Austin Butler fondly recalls Quentin Tarantino set while sweating through Hot Ones

Back when the Academy Awards first began in 1929, no one would have guessed that nearly a century later winning that trophy would require a campaign stop to eat viciously spicy hot wings. Yet here we are, with Austin Butler sweating through the Hot Ones gauntlet and sheepishly talking around the fact that he has nothing to promote but his Oscars chances. “It’s been a whirlwind lately, so I look forward to… yeah… y’know… many more fun times ahead, and then a vacation,” he concludes at the end of the episode.

The Elvis star does have things to talk about, including a lot about the technique of acting (he actually thanks host Sean Evans for bringing up actor and teacher Uta Hagen) and exchanging typewritten letters with Tom Hanks in character as Elvis and Colonel Tom Parker. He also shared a glowing recollection of his time on Quentin Tarantino’s set for Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood.

“The first time that I heard this—it was just so cool, because I mean, I’ve talked a lot about how much Quentin meant to me, and it was just always my dream to work with him. But he, we’re on set and he says, ‘Okay we got it, but we’re gonna do one more. You know why?’ And the entire crew screams, ‘Because we love making movies!’” He recalls. “And the first time you’re there… you’re not in on it. And so, Brad [Pitt] and Leo [DiCaprio], everybody is like, ‘Because we love making movies!’”

“There are sets that are so sterile. There are sets where there is no joy. There are sets where people are like, just at a job,” Butler goes on. “And you’re trying to create something that you’re gonna give to the world, you know? And with Quentin, that was so cool, because it just changes the atoms in the room. And then you’re in on it! And so every new crew member, or actor, whoever, then suddenly they’re part of the tribe at that point, saying ‘We love making movies.’”

Other highlights of the episode include reminiscences of his time working with Denzel Washington and an anecdote about how he was “the only kid in elementary school who got this letter that allowed me to, every lunch, walk home and eat lunch with my mom.” And yes, he does still sound a little bit like Elvis, but it seems that we’ve finally entered the phasing-out phase of the accent. Check it all out for yourself above.