Elvis comes alive again
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‘Elvis’ is a 2022 biographical musical drama film directed by Baz Luhrmann based on the life of Rock and Roll superstar Elvis Presley.
The film based on the perspective of his manager and close friend Colonel Tom Parker. It stars Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Tom Hanks as his manager Colonel Tom Parker, with Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thomson, Richard Roxburgh, Kelvin Harrison Jr., David Wenham, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Luke Bracey in supporting roles.
It was announced in 2014 that Luhrmann would be directing an Elvis Presley biopic, though the project was not officially announced until March 2019. Butler was cast in the title role that July, beating out several high-profile actors. Filming began in Luhrmann’s native Australia in January 2020, but paused from March through September following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming wrapped over a year after it began, in March 2021.
Elvis premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 25, 2022, and was released theatrically by Warner Bros. Pictures in Australia on June 23, 2022, and in the United States on June 24. The film has grossed US$60.7 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics, with the musical sequences and Butler’s performance garnering widespread acclaim.
In 1997, Elvis Presley’s former manager, Colonel Tom Parker, is on his deathbed looking back on how he first met the future King of Rock and Roll.
The film starts with the early days of Elvis. Elvis had battled a poverty-ridden childhood with his parents Vernon and Gladys. He finds music to be a salvation, even though he is ridiculed by his peers because of his fascination with the African American music of Memphis’ Beale Street. Although Parker is already managing country singer Hank Snow, as soon as he hears Presley on the radio, he seems to be impressed with what he hears and has aspirations of becoming his manager. Parker eventually meets and persuades Elvis to let him take control of his career, which begins a meteoric ascent.
While stationed in Germany, Elvis meets Priscilla Beaulieu, and upon his discharge, he resumes his career-making concert tours and films while Parker’s control of his life becomes even stronger. Elvis is heartbroken by the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, wishing to become more politically outspoken in his music while Parker merely wants him to sing frivolous tunes that will be best sellers. After Parker denies Elvis a world tour and locks him into a long contract to entertain at a Las Vegas hotel, Elvis discovers that Parker had denied his world tour due to him being an illegal Dutch immigrant with no passport, and attempts to fire him, only to be sued by the latter for a huge amount that will leave him broke and destitute. Parker spent his final years as a pathetic figure gambling away his money on casino slot machines, while Elvis remains the best-selling solo artist of all-time and one of the most beloved entertainers in music history. Compared to other musical biopics that have hit the screen in recent years (Rocket Man, Bohemian Rhapsody), ‘Elvis’ is tad underwhelming. It is a solid film but Luhrmann’s direction failed to impress all Elvis fans around the world.
‘Elvis’ begins its global cinema rollout from Wednesday, 22nd June, 2022.
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