Austin Butler says he briefly lost his vision while traveling to start work on The Bikeriders, describing a sudden migraine as the plane descended, a few minutes of blindness, and a fleeting euphoria that made him think he was dying. He forced himself to breathe, his sight returned, and he went straight to set, he said in a new profile tied to his late-summer release schedule.
The actor framed the episode as part of a pattern of pushing past physical warning signs and is now trying to recalibrate. He recalled a virus that hospitalized him after finishing Elvis and, later, months of walking on a hidden shard of glass picked from his foot after the Dune: Part Two rollout. He attributed the string of issues largely to exhaustion and said conversations with Laura Dern have helped him rebuild healthier habits around work.
Butler’s account arrives as The Bikeriders—shot ahead of its 2024 release—continues to circulate on streaming after a summer theatrical run. Set in the 1960s Midwest and inspired by Danny Lyon’s photo book, the film follows a motorcycle club through a decade of shifting loyalties; it finished with just over $36 million worldwide.
Attention now turns to Caught Stealing, Darren Aronofsky’s crime caper in which Butler plays a onetime baseball prospect dragged into New York’s criminal underworld after a favor for a neighbor goes wrong. Sony has set U.S. theaters for August 29 following sneak previews the prior weekend, with the studio highlighting the movie’s action-heavy set pieces and ensemble that includes Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Regina King and others. At a London event this week, Butler said the role demanded a punishing pace even as he works to avoid the burnout he once considered intrinsic to his process.
