Austin Butler’s next move

Austin Butler has been in New York for the last couple of months, working on his upcoming leading-man effort, Caught Stealing, which started production a few weeks ago. It’s why he’s hanging out with Zoe Kravitz—they’re co-stars. In fact, this film has a STACKED cast. Beyond Austin and Zoe, there are: Regina King, Vincent D’Onofrio, Bad Bunny, Liev Schreiber, Matt Smith, Griffin Dunne, and most recently, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai joined the cast. 

The film is based on Charlie Huston’s novel, and it’s directed by Darren Aronofsky. This is after Austin spent his spring shooting Eddington with Ari Aster. He continues working with the best directors, a trend that pre-dates Elvis. His turn on the Broadway revival of The Iceman Cometh got him to Jim Jarmusch and Quentin Tarantino, and it’s been an upward trajectory ever since. 

Caught Stealing is a crime thriller about a burned-out ex-baseball player who gets caught up in the criminal underworld in New York, and it’s probably why Austin grew that baby mullet we’ve been side-eyeing for months. The dirtbag hair makes more sense in the context of a 1990s crime thriller. But he’s not the only one sporting questionable hair. Bad Bunny has been saddled with truly unfortunate facial hair, which you can see in these set photos from yesterday. That whole look is a big yikes.

Austin’s had a big year, with the success of Dune: Part II, and The Bikeriders doing okay over the summer (never mind Masters of the Air, which didn’t really catch on, but also didn’t embarrass anyone). The Bikeriders topped out just under $36 million, which isn’t great against its budget of roughly the same amount (the worldwide press tour definitely added to the cost), but the film has done well on streaming, and it didn’t bomb, so it is, at worst, a wash. At best, he worked with another great director (Jeff Nichols), got decent reviews, and come out unscathed. 

Caught Stealing, though, will have a lot more expectation on it, given the cast, the director, and the continuing ascendency of Austin Butler as one of the great hopes for the next generation of movie stars. And while it is an ensemble film, he’s the anchor of the ensemble, unlike Dune (and Eddington), or The Bikeriders, which was really Jodie Comer’s film, though it was very much sold on Austin’s name first and foremost. No one questions Austin’s talent, but he needs that one big hit to really solidify him as a bankable leading man (not playing Elvis). It will be interesting to see where Caught Stealing falls on the Austin Butler Leading Man Chart.