Luhrmann’s “Elvis movie” has been talked about for years, and it’s not hard to see why exactly this extravagant director is the right one to be entrusted with creating a biopic about one of America’s biggest pop culture icons. The importance of Elvis Presley, or the “King of Rock and Roll”, is difficult to explain – of course, we all know that his music laid the foundation for rock and most of modern music (although this music had been played by black musicians in America long before Presley, it was just that no one gave them a wider mouthpiece ). We know you can be married by an Elvis impersonator in Las Vegas. And we know that Elvis gained a lot of weight and died. (Or maybe he was abducted by aliens and is still alive, but just hiding from us.) But it’s hard to fully grasp the fame and notoriety of the young guy from Memphis who played music that white America had never heard before and who moved in such a way that the girls fainted. And a small insight into the impact Presley left on conservative post-war America is provided by Baz Luhrmann’s – I will not be afraid of that name – epic. (Yes, the director has admitted that a four-hour version of the film exists.)
Baz Luhrmann, along with Jeremy Donner, Sam Bromell and Craig Pearce, have written the film from the point of view of Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). Using a narrator and starting the film “from the end” is Luhrmann’s favorite technique – he has used it both in the film “Moulin Rouge!” (“Moulin Rouge!”, 2001) and “The Great Gatsby” (“The Great Gatsby”, 2013), as well as – as already mentioned in William Shakespeare’s film adaptation – “Romeo and Juliet” (“Romeo + Juliet”, 1996). However, if in “The Great Gatsby”, in my opinion, this technique was superfluous, then in “Elvis” it gives the director the opportunity to play with truths and myths about the legendary musician.
The Movie “Elvis”
Foto: ZUMAPRESS.com, Roadshow Entertainment
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Elvis Presley is certainly not a one-size-fits-all personality, and while it is obvious that Baz Luhrmann treats this icon with the utmost respect and admiration, Colonel Tom Parker as an unreliable narrator helps the director avoid Elvis’ most problematic aspects. As Parker himself slyly says in the film: “There are people who make me the villain of this story” – thus, if there is already one villain in the film, then according to all laws of logic, Elvis is the good hero of the film. Luhrmann shows Presley’s relationship with the black musicians of Memphis on Beale Street in a rather simplistic way – for example, the musician’s friendship with BBKing figures only in passing. Although one of the most important moments in the film is when Elvis complains to BBKing that he wants to put him in jail because of the way he moves on stage. To which King replies with a smirk, pointing out that Elvis is a rich white boy, but King can be arrested for crossing the street the wrong way. Luhrmann’s Elvis is presented as an “ally” (ally) of black America, but the fact that the king of rock and roll did nothing much to improve the living conditions of his African-American colleagues is attributed to the fact that his manager Parker was against Presley any involvement in political developments. Because talking about politics and religion is always bad for business, and what the movie shows very poignantly is that Presley was made into a money-making machine that made millions for everyone else but himself.
The Movie “Elvis”
Foto: ZUMAPRESS.com, Roadshow Entertainment
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The second problematic issue, around which Luhrmann walks much more awkwardly, is Presley’s relationship with – as the film evasively states – the “teenage” Priscilla. In the film, it’s a beautiful love story and fourteen-year-old Priscilla (Olivia DeJonge) is immediately shown as a very “grown-up” rebel, unconcerned by her parents’ objections to her relationship with ten-year-old Elvis. Although Priscilla Presley herself still emphasizes that Elvis always treated her with respect, and the sexual relationship between the two began only after the wedding, when Priscilla was already 21 years old, from a modern point of view it is clear that Elvis “raised” his wife. He is said to have determined how Priscilla should dress, how to paint, and she was more his doll than his wife. Of course, no one, except Elvis and Priscilla, knows the truth about the two’s love story and marriage, but the fact that this relationship “doesn’t look good” shows very clearly the choices made by the filmmakers in portraying it. It is true that it should be added that both Priscilla and their daughter Lisa Maria spoke highly of the film. In his own on the “Instagram” account Lisa Marie writes, “Baz’s pure love, care, and respect for my father can be felt and experienced throughout the film, and it’s finally something that my children and I, and their children, will be proud of forever.”
Austin Butler as Elvis
Foto: ZUMAPRESS.com, Roadshow Entertainment
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The most interesting aspect is the public’s reaction to Luhrmann’s choice to cast the previously unknown actor Austin Butler for the role of Elvis. (True, if you were as shocked as I was by the cancellation of MTV’s fantasy series “The Shannara Chronicles” (“The Shannara Chronicles”, 2016-2017), then you must be no stranger to Butler.) By the time the film was released, the Internet was buzzing with discontented grumblings that Butler isn’t quite a match for Presley, and countless more “suitable” candidates have been offered, such as Miles Teller and Harry Styles. Maybe there’s something wrong with my eyesight, but I can’t see the glaring “dissimilarity” with Presley – I think Austin Butler was an excellent choice and probably the best thing about the whole movie.
If one can criticize both the film’s choice to simplify Presley’s life story and the convoluted screenplay, Austin Butler can only be praised.
The actor himself in an interview on Kelly Clarkson’s talk show tells how peculiar the selection process was, because Butler and Luhrmann are said to have met and talked about the role for five months, and only then were filmed rehearsals organized. Because it is evident that the actor has treated his role with utmost respect and devotion even before he was confirmed as “Lurman’s Elvis”.
Of course, Butler has been able to perfectly imitate Presley’s speech style, voice and movements, but the most surprising thing is how nuanced the actor is able to portray both the naive, young musician with rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes, and the superstar tormented by life and doctor Nick’s pills in his golden cages – in Las Vegas. In addition, seeing Tom Hanks’s unrecognizably transformed and exaggerated Colonel against this portrayal is especially effective. In this regard, we have to agree with the film reviewer Clarissa Laurie, who in the newspaper “Independent”. Luhrmann’s “Elvis” for “an American fairy tale”. In my opinion, this is the most accurate description of this almost three-hour-long glorious adventure – fairy tales are suited to simplification, clear separation of good and evil forces, as well as a happy ending. True, since this is a biographical “fairy tale”, the audience unfortunately already knows that there is no happy ending to be expected this time.
The Movie “Elvis”
Foto: AP, Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
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Among my cinema colleagues, I have noticed that loving Baz Luhrmann’s films is not “the right tone”. They are too naive, too glamorous, too stuffed with various artistic techniques… everything Luhrmann does is “too”. And “Elvis” is no exception – from the very first shots, the viewer is introduced to the aesthetics of a fever dream – the hospital ward turns into a carousel of Las Vegas lights, from which we jump to a real carnival, and this visual abundance takes your breath away. And I must admit that I longed for Luhrmann’s exaggerations and the ability to create a show on the cinema screen. Of course, the latest Marvel movie games offer similar visual entertainment with the fractal-rich aesthetic of the multiverse, but the shimmering retro of Elvis is something else entirely. It is clear that Luhrmann himself is a showman who is not interested in muted tones and camera dramas – and he does not care that maybe it is no longer fashionable or tasteful.
Although it must be admitted that the movie “Elvis” has quite a lot of problems, it is so magnificent that the director deftly blindfolds us as viewers, allowing us to overlook the shortcomings of the script, and also provides a continuous pleasure for the ears – genres and musical decades twist and overlap, creating a musical kaleidoscope. But even behind all this grandiose show – thanks to Austin Butler – is the tragedy of one man, which once again proves the harsh truth that the talented will always be taken advantage of by those whose talent is lies and manipulation.
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