Elvis (2022 film)

From left to right: Writer, director, and producer Baz Luhrmann, with stars Olivia DeJonge, Austin Butler, Tom Hanks

Steve Tisch and Gary Goodman purchased the film rights to Peter Guralnick's Elvis biography Last Train to Memphis in 1995, which would have focused on Presley's early career until his military draft. A screenplay was written by Tom Rickman as a 20th Century Fox production. In 1996, Jerry Schilling was brought aboard as a producer/consultant and Tom Parker as a technical advisor, with Elvis Presley Enterprises entering negotiations with imaging and music rights.[11] The plan was to cast an unknown actor for the lead role.[12] Last Train to Memphis languished in development through 2013, when Kevin Macdonald was announced as director and Mick Jagger as producer. Fox 2000 would have released the film, but the project never materialized.[13]

Baz Luhrmann's involvement was first announced in April 2014, with Kelly Marcel writing the script for Warner Bros.[14] No further development was announced until March 2019, when Tom Hanks was cast in the role of Colonel Tom Parker. Luhrmann was set as director, and also replaced Marcel as screenwriter with Sam Bromell and Craig Pearce.[15][16][17]

In July, the frontrunners for the role of Presley were Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller, Austin Butler, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Harry Styles; later that month Butler won the role, after impressing Luhrmann with an audition tape of himself singing "Unchained Melody".[18][19][20] Luhrmann revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that he got a call from actor-director Denzel Washington recommending Butler.[21] In October, Olivia DeJonge was cast to play Priscilla Presley.[22] Maggie Gyllenhaal and Rufus Sewell were cast as Gladys and Vernon Presley in February 2020 (though they were replaced in the film by Helen Thomson and Richard Roxburgh, respectively), with Yola cast as Sister Rosetta Tharpe.[23][17][16]

Principal photography began on January 28, 2020, in Australia.[24][25][26] On March 12, 2020, production was halted when Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson tested positive for COVID-19 during the pandemic.[27][28] Filming resumed on September 23.[29] In September 2020, Luke Bracey, Richard Roxburgh, Helen Thomson, Dacre Montgomery, Natasha Bassett, Xavier Samuel, Leon Ford, Kate Mulvany, Gareth Davies, Charles Grounds, Josh McConville, and Adam Dunn joined the cast of the film. Roxburgh and Thomson replaced Sewell and Gyllenhaal, respectively, who had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts caused by the shooting delay.[30][31] Kelvin Harrison Jr. was announced to be portraying B.B. King in December.[32] In January 2021, it was reported that Alton Mason would be portraying Little Richard in the film.[33] On May 25, 2022, Butler revealed to GQ that after filming wrapped in March 2021, he was hospitalized and bedridden for a week after being diagnosed with a virus that simulated appendicitis.[34][35]

On April 25, 2022, it was announced that Doja Cat would contribute an original song for the film, "Vegas", which incorporates elements from Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog". It was released as a single on May 6, 2022, ahead of the film's companion soundtrack album, scheduled for release that summer by RCA Records. The album will also feature variations on Presley material by big name artists in a variety of genres and styles.[36] Italian band Måneskin and Kacey Musgraves are also part of the soundtrack with their respective cover versions of "If I Can Dream" and "Can't Help Falling in Love".[37][38] On May 23, 2022, rapper Eminem announced on his Instagram that he and CeeLo Green will collaborate on a new track titled "The King and I" which will be produced by Dr. Dre and will appear on the film's soundtrack.[39] The full roster of artists for the soundtrack album was announced the same day with Stevie Nicks, Jack White, Diplo, Swae Lee and many more joining the lineup, along with the film's cast. Austin Butler's renditions of Presley's songs, as well as actual recordings by Presley himself, are also featured.[40] "The King and I" was released on June 16, 2022, earlier than its originally intended release date. The complete soundtrack was released on June 24, 2022, entering the Billboard soundtrack chart at No. 1 on July 9, 2022.

