It is a biopic that has been talked about for months and it is finally here. Baz Luhrmann's "Elvis" brings in Austin Butler, and Tom Hanks as the stars of the film. Butler plays Elvis himself, while Hanks plays his manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
Luhrmann is known for his films like Moulin Rouge!, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, and more recently the Leonardo DiCaprio-led The Great Gatsby. Yet, 'Elvis' is well on its way to being the biggest film in Luhrmans' career.
The film garnered $185.6 million in the global box office - going as far to open +132% over Rocketman, +61% over the Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga remake of A Star Is Born, and +60% ahead of House of Gucci.
In 1963, Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis Presley’s audacious manager who had gotten his start selling candy apples in carnivals, read in the paper that Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidential yacht, the U.S.S. Potomac, was going to be salvaged. Some called it his “Floating White House.” But Parker, who was born in Holland in 1909 as Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk and never became an American citizen, didn’t care about that. He saw the Potomac as just another snow job, as he called his art of the con. He would donate the rusting hulk to charity and put a P.R. feather in the cap of his only client: Elvis Presley.
On February 14, 1964, five days after the Beatles made their debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, Elvis sat at a press conference with the Colonel on the pier at Long Beach, California. With them was actor Danny Thomas, there on behalf of St. Jude, the Memphis research hospital Thomas had founded to help find cures for catastrophic childhood diseases. He graciously accepted the “piece of shit,” as Thomas is said to have called the boat, to sell for cash. As the press cameras clicked away, and the freshly painted Potomacgleamed in the background, the Colonel chuckled to himself. Elvis had paid $55,000 for the thing, but the Colonel, snowman to the core, apparently had only had one side of the old yacht painted—the side that faced the dock. The other remained in its dilapidated state. Why bother to paint both sides? Just present the side you want to show.
In his frenetic, dazzling, exhilarating mess of a movie, Elvis, Baz Luhrmann has done much the same when it comes to Colonel Parker, showing us only one side of a highly complex and intensely fascinating and mysterious character.
The film covers 42 years of life in its 2 hours and 39 minutes, and yet the majority of the film is for entertainment purposes and did not include events that happened in real life.
The first example of this is the deal made on the Farris wheel. In the film Colonel Tom Parker (hanks) discovers Presley's singing abilities which leads Parker to eventually hunt the performer down at a carnival.
The two then head to the Ferris wheel, where Parker assures Presley of his talents and offers to represent him. This became the beginning of the end in a sense, of Elvis' life, and while this made for an exciting scene in the film, the actual story of Parker becoming Presley's manager was a long and drawn-out process.
Then the film conveys Parker pouring honey into the ears of Elvis' parents Gladys (Helen Thomson) and Vernon (Richard Roxburgh). Parker at this point has already masterminded Presley's move from the regional Sun Records to major label RCA-Victor, and he solidifies his control over the entire family by having them sign into existence a new business called Elvis Presley Enterprises, of which Vernon (who had been jailed for check forgery when Elvis was a boy) would be business manager. Gladys is skeptical of the Colonel, and would remain so up until her death in 1958, but signs the contract anyway when Parker coos about Elvis having the strength of two men — a knowing reference to Elvis' stillborn twin brother Jesse.
Parker did indeed have Elvis and his family under contract, and Vernon was indeed manager of Elvis' personal business (and would later be executor of his estate). But the business venture known as Elvis Presley Enterprises (or EPE) wouldn't be formed until after Presley's death. EPE was founded by Vernon, the Presleys' longtime accountant Joseph Hanks (no relation to Tom), and Elvis' ex-wife Priscilla as a way to preserve and manage his estate. EPE opened Graceland for tours in 1982 and over the years has developed the area around the home into a shopping destination, concert venue, and resort.
To any Elvis fan - many will recall that Bob Neal was Presley's manager during the Hank Snow tour, and it wasn't until 1955 that Tom Parker became Presley's "special advisor," not even being named a manager until a year later.
A star studded performance by Austin Butler who reenacted the Fourth of July Special by singing "Trouble," which resulted in him being grabbed by police and thrown out of the arena during the film.
While the thought behind the performance was there Presley never sang "Trouble" during the special - as the song had not been written at the time. Rather, Presley sang "hound dog" and "Heartbreak Hotel."
Furthermore - During Presley's time serving in Germany, he meets his future wife, Priscilla Beaulieu, portrayed by Australian actress Olivia DeJonge during the film.
There were a few things wrong with this part of the film. Aside from the fact that Presley met Beaulieu when she was only 14 years old - much younger than how she's portrayed in the movie - there's no way the couple could have been listening to that song, especially that specific version.
"Can't Help Falling In Love" was written for Presley's 1961 movie Blue Hawaii, which came out two years after that scene takes place. Not to mention the version they listen to was sung by Musgraves, who wasn't born until 1988.
During the film, Tom Parker, claims that Presley was the highest paid actor at the time. When if fact - everything about this claim was inaccurate. Presley was making $1 million per film, the same or less than many notable actors at the time.
The biopic also touches on Presley's 1968 Christmas special. During the film Presley rebels against Parker to preform his own songs instead of Christmas music - after the passing of JFK.
The truth, however, is that Parker knew the whole time of Presley's plan to preform these songs, and Kennedy's assassination happened on June 6, 1968, a few weeks before the taping of the special on June 27 through June 30, 1968.
For precisely the film’s first half hour, "Elvis" moves like a Christmas fairytale turned nightmare; one fueled not by jealousy but the pernicious clutches of capitalism and racism, and the potent mixture they create. The importance of Elvis gets lost, and the film doesn't regain speed until the film presents Austin Butler's first performance.
"Elvis" is the story of how a nervous nobody became a legend, as told through the narration of a dying Colonel Tom Parker, the audience also learns the backing to
Presley's inspiration with music.
We gained insight into his deep connection to the Black community, it's explored as we watch him grow up in predominantly southern Black neighborhoods, seeing how he brought the styles and songs from that culture to white audiences at a time where segregation was running rampant in the nation. Fans also see Presley taking songs he hears along the years and claiming them as his own.
While Luhrman's film was a fast paced 3 hour long film, it was the acting of Austin Butler that gave the film any chance in the box office. Ultimately it was Luhrman's use of the James L. Dickerson book: Colonel-Presley biography, in the film that lead to its downfall. Luhrman nailed a broad view of Presley's life but when you break down certain scenes you realise the movie consist of nothing true pertaining to Elvis himself.
Comentarios