Why Austin Butler Walked Away From Top Gun: Maverick

Sometimes life presents those quintessential crossroads moments, where taking one path means making the best choice possible while the other would be a bullet dodged. That's for us normal people, at least. When you're up-and-coming star Austin Butler, these types of decisions tend to be more of a win-win variety.

In what feels like no time at all, the "Elvis" and "Dune: Part Two" actor has completely reinvented himself from the kid who first came up in this industry as a Nickelodeon/Disney Channel actor. While most audiences would point to director Baz Luhrmann's 2022 Elvis biopic as the leading role that put Butler on their radar for good, it was actually his supporting role in Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood" as a Charles Manson cult member that kickstarted his rapid ascension to the top of Hollywood at large. But that role might never have happened in the first place if Butler had made a much different — but wholly understandable — career choice. He once found himself in the enviable position of having to choose between Tarantino and a screen test for Tom Cruise in the smash-hit blockbuster "Top Gun: Maverick."

Butler is currently gearing up for a very different aviation-minded production with the Apple TV+ original series "Masters of the Air," but piloting seems to have always been in his future — or, at least, it could've been much earlier if only he'd felt the need for speed. While promoting his now-streaming show, Butler appeared on Josh Horowitz's "Happy Sad Confused" podcast (via Variety) to talk about perhaps his most tantalizing what-if:

"I ended up having to choose between going to the screen test for 'Top Gun: Maverick' or saying yes to Quentin Tarantino ... I'd already met with [Tarantino], so I did that."

Oh, to be young, talented, and possess absurd amounts of on-screen charisma. Not many actors get the opportunity to pick and choose exactly which role from one of the greatest Hollywood legends of all time would help usher in their breakout role, but Austin Butler is just built differently, folks. Usually, agents would promptly lose their minds if their client had the nerve to turn down Tom freaking Cruise, especially for the coveted role of Rooster (which went to Miles Teller), but fate had even bigger things in store.

After waiting patiently to work with Quentin Tarantino "for so long," as he put it, Butler ultimately didn't hesitate too long before going with his gut and accepting the role of Charles "Tex" Watson in "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood." It ain't easy attempting to steal scenes right out from underneath a loaded cast filled with the likes of Brad Pitt and Leonard DiCaprio, mind you, but Butler did just that as the Charles Manson cultist at the centerpiece of one of the film's most gruesome moments. If you're going to kick the bucket in a Tarantino film, it might as well be in a blaze of glory as the victim of both a dog attack and the stuntman skills of Pitt's Cliff Booth (who was high on LSD, no less).

It all turned out for the best, needless to say, and now Butler has scratched that aviation itch in "Masters of the Air," which is currently available to stream on Apple TV+. He'll next be seen in "Dune: Part 2," arriving in theaters March 1, 2024. At this point, the sky's truly the limit for Butler.