Interview: Austin Butler - CAUGHT STEALING - Red Carpet of World Premiere in Puerto Rico

Francisco Canjiano, nice to meet you. First off, congratulations on your new film, and good to have you in Puerto Rico. It's awesome to have you. I'm so excited to be in Puerto Rico. So far in your impressive career, you've had the privilege to work with amazing directors, Jim Jarmusch, Denis Villeneuve, I mean, Ari Aster recently, and now you get to add to that list Mr. Aronofsky. What impressed you the most about his style and work and the onset of this film? I just really wanted to work with him since I was a young kid. I was about 12 or 13 when I saw Requiem for a Dream, which blew my mind. I mean, it's far too young to see that movie, but I've been dreaming of working with him for a long time. It's a very organic process where he just challenges everybody. He doesn't mince words, so he just cuts right to it. And it can be intense, but also very fun. Very rewarding. So obviously in Puerto Rico, I got to ask you, I mean, you got Zoe Kravis, you got an awesome cast, but I got to ask you about Benito Martinez Ocasio. How was your experience working with him on set, and what impressed you the most about his style or his acting or process on set and his presence on screen? He came so prepared, and I was very impressed by that. And he was game for anything. I didn't know how open he would be to certain ideas, and he was just a wonderful scene partner. And then kind. He surprised me how funny he is. Do you feel the same? Yeah, yeah. Did you see Happy Gilmore 2? Happy Gilmore was great, wasn't it? Yeah, it's funny. The best thing on the film, for me at least. He's a scene stealer. He's so good. Definitely a scene stealer. That's the word. Before letting you go, I wanted to ask you about, in this film, you give life to Hank Thompson. He's an ex-baseball player turned bartender. So what did you, as an actor, what was the easiest part to portray Hank on screen, and maybe the most challenging to put on screen for Hank? The easiest and most challenging? I mean, I'd say the easiest thing was probably... I mean, are you a good baseball player or bartender? Maybe that. That's a good question. Which one are you better at? I would say being a bartender is easier than being a baseball player. So what was the most challenging thing? Probably... I trained a lot to do the batting cage stuff. Because I didn't grow up playing baseball. That's okay. That's part of it. I had a baseball coach, and we trained a lot. Oh, really? That's awesome. He taught me how to hit balls. Butler, again, it's awesome having you in Puerto Rico, and thank you for your time, and congratulations on the film. Are you getting to go on a weekend and see Bat Bunny on a concert? Have fun, man. It's awesome. I'm so excited. You've seen it? Yeah, I've seen it with my wife and two girls, and they're like... You're gonna go again? Maybe in September. Let's see how things go. All right. Awesome. Have fun. Thank you. Appreciate it.