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Film Critiques:

AUGUST 2022:

Elvis, starring Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thomson, and Richard Roxburgh; directed by Baz Luhrmann; written by Baz Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pierce, and Jeremy Doner; produced by Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick, and Schuyler Weiss for Warner Bros. Pictures, Bazmark Films, and The Jackal Group and distributed by Warner Bros Pictures. (2022)
ELVIS (2022)

ELVIS PRESLEY IS IN THE BUILDING…

Moviegoers and fans have waited decades for a film depicting the life and career of Elvis Aaron Presley, and in April 2014 it was finally announced that a project was in the works and that Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann was in negotiations to direct the film, with Kelly Marcel leading as the screenwriter. But it wouldn’t be until March 2019, that further development on the film was announced. Fans started to wonder in those lapsed six years if the deal for a film and licensing rights to his life and music fell through. But on that day in March, it was announced that the film was indeed being produced and that Tom Hanks was cast in the role of Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker. Luhrmann had reached a negotiating deal and would be directing, but Marcel was replaced as the screenwriter with Sam Bromell and Craig Pearce.

A portrait of singer and actor Elvis Presley wearing a purple shirt circa 1956. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)
Baz Luhrmann attends the "Elvis" UK special screening at BFI Southbank on May 31, 2022, in London, England. (Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Warner Bros.)
Kelly Marcel Attends Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women's Filmmaker Program Annual Luncheon at Locanda Verde on October 16, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Aurora Rose/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Rock n' Roll singer and actor Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) walking past a Cadillac Eldorado on a movie set, USA, circa 1958. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)
Rock and roll singer Elvis Presley poses for a portrait holding an acoustic guitar in 1956. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Tom Hanks attends the Sydney premiere of ELVIS at the State Theatre on June 05, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Don Arnold/WireImage)
Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Colonel Tom Parker with Elvis Presley. Photo Credit: GAB Archive/Redferns
Director Baz Luhrmann attends the photocall for "Elvis" during the 75th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 26, 2022 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
Kelly Marcel arrives at the "Saving Mr. Banks" - Los Angeles Premiere at Walt Disney Studios on December 9, 2013 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage)
Screenwriter Sam Bromell. Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons
Screenwriter Craig Pearce. Photo Credit: FXNetworks

THE FACE OF AN ICON…

In July 2019, the casting of Elvis Presley was still being auditioned and Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller, Austin Butler, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Harry Styles were all in the running to take on the iconic role of the King of Rock and Roll. Later that month, it was announced that Butler had won the role of Presley for the biographical musical drama film. He won the role out of all possible actors due to impressing Luhrmann with an audition tape that included Butler singing “Unchained Melody” and a call from Academy Award-winning actor-director Denzel Washington recommending Butler for the part. In October of that same year, it was announced that Olivia DeJonge was cast in the role of Priscilla Presley and would play the legendary musician’s wife and mother of his child, Lisa Marie Presley.

Elvis Presley (1935-1977), the American rock 'n' roll legendary icon. Photo Credit: Getty Images
Actor Ansel Elgort. Photo Credit: TMDB
Actor Miles Teller. Photo Credit: TMDB
Actor and musician Austin Butler. Photo Credit: TMDB
Actor Aaron Taylor Johnson. Photo Credit: TMDB
Actor and musician Harry Styles. Photo Credit: TMDB
Rock and roll musician Elvis Presley performs on stage in 1972. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Austin Butler as Elvis in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Baz Luhrmann attends the "Elvis" UK Special Screening  at BFI Southbank on May 31, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Marsland/WireImage)
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in a scene from the Warner Bros. Pictures Baz Luhrmann directed film, Elvis. Photo Credit: Warner Bros Pictures. (2022)
"Unchained Melody" by The Righteous Brothers. (1965) Photo Credit: Discogs.com
Denzel Washington with his Oscar (1990)
Austin Butler attends the "Elvis" UK special screening at BFI Southbank on May 31, 2022, in London, England. (Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Warner Bros.)
Actress Olivia DeJonge. Photo Credit: TMDB
Businesswoman and actress Priscilla Presley. Photo Credit: TMDB
Singer Elvis Presley peeks out from behind his wife, Priscilla Ann Beaulieu, as the couple sit in a chartered jet airplane after their wedding at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas.(Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
American rock legend Elvis Presley with his daughter Lisa-Marie Presley. (Photo by Frank Carroll/Sygma via Getty Images)
Businesswoman and musician Lisa Marie Presley. Photo Credit: TMDB

CASTING A HISTORY…

In February 2020, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Rufus Sewell were cast as Elvis’s parents, Gladys and Vernon Presley, only to be replaced in September 2020 by Helen Thomson and Richard Roxburgh. It was also announced in February that musical artist Yola was cast as American singer and guitarist, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who was popular in the 1930s and 1940s for her gospel recordings that brought a unique mixture of lyrics with a spiritual nature being merged with an electric guitar. She would be a large influence on the music that Presley would make and ultimately change the world of rock and roll music.

