Austin Butler is stepping up to the plate — and hitting the gym — for his latest role as ex-baseball player Hank Thompson in Darren Aronofsky’s upcoming crime comedy Caught Stealing.
Speaking to Men’s Health, Butler revealed that his unusual preparation included studying photos of athletes’ backsides, sent by the Oscar-nominated director himself.
“I actually have a whole section of just baseball players’ asses that he would send me,” Butler said. “He was like, ‘Look how thick they are!’”
From ballpark to bar fight
Based on Charlie Huston’s cult noir novel, the film is set in 1990s New York and follows Hank Thompson (Butler), a washed-up former baseball player who now works as a bartender. His quiet life unravels when a favour gone wrong drags him into the city’s violent criminal underworld.
According to the official logline:
“What begins as a stroke of bad luck quickly spirals into a fight for survival, as Hank is forced to navigate a treacherous game of cat and mouse with a motley crew of threatening gangsters, where survival means crossing lines he never thought possible.”
Building the body of a ballplayer
Butler trained under Beth Lewis, the fitness specialist behind Hugh Jackman’s transformation in Deadpool & Wolverine. His regimen focused on strength-building exercises, particularly hip thrusters, to achieve the muscular build of a professional athlete.
But there was a twist: Butler also needed to look like a player past his prime. That meant supplementing his training with pizza and beer — even though he admitted drinking isn’t usually his thing.
“Drinking has never been my thing,” he said. “I don’t like the way it makes me feel.”
Still, the process worked — and left Butler with a new wardrobe problem.
“I’ve got a whole section of Celine pants that I just can’t even wear anymore,” he joked.
