Austin Butler as Elvis.
This looks kinda cool and seems like appropriately kitschy biopic material for Luhrmann’s sensibility. I’ll always be a little measured in my excitement after he made what might be the most ill-conceived blockbuster of the 21st century: a camp epic exploring Australia’s stolen generations. I expect this will fair better.
Huge year for Aussie directors with Andrew Dominik’s passion project Marilyn Monroe biopic hitting soonish too.
He’ll likely prove me wrong, but my first reaction to that trailer is that Tom Hanks is miscast.
Huge Elvis fan, no desire to see this movie. I will admit that the one quick shot of 70’s Elvis striking a pose and the different jumpsuits cycling was pretty neat, though.
Sane here. His story has been told and re-told so often I don’t see the point, other than Hanks in a fat suit.
Another trailer. I’m still not interested in this movie, yet I’m intrigued by its scope. This looks to be covering his entire career, and then some (childhood, military). I didn’t see any shots of his movie career in there, but I did catch a quick scene at the Hollywood sign, so I assume it’s in there. This has got to be a long film to do all of that justice.
Also, did Col. Parker really sound like a knock-off Bond villain?
Opening was bigger than expected, even beating Top Gun last weekend.
Anyone seen it yet?
Doja Cat’s track for this movie is so good… Sampling Big Mama Thornton for an Elvis movie! Yes!
So I watched this yesterday, and thought it was ok. While initially I thought 2 hours 40 would be too long, in fact it wasn’t long enough. It should have been two movies, patterned on Peter Guralnick’s excellent 2-part biography.
Too much is glossed over. No mention of the pre-army “good” movies (Jailhouse Rock, etc.). Worse, the early-mid 60’s were almost entirely skipped. No mention of how Elvis felt about the changes to music and youth culture (he hated it) or The Beatles (REALLY hated them). A lot of time is spent on the “comeback” special, but it’s never made clear why he needed to make a comeback in the first place.
The biggest head scratcher for me is the scene when he goes to Beale St. to see B.B.King, andhe’s mobbed by dozens of Black teenagers. I know a lot of African-American musicians at the time were ambivalent about him, but I’ve been unable to determine if his audience really crossed racials lines, as the movie makes it appear.
It was oddly sedate once you got out of the early 60’s. I know Elvis slowed down significantly when he was “trapped” in Vegas, but I really though Luhrmann was going to do more with the material.
I agree with the above, but Hanks was remarkable. He’ll easily get an Oscar nomination, but if he wants the statue they’ll have to put him in the supporting category, because from everything I’ve read, Brendan Fraser already owns the Best Actor award.