Austin Butler left in tears after being heckled by Baz Luhrmann on Elvis set

Baz Luhrmann says he wanted Austin Butler to be "as close to performing as possible". Photo / Getty Images

Austin Butler was reduced to tears being heckled by Baz Luhrmann and Elvis executives.

The 30-year-old actor stars as the late King of Rock and Roll in the blockbuster biopic, and in order to recreate the moment the hitmaker stepped onto the stage for the first time and was heckled himself, the director wanted to make sure Butler was "as close to performing as possible".

He told VMAN magazine the execs came "into the recording studio and he [Luhrmann] goes, 'I want you all to sit facing Austin,' ... and he told them to heckle me. So then they were making fun of me and stuff while I was singing."

They were filming at RCA Studio B in Nashville when the film-maker decided to try out the bizarre method.

Butler continued: "When we were filming this moment, when Elvis first goes on stage and he's getting heckled by the audience, I knew what that felt like.

"I went home in tears that night. I really did."

The former child star admitted he was "so nervous" working with people from Elvis' world and using the same equipment he used.

Butler added: "I was so nervous, and we were recording on actual equipment that Elvis recorded Heartbreak Hotel on.

"We were recording old school, where all the musicians - and these are the best musicians in the world; our guitar player had actually played guitar with Scotty Moore, who was Elvis's guitar player - we were recording the entire song."

Austin Butler says he was "so nervous" performing as Elvis. Photo / Getty Images

Butler recently admitted he felt an "immense amount of fear" playing Elvis.

He said: "I felt such a responsibility to Elvis, his family, all the people around the world who love him so much. So it was an incredible amount of pressure – and with that comes an immense amount of fear.

"I started feeling this energetic exchange. And so I allowed my imagination to just truly accept that this is the '68 Special', I'm doing this for this audience right now. My career is on the line.

"I looked at myself in the mirror – I'm dressed in the leather, covered in sweat. And I had this moment where suddenly I was like, 'OK I can do this.' "