Actress and filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal. Photo Credit: TMDB
English Actor Rufus Sewell. Photo Credit: TMDB
Rock and roll singer Elvis Presley with his parents Vernon and Gladys in 1961. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Singer Elvis Presley kisses his mother, Gladys, on the eve of his induction into the Army. At left is his father, Vernon. Photo Credit: Getty Images
Australian Actress Helen Thomson. Photo Credit: TMDB
Austin Butler as Elvis and Helen Thomson as Gladys Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Richard Roxburgh as Vernon Presley and Austin Butler as Elvis and in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
English musician, singer, and songwriter Yola Carter. Photo Credit: TMDB
Yola Carter as Sister Rosetta Sharpe in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Vocalist/guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe poses for a portrait holding a guitar in circa 1950 New York City, New York. (Photo by James Kriegsmann/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
American gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1915 - 1973) performs at a Blues and Gospel Caravan tour in the UK, 1964. (Photo by Tony Evans/Getty Images)
Rock and roll singer Elvis Presley during the filming of "Love Me Tender" in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Rock and roll musician Elvis Presley performing on the Elvis comeback TV special on June 27, 1968 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

ELVIS’S PANDEMIC WOES…

Filming began in January 2020 but would be shut down and delayed until March 2020. Gyllenhaal and Sewell would have to drop out of the film due to the scheduling conflicts brought on by the shooting delay as a result of Tom Hanks testing positive for Covid-19 during the pandemic. It would then be announced in December of that same year that Kelvin Harrison Jr. was cast in the role of B.B. King. Principal photography would wrap in March 2021, with Austin Butler being hospitalized and bedridden after what presented as appendicitis turned out to be a virus.

The Brisbane News chopper caught a glimpse of the Elvis Movie set on the Gold Coast. (2020) Photo Credit: Brisbane News
Maggie Gyllenhaal wearing Chopard attends the "Chopard Loves Cinema" Gala Dinner at Hotel Martinez on May 25, 2022 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images For Chopard)
Refus Sewell attends the British Independent Film Awards on December 9, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)
Tom Hanks attends the Sydney premiere of ELVIS at the State Theatre on June 05, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
COVID-19 Pandemic
Actor Kevin Harrison Jr. Photo Credit: TMBD
Young blues singer B.B. King a local DJ at WDIA poses for a portrait circa 1948 in Memphis, Tennessee.  (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Kelvin Harrison Jr. as B.B. King in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
BB King poses for a studio portrait in 1955 in the United States. He holds a Fender Esquire guitar. (Photo by Gilles Petard/Redferns)
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Kelvin Harrison Jr. as B.B. King in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
A black-and-white portrait of Elvis Presley and B.B. King. On the left, Elvis Presley wears a necktie and striped jacket and puts his arm around the shoulders of B.B. King, right, who wears a bowtie and plaid jacket with a pocket square. Photo Credit: Dr. Ernest C. Withers, American, 1922 - 2007/National Museum of African American History and Culture/Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. (December 7, 1957)
Austin Butler attends the Elvis UK screening at BFI Southbank on May 31, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Lia Toby/Getty Images)

A PREMIERE FIT FOR A KING…

ELVIS premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 25, 2022, and it was released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States on June 24, 2022, and in Australia the day before. The budget for the film production was $85 million, the film has grossed $285.7 million worldwide against that budget and far exceeded the production companies’ expectations of the film based on its low budget. With its box office gross, the film has become the second highest-grossing music biopic of all time behind the 2018 film, Bohemian Rhapsody. Since the film’s release, Butler’s performance has garnered him widespread world acclaim, with the attention to detail for the film’s costume and production designs, as well as the musical sequences receiving positive reviews among critics and fans of the iconic showman.

