Austin Butler has some bad luck with bees.
Butler, 34, was posing for photos with Caught Stealing costar Zoë Kravitz and director Darren Aronofsky on the red carpet at the London premiere of their film on Tuesday, August 19, when two bees swarmed around the trio, as seen in video footage shared by The New York Post. Kravitz, 36, appeared to be startled by the insects and initially attempted to wave them away. However, when one of the bees refused to leave them alone, Kravitz turned around and walked away.
Kravitz returned to the carpet shortly thereafter to pose with Butler, but the bee was still there. Photos showed the Elvis star trying to shoo the bee and shield Kravitz from the bug. Eventually, it seemed to fly away.
Butler previously went viral in May for a clip of a similar incident with a bee that involved him and Eddington costars Pedro Pascal and Emma Stone. The trio had been walking the red carpet together at the Cannes Film Festival in France when a bumblebee began to terrorize Stone, 36.
In a video of the moment shared by Variety, Butler appeared to be blowing the bee in Stone’s direction as he tried to get it away from him. However, he insisted during an August 12 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that he was only trying to rescue his costar.
“Some things just happen, and you don’t really realize what’s happening in the moment,” Butler said. “[Emma] said, ‘Bee, bee, bee!’ And then I look, and there’s actually a bumblebee that’s attacking. … And then Pedro starts laughing, and then I started blowing the bee away. That was my reaction.”
Zoe Kravitz, Austin Butler Karwai Tang/Getty Images
He explained, “I didn’t want to hurt the bee. But it kind of looks like I’m blowing the bee at her. … I was doing my best to try to get the bee to just playfully get away.”
Looking back at the viral photos from the incident on the red carpet, Butler said, “How funny is that?”
Stone, 36, also addressed their bee attack during a June appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Austin Butler, Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal EPA-EFE/SEBASTIEN NOGIER / POOL
“He is a sweetheart and a half — there is no way he wanted that bee in my face,” she told guest host Diego Luna. “He was trying to blow it behind me!”
Luna, 45, joked, “I think [Austin] brought the bee,” to which Stone quipped, “I almost guarantee you, if anyone brought the bee, it was Pedro. … He probably unleashed that bee.”
