Australians call bikers “bikies” which I will never not find funny. Bikies! It’s like talking to your dog about going on a ride, Do you want to go on bikies? I bring this up because Austin Butler is in Australia promoting The Bikeriders, which legit makes sense because Oz has chapters of pretty much every major outlaw motorcycle club, including the Outlaws, which is the basis for the Vandals MC depicted in The Bikeriders. Biker culture is one more thing Australia and America have in common (the others being colonization, folk heroes, and rising fascism).
Though I inherently think posing with motorcycles is dumb—it never looks cool, no matter who is trying to pull it off—I do like the setup of these photos with that bridge in the background (sorry Aussies, I don’t know bridges). It recalls the 1966 Danny Lyons photo Crossing the Ohio, Louisville, which is from his seminal photo essay that inspired the movie. I love that photo.
Jodie Comer has not joined Austin in Australia, and Tom Hardy remains absent from this press tour. Focus Features is REALLY leaning on Austin to sell this movie. He’s not expected to deliver blockbuster box office, with tracking putting The Bikeriders in the neighborhood of $30-35 million overall, but if The Bikeriders plays like the summer sleeper Focus wants it to be—which means hitting the higher end of that estimate—it will be a gold star in the Movie Star column for Austin Butler.
Also attached - Austin at the Australian premiere of The Bikeriders at the Sydney Film Festival.