Elvis, starring Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thomson, and Richard Roxburgh; directed by Baz Luhrmann; written by Baz Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pierce, and Jeremy Doner; produced by Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick, and Schuyler Weiss for Warner Bros. Pictures, Bazmark Films, and The Jackal Group and distributed by Warner Bros Pictures. (2022)
Warner Bros Logo in Elvis (2022)
Drones make images in the sky for the "Elvis" movie during the "Elvis" after party at Stephanie Beach during the 75th annual Cannes film festival on May 25, 2022 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
(From 2ndL) US actor Tom Hanks, US actor Austin Butler, Australian director Baz Luhrmann, Priscilla Presley, actor Alton Mason, Australian actress Natasha Bassett and film producer Patrick Mccormick arrive for the screening of the film "Elvis" during the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 25, 2022. (Photo by LOIC VENANCE / AFP) (Photo by LOIC VENANCE/AFP via Getty Images)
(L to R) Olivia DeJonge, Steve Binder, Tom Hanks, Austin Butler, Director Baz Luhrmann, Priscilla Presley, Alton Mason, Natasha Bassett and Producer Patrick McCormick attend the screening of "Elvis" during the 75th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 25, 2022 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
Baz Luhrmann attends the photocall for "Elvis" during the 75th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 26, 2022 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage)
Austin Butler attends the screening of "Elvis" during the 75th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 25, 2022 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage)
Tom Hanks attends the screening of "Elvis" during the 75th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 25, 2022 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Dominique Charriau/WireImage)
Olivia DeJonge departs the screening of "Elvis" during the 75th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 25, 2022 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
(L-R) Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge and Austin Butler attend the photocall for "Elvis" during the 75th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 26, 2022 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
Priscilla Presley attends the photocall for "Elvis" during the 75th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 26, 2022 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Austin Butler and Priscilla Presley attend the photocall for "Elvis" during the 75th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 26, 2022 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
Drones make images in the sky for the "Elvis" movie during the "Elvis" after party at Stephanie Beach during the 75th annual Cannes film festival on May 25, 2022 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
Bohemian Rhapsody, starring Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Tom Hollander, and Mike Myers; directed by Bryan Singer; Screenplay written by Anthony McCarten for 20th Century Fox, Regency Enterprises, and GK Films and distributed by 20th Century Fox. (2018)
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

You can watch the 2018 Official Trailer for “Bohemian Rhapsody” here:

The Highest-Grossing Music Biography Picture of All Time…

MUSICALLY INCLINED AUSTRALIAN…

Luhrmann is known for directing epic films that usually have a musical component to complement the story being told. Therefore, complementing his films with an epic soundtrack album. In the case of Elvis Presley, Luhrmann has a soundtrack full of epic musical acts with original songs made for the film as well as reimagining many Elvis songs for the soundtrack and songs sung by Austin Butler as Elvis Presley. Some of the epic artists that contributed to the soundtrack were Doja Cat who included an original song for the film titled “Vegas”, which incorporates a sample from “Hound Dog” performed by Big Mama Thornton, played by Shonka Dukureh in the film. Italian Band Måneskin and Kacey Musgraves contribute their versions of “If I Can Dream” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love” Eminem and CeeLo Green contributed an original song collaboration for the film soundtrack, “The King and I” and it was produced by Dr. Dre. There are also songs contributed by Stevie Nicks and Chris Isaak on a duet, Jack White, and Diplo with Swae Lee. Some of the renditions of Presley songs that Butler sings are recordings of Elvis Presley woven into Austin Butler’s voice singing. The soundtrack album was released on June 24, 2022, to coincide with the film’s release day and entered at No. 1 on the Billboard soundtrack chart.