External video
The 2019 pre-production test shoot showcasing Austin Butler's live vocal performance as Presley when he is young via Baz Luhrmann's Twitter

On June 12, 2022, Luhrmann revealed that when Presley sings in the film, it is Butler's vocals that are used when he is young, while Presley's vocals are used when he is older. To prove it, he released on social media an early 2019 pre-production test shoot of Butler as young Presley performing "That's All Right" live on set, which went viral and received an overwhelmingly positive response from viewers.[41][42] Butler's vocals were blended with Presley's when he is older.[43][44]

Elvis grossed $151 million in the United States and Canada, and $137.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $288.7 million.[2][7]

In the United States and Canada, Elvis was released alongside The Black Phone, and was projected to gross $25–30 million from 3,906 theaters in its opening weekend.[6][73] It made $12.7 million on its first day, including $3.5 million from Thursday night previews.[74][75][76] It went on to debut to $31.2 million, beating out holdover Top Gun: Maverick for first place atop the box office. According to PostTrak, 31% of the opening weekend audiences was over the age of 55, with 48% being over 45, while women over 25 (the most hesitant to return to theaters amid the pandemic) made up 45%. The main reasons given for seeing the film were the subject matter (49%) and Hanks (25%).[77] In its second weekend the film made $18.5 million (a drop of 40.9%), and $22.7 million over the four-day Independence Day weekend, finishing third.[78][79] In its third weekend the film made $11.2 million, finishing in fourth.[80]

Outside the US and Canada, the film made $20 million from 50 markets in its first international weekend.[81] In its second weekend, the film passed the $100 million worldwide threshold after adding $15.7 million (a drop of 28%) to its total.[82] In its third weekend, it performed well against newcomer Thor: Love and Thunder internationally, grossing $8.7 million (a drop of 44%).[83] It crossed the $200 million worldwide mark in its fifth weekend. As of August 24, 2022, the film's largest markets include the UK ($29.47 million), Australia ($22.5 million), France ($8.3 million), Mexico ($7.4 million), Japan ($5.2 million), and Germany ($6.01 million).[84]

By March 25, 2023, the film had been streamed on HBO Max in 9 million households in the United States according to Samba TV, including 3.1 million since the Oscar nomination announcements on January 24, the highest total of any Best Picture nominee that year.[85]

Austin Butler garnered critical acclaim for his performance as Elvis Presley, receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 77% of 390 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "The standard rock biopic formula gets all shook up in Elvis, with Baz Luhrmann's dazzling energy and style perfectly complemented by Austin Butler's outstanding lead performance."[86] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 64 out of 100, based on 60 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[87] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak gave the film an 88% overall positive score, with 72% saying they would definitely recommend it.[77]

Butler's portrayal of Presley was widely acclaimed. Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times described Butler as "a decent physical match for Elvis and a better one vocally."[88] David Rooney wrote for The Hollywood Reporter that Butler "captures the tragic paradox of a phenomenal success story who clings tenaciously to the American Dream even as it keeps crumbling in his hands."[89] Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent wrote that he "makes a compelling argument for the power of Elvis, at a time when the musician's arguably lost a little of his cultural cachet."[90][91]

On the film itself, Robbie Collin of The Telegraph gave it four out of five stars, calling it "a bright and splashy jukebox epic," but that "it veers in and out of fashion on a scene-by-scene basis: it's the most impeccably styled and blaringly gaudy thing you'll see all year, and all the more fun for it."[92] Kevin Maher of The Times called it Luhrmann's "best film since Romeo + Juliet ... The power in the musical numbers is drawn from Butler's turn but also from Luhrmann, who edits with the kind of frenetic rhythms that are almost impossible to resist (feet will tap) ... They are the spine-tingling highlights that make the entire project a must-see movie."[93][94] Jim Vejvoda of IGN called it "a dizzying and at times even overwhelming chronicle of the rock icon."[95] Owen Gleiberman of Variety called it "A fizzy, delirious, impishly energized, compulsively watchable 2-hour-and-39-minute fever dream – a spangly pinwheel of a movie that converts the Elvis saga we all carry around in our heads into a lavishly staged biopic-as-pop-opera."[96] Joshua Rothkopf wrote for Entertainment Weekly that it "delivers the icon like never before" and that Luhrmann recaptured "his Moulin Rouge! mojo with a hip-swiveling profile loaded with risk and reward." He went on to praise Butler's performance, saying that he "...stares down the lens and melts it."[97]

