May 13, 2014

Baz Luhrmann Keen To Make A Movie About Elvis Presley


                                                               


                                                                   
If anyone can do this project justice then it's Baz Luhrmann! Casting wouldn't be that hard with so many Elvis impersonators, right? There are some very good ones out there.


ELVIS lives. The Elvis Presley estate, which has long refused to allow his music to be used in biopics, is considering approving a wave of movies about rock ’n’ roll’s most popular performer — and Baz Luhrmann is leading the pack. 
Fans credit the thaw to the singer’s only child, Lisa Marie Presley, 46.

The estate, which wants to maintain Presley’s image as a clean-living southern boy, has until now refused to release music to filmmakers for fear they might focus on his drug use and his interest in the occult.

As a result, there have been television dramas, fictional representations and cameos in films about Presley’s peers — such as Johnny Cash — but not one big-screen film about his life.

Without songs such as Hound Dog and Jailhouse Rock, an Elvis biopic would feel “empty”, ­according to the film director John Carpenter.



Lisa Marie may have eased such restraints in response to pleas from Luhrmann, whose films have impressed her. The Australian director has recruited London-based scriptwriter Kelly Marcel to produce a portrait of the Mississippi-born singer in the 1960s.

Luhrmann has promised an “extravagant but truthful” retelling of these years in an as-yet uncast and untitled film for Warner Bros, due in 2016.

There has also been a surge of interest in scripts about Elvis such as The Identical, which will focus on the singer’s faith. Another is based on Presley’s ­biography, Last Train to Memphis, set in the city in the 1950s.

The Presley estate has been more wary of another project, Fame and Fortune, based on a loving but unflattering memoir by a former bodyguard.

                                                                 


By JOHN HARLOW 

With thanks to The Australian

Related:  
Dwight Yoakam Names His Top Five David Bowie Songs

 Dixie: Elvis Presley — An Anthem Of The American South


 Elvis At 21 - National Portrait Gallery, Canberra

Biopics Now Focus On Key Moments Rather Than A Whole Life

The Best Movies Of 2014

Some Biopic Actors And Their Real-Life Counterparts

25 Most Influential People In History By Attribute

60 Years of Rock And Roll: Elvis Presley Anniversary 2014

Last Elvis Presley Studio Album 'Today' Re-released - Another With Michael Bublé Coming In October



The Australian Production Of "Hair" Changed The Theatre And The Nation
 
Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom Musical: Dance Is In The Air 

"Dirty Dancing" The Stage Musical Brings Back The Patrick Swayze-Jennifer Grey Lift      

Julie Andrews To Direct My Fair Lady production At Sydney Opera House

How Los Angeles and Hollywood Took Rock ‘N’ Roll Around The World

Rock Around the Clock: B-side Find Accidentally Launched Rock Anthem 

Elvis Is Touring Australia In 2017, Sort Of