A STAR IS BORN is one of the major “what if” situations in Elvis’ career and life. Maybe it would have been a disaster, but Presley had proven many times that the right project could motivate him to rise to the occasion. It certainly represented the kind of serious acting role he had wanted to pursue, even if it was for a Streisand vanity project.
Correct. The part was offered to Harrison Ford instead. However shame the Colonel didn't allow Elvis to take the part.
I took a girlfriend to see it - my opinion then and now of the movie (A Star is Born) is unprintable! I can't remember when I first heard Elvis might have been in it.
The "co-star" male lead in Streisand's A Star Is Born would have been terrible for Elvis. It would have been a bad part for him in an awful Streisand movie. I think a lot of this story was calculated industry publicity from the Streisand camp, as they and everyone in the industry knew the Colonel would never let Elvis do that role. But, Elvis could have taken some tiny supporting role as some kind of successful male character. Maybe the bit part Tony Orlando did, maybe not. And that just to tweak the whole industry and - Elvis and The Colonel could have used it as a springboard to let Hollywood know that Elvis was ready and willing to do a proper project. Instead of grinding that minor story into the ground, imagine actual movies from the 1974-1978 time frame and imagine which parts Elvis could have played. That should be a different thread, since this is the FTD thread. I have a few ideas if someone else starts the thread.
But he did wanted to do it. Fact. EP didn't care about the money. He saw an opportunity to find his way back of making movies. But Parker took over the negotiations, what he (Parker) demanded, the budget would never cover for these 2 superstars. Besides, don't forget, Streisand had won an Oscar, years earlier. Another aspect, is to change a bit of the story-line. All drugs references needed to be removed, which was impossible. Due to the fact, drugs was one the reasons for the character's (Elvis) demise. And yet another example from a man (Parker) who in his carny days, painting blackbirds yellow, and sell them as canaries, the lack of imagination, short-sighted, no artistically ideas. Parker's tactic, ''soundtrack-movie - soundtrack-movie'', etc., ''concert tours/hotel-engagements'' (starting in 1969, the offer came in August 1974), was dying by the mid seventies. Again, the offer from Streisand, could be Elvis' way out of an artistically hopeless existence of a star, provided a versatile manager who really knew about these things. Unfortunately. Elvis didn't had that kind of manager, but a selfish one.
Again, it never happened -- Elvis was never offered the part, i.e. Parker never received an offer, therefore Elvis never received an offer for the part.
E never woulda done Star Wars. He did comedy, but space drama would have been something quite different and beyond his sensibilities and interests.
Streisand and Peters had no idea that Parker was going to sabotage the deal. They were savvy in going directly to Elvis to pitch the idea; if they could get Elvis on board, then there was a stronger chance that he would instruct his representatives to secure the deal. Streisand and Peters had no previous dealings with Parker; if anything, they probably knew of his reputation as being a hard negotiator, but one cannot presume they were aware of all of his idiosyncrasies and that he would be enraged that someone went directly to Elvis. It isn't as if they knew Parker was going to kill the deal, but that the offer itself was going to be great publicity. Why is that great publicity and what would there have been to gain from it? Nothing. There really isn't more to the story. Streisand and Peters were intrigued with Elvis playing that part (and frankly, Elvis could have been stellar in that role); Parker went ballistic when he found out someone circumvented him and went directly to Elvis; Parker negotiated Elvis out of the project with excessive demands; and Elvis lost out on an opportunity to star in a mainstream film that became a massive hit, regardless of what one personally thinks about the finished product.
I do find it a bit ironic that so many people are trashing A Star Is Born, as if it was somehow a worse vehicle for Elvis than the majority of his 1960's film output. Regardless of one's opinion on A Star Is Born, it was a mainstream success. It generated a massive gross at the box office. Won an Oscar (and was nominated for several others), and won a Grammy. It was a major, mainstream project. Yet, there are people on this thread acting as if Elvis dodged a bullet, ignoring the fact that 20+ odd B/C level films from the 1960's were horrendous, as if they didn't do considerable damage to Elvis' reputation as an actor and recording artist. He was practically run out of the business in 1969 because of those film projects. Elvis starring in A Star Is Born would have likely opened a number of new opportunities for him in Hollywood, presuming he delivered a credible performance. Instead of being locked into an endless and monotonous cycle of touring blitzed on pills, he may have found a new leash on life and a revived diversified career.