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times, while praising the visuals and Butler's performance, felt mixed about the film being told from Colonel Tom Parker's perspective, saying "I would have loved to have listened in on Luhrmann and Hanks's conversations about their ideas for the character; if nothing else, it might have explained what in the world they were after here. I honestly haven't a clue, although the image of Sydney Greenstreet looming menacingly in The Maltese Falcon repeatedly came to mind, with a dash of Hogan's Heroes."[98] In a review for IndieWire, David Ehrlich wrote that it "finds so little reason for Presley's life to be the stuff of a Baz Luhrmann movie that the equation ultimately inverts itself, leaving us with an Elvis Presley movie about Baz Luhrmann. They both deserve better." He also criticized Hanks's portrayal of Parker, calling it "a 'true true' performance defined by a fat suit, a fake nose, and an accent that I can only describe as the 'Kentucky Fried Goldmember'."[99] On a historical note, journalist Alanna Nash, who had written an acclaimed biography of Parker in 2010, called the film a "Baz Luhrmann fever dream" that kept the liberties of history fair except to Parker, citing that Luhrmann's approach of presenting it through a present-day lens meant that the complicated character researched by Nash of Parker is simplified.[100]

Presley's daughter Lisa Marie (left), ex-wife Priscilla and granddaughter Riley Keough all praised the film, particularly Butler's performance and Luhrmann's direction.

Prior to its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis's daughter, praised the film in an Instagram post after seeing it twice, and she went on to give her thoughts on Butler's performance as her late father, stating that he "channeled and embodied my father's heart and soul beautifully. In my humble opinion, his performance is unprecedented and FINALLY done accurately and respectfully", while touting Butler as a frontrunner for the Academy Award for Best Actor. On Luhrmann's direction, she wrote that:

You can feel his pure love, care, and respect for my father throughout this beautiful film, and it is finally something that myself and my children and their children can be proud of forever ... your utter genius combined with your love and respect for my father and this project is just so beautiful and so inspiring. I know I'm being repetitive, but I don't care, Thank you for setting the record straight in such a deeply profound and artistic way.

She added that watching the film reminded her of her own son, Benjamin, who died by suicide in 2020, saying he would have loved it as well.[101][102]

On January 10, 2023, Lisa Marie appeared at the 80th Golden Globe Awards in support of Butler's win for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama; it was her last public appearance before her death two days later.[103]

Presley's ex-wife, Priscilla, gave her thoughts on the film, saying in full:

For those curious about the new film ELVIS, Baz Luhrmann, the director, provided a private screening for me and Jerry Schilling at Warner studios recently. This story is about Elvis and Colonel Parker's relationship. It 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. Halfway through the film, Jerry and I looked at each other and said WOW!!! Bravo to him... he knew he had big shoes to fill. He was extremely nervous playing this part. I can only imagine. Tom Hanks was Col Parker in this film. What a character he was. There was two sides to Colonel, Jerry and I witnessed both. The story, as we all know, does not have a happy ending. But I think you will understand a little bit more of Elvis's journey, penned by a director who put his heart and soul and many hours into this film.[104]

In an interview with Today on August 16, 2022, Priscilla defended parts of the film's portrayal of Elvis and Parker's tense relationship, stating, "I lived the arguments that they had, I lived Elvis trying to explain he didn't want to do the movies with all the girls and the beaches and everything, that he really wanted to do serious things. So living that, with him, and watching the movie, it brought back a lot of memories."[105] On May 21, 2022, Presley's granddaughter, actress and filmmaker Riley Keough, shared her response after viewing the film at Cannes, saying in full:

It was a very emotional experience. It's very intense to watch when it's your family. The first movie I ever watched in the theater and said I wanted to make movies was Moulin Rouge!, I was 12. It was a real honor to know Baz was doing this movie. Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!, for the age I was at the time, were really powerful. It wasn't like I distrusted Baz in any way, but you're protective over your family. At the end of the day, we're not going to tell Baz Luhrmann how to make a movie. 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.[106][107]

At the 95th Academy Awards, Elvis was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Sound, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Costume Design, and Best Film Editing.[108] The film's other nominations include nine British Academy Film Awards (winning four),[109] seven Critics' Choice Movie Awards (winning one),[110] and three Golden Globe Awards (winning one).[111] It was named one of the ten best films of 2022 by the American Film Institute.[112]