...it's common knowledge Elvis retired to the Gold Coast, Australia, after his 'death'...... ....but seriously Im keen to see this film, cos I love me some Elvis, I like Baz's work, and some friends of mine got work as extra's and stand-ins on the set - so I'll be looking for faces I know lol
I know who he is. I never got around to seeing Gatsby, but I remember Romeo & Juliet & Moulin Rouge when they were new, and I thought they were pretentious nonsense (albeit with beautiful sets and costuming). But as you say, he's pretty divisive, and while I think whatever he does is guaranteed to get a lot of press, I don't think it's a guarantee that it'll be a hit (especially assuming this will be a fairly expensive, lavish production).
showing what he could do even with lousy material. Elvis's story gives him much more to bite down on.
Very well said above, and I see it much the same way. If you want a more accurate and detailed analysis of Elvis's career go view the HBO documentary from a few years ago. Despite its flaws, it covers a lot. The Elvis fandom is too wide and diverse to ever please all of it, so give that up as well, Lol. I would like to think I don't have too many preconceived ideas regarding Buz Luhrmann's strengths and weaknesses as a writer, director and producer, as I have only seen one of his movies completely that I am aware of at this moment; The Great Gatsby remake he did in 2013. I was not thrilled with it when I compared it to the previous version with Robert Redford and Sam Waterston. Toby McGuire was not a good casting decision in my opinion either. I respect Buz's abilities as a cinematographer, but the whole effort was a letdown for me as a whole. I don't even have anything against Leonardo DiCaprio, who I think did a much better job as Howard Hughes than he did playing the Gatsby character. To me, Robert Redford just nailed the role and Sam Waterston was a great casting decision as well. Turning to the full trailer of the Elvis movie above, I think it looks truly magnificent from a cinematic view. I think this Butler kid (he's actually 30 years old) looks handsome and his physicality as Elvis looks great from these short clips above. I guess he does most or all of the singing from the 1950's in the movie, but largely it is Elvis with or without a blend of Butler's voice after 1960. I think it is pretty much a given that Tom Hanks will nail his role as Parker, regardless of the indeterminate accent he's trying (I hear ya, @BeatleJWOL) on here in the movie. I love the use of Unchained Melody from the Moody Blue album as it has always been a favorite of mine. It looks like most of the career highlights are going to be covered or at least shown to some degree, although I am not sure about Aloha From Hawaii, but right now I am way more excited than I thought I would be just based on the trailer. I reserve the right to come back and bash this film if Buz takes too much creative license and tries to tell a completely different story than what actually tool place, Lol. The jury is stilll out on Austin Butler, though reportedly he took months of singing lessons and has been very respectful about getting to the "heart of the man," and not just doing a caricature version of Elvis.
I feel like Elvis is just so iconic that any attempt to portray him (unless you go way off the beaten track like Bruce Campbell or Michael Shannon did, which both felt like they were intended to be a different presentation of reality) comes across as caricature. I've said it before about Elvis Tribute Artists; you can get a guy that looks like him, or a guy that sounds like him. You can't get both in one package, because the only one that fits that bill no longer walks the earth.
When I saw the opening of the trailer with Elvis as a kid, I thought the likeness was amazing. And a few of the scenes and Elvis mannerisms looked very realistic. But then they were just small snippets and I found lots of other shots just did not work for me at all. Some of the movements in the 50s looked exaggerated and the settings looked too flashy for the time - Maybe it was the speed of the trailer that made it look that way. One of the scenes where Austin is wearing the red suit that Elvis wore in the nightclub scene from the 68 Special looked pretty bad…Austin looks kinda wimpish in that and I worry that outside of the trailer when we can really see Austin as Elvis, a lot of it is not going to work so well. But then I’m looking at it as a fan of 60 years - a non fan will probably have no idea of what Elvis’ career looked like and will be impressed, but this won’t be for me - I have so many books/photo journals and so much footage of the real Elvis on DVD’s etc and know the story more or less inside out that I do not need to see an impersonator trying to fulfil the role. That’s not a put down on Austin Butler and his acting abilities and I hope this works out for him, but no matter how good the acting is, you cannot act "charisma" and Elvis had an abundance if it.
My wife and I love his films, especially Moulin Rouge. In interviews, Baz said that he deliberately designed the film to be especially manic in the first 15 minutes as a way to challenge the audience - if you couldn't handle that, he didn't want you watching the rest, where it calmed down considerably. And of course, the amusing thing about Romeo & Juliet is that he didn't change Shakespeare's language - I remember an expert on NPR praising the film, saying that it was the truest to the original. He made it work for a younger generation, presenting this immortal story for people who are not familiar with swords and daggers, but were familiar with guns.
