Austin Butler, who has carved out a notable career in recent years and amassed a dedicated fan following, acknowledges that he still experiences moments of being starstruck.
During his promotion of the film “The Bikeriders” on Today, the 32-year-old Golden Globe winner revealed to anchor Savannah Guthrie about an encounter with an actor that left him too shy to strike up a conversation.
‘I was just telling that story about getting starstruck by Ryan Gosling recently,’ he said. ‘It’s when you don’t expect to see somebody,’ he relayed, adding, ‘so I saw him outside of a hotel that I was staying in and I had to go in through another door, I couldn’t say “hello.”‘
‘I grew up admiring him so much, so. I love that feeling,’ the Dune: Part Two star admitted.
The naturally shy Elvis star opened up about his admiration for The Fall Guy star in an interview with BBC Radio One’s The Story So Far.
He began by describing a recent encounter with three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep.
‘I was very nervous, but somebody, Judd Apatow of all people, facilitated me being able to go up and say “hello” to her. And we talked for a while and she was so sweet. You know, somebody who I’ve never met though is Ryan Gosling,’ the Masters of the Air star admitted, ‘and I really looked up to him a lot… I have so much respect for him.’
The former Disney star said he and Gosling, another alum of the Mouse House, ‘had the same sort of trajectory of being very young.’
He explained that projects such as Blue Valentine and Lars and the Real Girl ‘came out ‘right at the time where I was kind of coming into a real appreciation of acting and films…It really impacted me.’
At the end of the interview, movie critic Ali Plumb said ‘we’re going to get you Ryan Gosling’s phone number.’
‘There you go,’ Butler said, ‘my heart just fluttered hearing you say that.’
