Originally appeared on E! Online

Austin Butler believes in practicality.

And the Oscar nominee’s forward thinking led to some interesting antics on the set of his new film “Caught Stealing,” including spending the night on set in just his underwear.

“I had a night where I had to get up early the next day,” Butler exclusively told E! News at the film’s New York City premiere Aug. 26, “and it seemed like there was a cozy bed that I could sleep in.”

The 34-year-old joked, “Might as well.”

But as Butler explained, it’s not as if he was sleeping in an actual apartment where they were filming the Darren Aronofsky-directed movie, which hits theaters Aug. 29.

“We filmed in Brooklyn and it was a sound stage,” he noted, “which is inherently — it feels very fake.”

Still, spending all that time in New York City and filming in other outdoor locations like the East Village, Coney Island and Brighton Beach meant that the “Elvis” actor truly got the full Big Apple experience.

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As he quipped in the interview, airing on E! News Aug. 27, at 11 p.m, “Filming in the East Village all night long, you see some characters.”

And Butler spent a lot of time watching those “characters” alongside costar Zoë Kravitz, whom he had nothing but the utmost love and respect for.

“As a collaborator,” he gushed, “she’s just so smart.”

It was especially thrilling working alongside the 36-year-old, as Butler was a huge fan of her “amazing” 2024 directorial debut, “Blink Twice.”

“She’s a great director,” Butler added. “That’s a gift when you’re acting with somebody who can actually come up with ideas and write the scene.”

And Butler was feeling particularly modest, noting that he’s “not like that.”

“She’s so smart,” he continued. “She’s smarter than me.”

Off screen, he’s also been lucky enough to witness how Kravitz interacts with those around her.

“I remember one of the first times I hung out I saw how maternal she was towards her friend,” he recalled. “She looked out for everybody.”

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The internet is buzzing about the hilarious moment that a bee crashed the UK screening of Austin Butler and Zoe Kravitz’s new movie “Caught Stealing.”