The Baz Luhrmann approach -- over-the-top style over substance -- is definitely not something I would want to see in an Elvis film (or, really, any film). I dunno... I can't get the point of these rock-era biopics. They're all crap because they're completely unnecessary. The BBC Elton John history is feature-film length (free on YouTube last time I checked) and is way better than any crappy biopic of historical nonsense. I guess if you're a Luhrmann fan and you aren't that arsed about Elvis-accuracy, this film might look good.
Because, as we all know, Elvis was never about style. Well, at least you're open minded about it. Have you entertained the possibility that the life story of Elvis Aaron Presley is just plain interesting? That here's a man who came from incredibly humble beginnings and became (for a while at least) the most famous man on the planet? That people like seeing interesting stories (a lot more than they like seeing documentaries.) Have you considered one other possibility - that the majority of those fifty million Elvis fans who can't be wrong are no longer alive, and his music is a legacy that deserves to continue after the last of them has departed this vale of tears?
The trailer looks cool,im all in. Btw saw that the topic was locked in the Music Corner section but the Beatles Get Back tv series was allowed…strange or I have missed something.
This looks interesting and I'm sure I'll see it at the cinema. The guy playing Elvis looks more like John Travolta in Grease than Elvis, but it was always going to be impossible to find someone that could act and look like him. At least it doesn't look like he's singing. I'm most curious to see how they manage to convey 'big' Elvis at the end of his life - there's a couple of rushed shots in the trailer, but just his face. I'm pretty impressed that they're using Unchained Melody to backdrop the later years in the trailer.
Some really good points. Elvis was the Brando of rock (& roll), and both were larger than life (ultimately in more than one way), and that was what made them Elvis and Brando; they were unique to say the least. Capturing that with anyone but the ACTUAL people is all but impossible, and I worry that the auteur will be dipping too deeply into a kind of (undisclosed) magical realism that cannot compensate for sidestepping the often ugly realities of the life being explored. Brando and Elvis had issues. BIG issues. And I think you either address those, or you're making a kind of Hallmark or Lifetime movie, albeit on a much grander and visually beautiful scale. And while I loves me some Hallmark (Lifetime, eh), it's just not right for a subject as extraordinary as Elvis.
Looked great actually with a special mention to Tom Hanks' Dutch accent. Very well done. Usually, Dutch accents in movies come across as German or Swedish but this is one of the few examples of a good Dutch accent. It also makes him feel more like Parker, instead of just Tom Hanks.
I’d love to be wrong, but this trailer has the stench of an expensive misfire. I don’t mind that he doesn’t physically resemble Elvis - but why then put Hanks in a fat suit and speak with an accent for authenticity? My money’s on this being a mess and bombing when it releases. But happy to be wrong as I’d love for it to be great.
Based on the trailer, Austin Butler really doesn't work in the role. I know you're not gonna find someone who looks exactly like Elvis, but he bears less resemblance than any previous cinematic Elvis I can think of. His appearance is almost as distracting as the ridiculous fake horse-teeth Rami Malek wore in the Queen film. I'm curious to see what they do scriptwise, but having a guy who bears so little resemblance to Elvis takes me right out of the story. I'm afraid it's gonna be a fatal flaw, at least in my opinion.
In my opinion, Baz's best film is still Strictly Ballroom. He was able to craft a film where the acting and performances were not overshadowed by such strident direction, the sets, and the music. He told a real story there with three-dimensional characters while incorporating the directorial elements, not using them as a crutch. He fell into a trap of having atmosphere and set-pieces substitute for strong writing and acting, however, with a lot of what he did since Moulin Rouge (a film that I also like). From what I saw of the trailer, I fear that he will try to cram in as many cultural and social buzzwords and touchstones as possible, and surround them with a phantorgasmic production. That's not my taste in film.
Holy smokes, I am blown away by that trailer. Looks like a helluva movie. Four reactions from me: 1) I've never seen so many crotch close-ups in a major studio film 2) those vintage 1968 RCA TK-41 camera replicas need an NBC-TV logo on the side 3) jesus, has Tom Hanks gained weight! and 4) DAMN, they must've spent a spitload of money on this movie. But seriously: I really want to see it. Looks fantastic. My guess is that they're aiming for a Bohemian Rhapsody musical type of film: you know, a movie biography that takes a lot of liberties, costs a lot of money, drives die hard fans crazy, and makes a billion dollars. Purely for the visuals, I think it looks amazing. I'll plunk down my money for a ticket to see it on the big screen just for the color and the sets and all that other stuff. But I'm not saying it'll be a great film for fans who know all the intimate details of what actually happened with Elvis and all the characters in real life. Mr. Luhrmann has departed from reality (or at least the literary source material) more than a few times in his films.
