(Updated 06/21/2022)
Elvis was born to be The King, and if anyone was born to tell his story, it is Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann. Elvis has been the subject of plenty of movies and TV biographies (Kurt Russell did a good job playing him one time) in addition to appearing in many films as an actor. But no movie has quite captured Elvis like ELVIS.
Leave it to the director behind MOULIN ROUGE! and ROMEO + JULIET to create a vision of Elvis that is as eye-popping as Presley's first television appearances back in 1956. Things have changed since the '50s, obviously, so ELVIS has a lot more than just the singer's gyrating hips when it comes to generating outrageous energy. This is a movie you must see on the big screen for maximum effect; here's why.
It's a Starmaker
In ELVIS, Austin Butler appears as the King of Rock 'n' Roll. The part is likely to change his life. The first ELVIS trailer showed Butler on stage as the singer, and we'll admit that we were uncertain at first. The actor looks more like an idea of Elvis than he looks like the man himself — but then we realized that Butler's performance has an energy that is exactly what this movie needs.
He's been in a handful of notable movies in the past — most notably ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD, playing one of Charlie Manson's gang — but Austin Butler has never had a starring role like this. He makes the most of it, channeling all the sultry appeal that Elvis could conjure without even trying. Working opposite Tom Hanks, who plays Presley's long-standing manager Colonel Tom Parker, probably helped push Butler to new heights.
It's As Big and Bold as Elvis Himself
Early ELVIS reviews say that Luhrmann's movie has all the sensual energy that turned generations into devoted Elvis fans. "Luhrmann takes Elvis Presley’s legacy, relegated to a Las Vegas gag, and reminds us just how dangerous, sexy and downright revolutionary he once was. He makes Elvis relevant again," says the Tribune News Service. Much of the movie's power is thanks to Butler. The Wrap says the movie is a "showcase for Austin Butler, who takes an impossible role and does a terrific job even though he, like everyone else on the planet, doesn’t really look like Elvis." Entertainment Weekly goes further, saying that "Austin Butler stares down the lens and melts it (his revelatory performance, fully lived-in and vulnerable, never plays like imitation.)"
The Family Loves It
With biopics, it’s not uncommon for audiences to love the production while people close to the person at the center are a little more dubious. In the case of ELVIS, however, everyone is on board.
Elvis’s widow, Priscilla Presley, wrote that the movie “is a true story told brilliantly and creatively that only Baz, in his unique artistic way, could have delivered. Austin Butler, who played Elvis is outstanding. WOW!!! Bravo to him.”
And Elvis’s granddaughter Riley Keough said, “In the first five minutes, I could feel how much work Baz and Austin put into trying to get it right. That made me emotional immediately. I started crying five minutes in and didn’t stop. There’s a lot of family trauma and generational trauma that started around then for our family. I felt honored they worked so hard to really get his essence, to feel his essence. Austin captured that so beautifully.”
Director Baz Luhrmann called these notes from Elvis Presley’s family “the greatest review of my life.”
ELVIS opens on June 24.
All images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.