In 2019, the Oscar nominee appeared as “Manson Family” member and murderer Tex Watson in Quentin Tarantino’s hit movie.

However, around the same time, he’d been invited to do a screen test for the Top Gun sequel Maverick, but People has reported he told the Happy Sad Confused podcast he opted for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood as he’d long wanted to work with Quentin Tarantino.

“I’d already met with him, so I did that,” he explained.

As it turns out, this was probably the right call, as Variety reports that the Top Gun team were unsure whether Austin was old enough to play the role of Rooster, which ultimately went to Miles Teller.

It wasn’t all in vain, though, as the Top Gun casting process ultimately led to him landing the part of Elvis Presley in the 2022 musical biopic.

However, Austin has revealed there was one obstacle he had to overcome before filming began – his still-prevalent Elvis Presley voice that he picked up while making the hit Baz Luhrmann film.