While I would have LOVED to see Elvis as Han Solo (assuming he was in good enough physical shape) obviously something like that was never ever in the cards for any number of reasons. But in an alternate universe I could see him doing it to please Lisa Marie.
I’m very grateful that there isn’t a “Star is Born” FTD we have to discuss. Elvis and Barbra very much respected each other. But that doesn’t mean it would have worked. I love Barbra, but her ego was out of control then.
You make a good case here and I always felt that it was missed opportunity, but I think a lot of us worry about how the end product would have turned out. Now, I really do believe that Elvis's involvement would have definitely brought a different dynamic to the mix. It is kind of interesting to read how songwriter Paul Williams cleverly maneuvered his way into writing most of the songs for the soundtrack. According to interviews with the famous songwriter, Streisand was just expecting him to help with one pivotal song for the movie, but he thought she wanted him to come up with songs for the complete soundtrack, Lol. So he kind of took over most of the writing duties for the film songs. It is also interesting that Elvis had already recorded one of Paul's songs in 1973, Where Do I Go From Here? for his Elvis (Fool) album. The big question is whether Paul Williams would have been able to come up with anything commercially viable for Elvis, if had become aware that the legendary singer was now involved with the project or would have anybody else inside or outside of the Elvis publishing world got involved in the project. Barbara herself came up with the gorgeous melody for the Oscar winning theme song from the movie, Evergreen, and Paul wrote the lyrics for the song. Paul walked into his first meeting with her and Barbara played him the melody on her guitar ( I had totally forgotten these details and had no idea that Ms. Streisand could even play an instrument). The song won a Grammy award as well. The whole scenario is really interesting to speculate about and I think @PacificOceanBlue makes a pretty good case that the risks might have been worth it for Elvis, but obviously we will never know how it would have turned out. However, we do know that it did not go very well for Elvis with no real artistic challenges for him to face in his final few years on this planet.
Well apparently he was and it was hushed up. The Colonel didn't even tell Elvis as he demanded so much money and as George Lucas had no idea how successful Star Wars would be, wasn't prepared to pay the Colonel's high fees. If George Lucas had known then what he knows now, we would have definitely seen Elvis playing Han Solo.
never, in all my years reading/hearing a ton of Elvis minutiae and quite a fair bit of Star Wars behind the scenes stuff, have I ever heard this. I’ve read/watched a bunch of George Lucas interviews as well and never once did he ever mention Elvis being involved. And after over 40 years of both Elvis passing and the massive success of Star Wars I think someone would have let that bit of trivia slip by now. I think your friend is mistaken.
Not true. The only connection between Elvis and Star Wars, he did tried to get a copy (print), to go see Star Wars at the General Cinema in Whitehaven, in private. That didn't worked out. Instead he watched the latest James Bond movie ''The Spy Who Loved Me'', with his daughter Lisa Marie. This was around August 10-12, 1977.
I agree with the above and it's accurate but believe me Elvis was always supposed to have been cast as Han Solo. The Colonel is to blame sadly. My mate has a fair amount of inside knowledge and would not lie.
You really really should not spread such falsities. Unless you have verifiable evidence or some other proof, you should not make the assertion that Elvis was offered the role of Han Solo in Star Wars. It did not happen. I am starting to suspect your posts on this topic are wind-ups.
Elvis was probably feeling solo, but I don't think this never happened. He was not in a good condition mentally and physically and too deep in with medicines and depression.
It's a falsehood. Elvis was actually offered the part of third stormtrooper in the Death Star detention centre but pointedly refused when he realised it was a non-singing role and he would have less to say than the wookie. You heard it here first...
As much I would love to think that he could have pulled off the Streisand film, video evidence from many of the concerts in 1976 would seem to suggest otherwise. A supporting role maybe as others have suggested but there's no way he could have been a leading man in his condition. This Star Wars nonsense is just ridiculous. Getting back to FTDs, ShopElvis has restocked and have around 90 titles for sale currently.
To be honest, I would have been satisfied if he just had Elvis cover the songs he wrote for Phantom of the Paradise!