. His leg bounces up-and-down, a showcase of both nerves and anxiousness to get on set. The orange-ish light from the early morning sun filters through the open window of the trailer, the only way to tell time passing in the small time capsule.

He holds a cup of coffee in his veiny, slender piano-man hands, the steam wafting up and its homey scent mingling with plastic.

Austin hums along to the song playing: some A Capella version with not-so-great quality but a whole lot of pure Elvis-isms.

He crosses one long leg over the other, the black leather of his '68 Special suit creaking. They're filming the NBC Special Montage today, and he's pretty sure he's going to either vomit or pass out from nerves.