Baz Luhrmann attends the Sydney premiere of ELVIS at the State Theatre on June 05, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
Moulin Rouge!, starring Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent, and Richard Roxburgh; directed by Baz Luhrmann; written by Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce; produced by Martin Brown, Baz Luhrmann, and Fred Brown for Bazmark Productions and distributed by 20th Century FOx. (2001)
The Great Gatsby, Directed Baz Luhrmann; Screenplay by Baz Luhrmann, and Craig Pearce; Based on The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; Produced by Baz Luhrmann, Catherine , Knapman, Douglas Wick, Lucy Fisher, and Catherine Martin; Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey MaguireCarey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke, Isla Fisher, Elizabeth Debicki, Jack Thompson, and Amitabh Bachchan;Production companies: Village Roadshow Pictures, A&E Television, Bazmark Productions, and Red Wagon Entertainment and Distributed by	 Warner Bros. Pictures (Worldwide) Roadshow Films (Australia) (2013)
Elvis Presley runs a comb through his famous tresses at the Draftee Receiving Depot here on March 24th. The songster is scheduled for a trip to the G. I. barber on March 25th, where the key to his locks will probably be found. Photo Credit: Getty Images
The front cover of the ELVIS Soundtrack Album. Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons
The back cover of the ELVIS Soundtrack Album. Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons
American Rock musician and actor Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) singing and playing the piano during a recording session for RCA.  (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Single Cover for Austin Butler's "Trouble". Photo Credit: Spotify.com
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Single Cover for Doja Cat's "Vegas". Photo Credit: Spotify.com
Doja Cat in the Music Video for "Vegas". Photo Credit: Vibe.com
Shonka Dukureh in the Music Video for "Vegas". Photo Credit: Vibe.com
Doja Cat in the Music Video for "Vegas". Photo Credit: Vibe.com
Actress Shonka Dukureh. Photo Credit: TMDB
Shonka Dukureh as Big Mama Thornton and Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Shonka Dukureh as Big Mama Thornton and Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Single Cover for Måneskin's "If I Can Dream". Photo Credit: Spotify.com
Måneskin in the Music Video for "If I Can Dream". Photo Credit: VEVO.com
Måneskin in the Music Video for "If I Can Dream". Photo Credit: VEVO.com
Single Cover for Kacey Musgraves's "I Can't Help Falling In Love". Photo Credit: Spotify.com
Kacey Musgraves performs at American Express present BST Hyde Park at Hyde Park on July 02, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Jo Hale/Redferns)
Single Cover for Eminem and CeeLo Green's "The King & I". Photo Credit: Spotify.com
Eminem performs onstage at the 2022 MTV VMAs at Prudential Center on August 28, 2022 in Newark, New Jersey.  (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for MTV/Paramount Global)
Recording artist CeeLo Green performs during the premiere of "Boombox! A Vegas Residency on Shuffle" at Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino on August 31, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images for Fan Rebellion)
Dr. Dre performs in the Pepsi Halftime Show during the NFL Super Bowl LVI football game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on February 13, 2022 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
Chris Isaak performs the tour opener in support of his "King Without a Castle" release at the Sleep Train Pavilion on May 17, 2007 in Concord, California. (Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)
US musician Jack White performs on The Park Stage during day five of Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 26, 2022 in Glastonbury, England. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Single Cover for Diplo and Swae Lee's "Tupelo Shuffle". Photo Credit: Spotify.com
(-R) Swae Lee and Diplo attend the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards at Barker Hangar on June 05, 2022 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images for MTV)
(L-R) Diplo and Swae Lee perform onstage during the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards at Barker Hangar on June 05, 2022 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Presley Ann/Getty Images for MTV)
(L-R) Diplo and Swae Lee perform onstage during the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards at Barker Hangar on June 05, 2022 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Presley Ann/Getty Images for MTV)
(L-R) Diplo and Swae Lee perform onstage during the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards at Barker Hangar on June 05, 2022 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images for MTV)
The Elvis Soundtrack entered at No. 1 on the Billboard Soundtrack Chart. Photo Credit: Outsider.com

You can watch the Music Video for Doja Cat‘s “Vegas” here:

Viva La Doja Cat’s Vegas…

You can watch the Music Video for Måneskin‘s “If I Can Dream” here:

An Italian Rock Dream…

You can watch the Music Video for Kacey Musgrave‘s “I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You“ here:

Fall In Love With Kacey Musgrave…

THROUGH THE EYES OF A SNOWMAN…

The film is told from the perspective of Colonel Tom Parker, Tom Hanks narrates fading us into flashback scenes that make up a majority of the film while following the life and eventual death of the rock and roll musical icon singer and actor, Elvis Presley. The film’s opening scene begins in 1997, when Colonel Tom Parker suffers a stroke and lays in his deathbed, lonely and destitute from a gambling addiction, he recalls for moviegoers from his hospital room with a window looking out to the International Hotel, where Parker arranged a residency for Elvis, and where he spent a majority of his later years performing. He stares out the window and remembers how he first met Elvis Aaron Presley.

Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
View of American musician Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) (right) as he eats breakfast the day he was conscripted into the US Army at the Fort Chaffee training installation, Fort Smith, Arkansas March 25, 1958. Eating beside him is his manager, Durch-born talent agent 'Colonel' Tom Parker (born Andreas van Kuijk, 1909 - 1997).   (Photo by Don Cravens/Getty Images)
View of the front page of the Commercial Appeal newspaper the day after the death of American rock and roll singer Elvis Presley, Memphis, Tennessee, August 17, 1977. The main headline reads 'Death Captures Crown of Rock and Roll--Elvis Dies Apparently After Heart Attack.' (Photo by Blank Archives/Getty Images)
The final resting place of Elvis Presley at the home he bought for his mother, Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by David LEFRANC/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Elvis Presley (L) holding up his discharge paper w. Col. Tom Parker (R) in bkgrd. on day of exit from US Army.    (Photo by Lee Lockwood/Getty Images)
The International Hotel in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Exterior view the International Hotel (1969, architect Martin Stern Jr) and it's marquee which advertises performances by Elvis Presley, Wayne Cochren, and Ike & Tina Turner, Las Vegas, Nevada, late July or August 1969. Presley performed 57 shows, usually two a day, between July 31 and August 28 at the newly opened hotel, then the largest hotel in the world. (Photo by Fotos International/Getty Images)
Popular American singer and actor Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) performs on stage at the International Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, late July or August 1969. Presley performed 57 shows, usually two a day, between July 31 and August 28, at the newly opened hotel. (Photo by Fotos International/Getty Images)
Vernon Presley (1916-1979) and his son, American singer and actor Elvis Presley (1935-1977), wearing a black jacket with a red-and-black scarf, attend a press conference, held in the 'convention hall' of the International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, 1st August 1969. The press conference was held after Presley's first live performance in eight years, also at the International Hotel. (Photo by Graphic House/Archive Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Rock and roll musician Elvis Presley during a press conference after his first performance at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 1, 1969. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

MISSISSIPPI MEMPHIS HERO…

We learn Elvis was born a twin but that brother, Jesse, died the night he was born, Elvis’s parents were poor and as a result, he spent his childhood in Tupelo, Mississippi. When his father tries to pass a bad check for food at the store, he’s sent to prison, and Elvis is primarily raised by his mother. When his family moves to Memphis, Tennessee, where he is ridiculed by his friends for having an interest in African American music. The young Elvis would take comfort in comic books and would escape into Captain Marvel Jr., he would eventually start performing and playing with his band at a Louisiana Hayride. This is where Parker is working as a then carnival hustler, Colonel Tom Parker has come to see about this white boy who sounds black on “That’s All Right”, which is blowing up on radio stations and record sales charts and could be his ticket to fame and fortune. Parker finds his nickname of “Snowman” to be endearing and hopes to use the talented musician with sex appeal as the circus to his want to be P.T. Barnum.

The grave of Elvis Presley's twin brother Jessie Garon Presley. Photo Credit: Facebook.com
Photo of Elvis Presley, as a child with his parents - L-R: Vernon Presley, Elvis Presley (as child), Gladys Presley  (Photo by RB/Redferns)
A historic marker is seen next to the two-room house where Elvis Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in the singer's hometown of Tupelo, Mississippi. Presley spent the first 13 years of his life living in various Tupelo homes before moving to Memphis. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The small home where Elvis Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi. Thousands of people from around the world come to location of the childhood home of Elvis Presley who died August 16, 1977. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Getty Images)
Chaydon Jay as young Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chaydon Jay as young Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chaydon Jay as young Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley  in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Singer Elvis Presley joins his guitar player Scotty Moore (left) and bass player Bill Black on a weekly broadcast of "Lousiana Hayride" at the Shreveport Auditorium just three months after Elvis left home for the first time on October 16, 1954 in Shreveport, Lousiana. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
A 7" record of US singer Elvis Presley's first single "That's Alright" is displayed during a photocall for the "Elvis at the O2" exhibition in London on December 11, 2014. The exhibition runs from 12 December 2014 - 31 August 2015 and includes a variety of items from the Elvis archive, including costumes, cars, records and personal items such as Presley's credit cards and house keys. AFP PHOTO / LEON NEAL RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE, MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION, TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION        (Photo credit should read LEON NEAL/AFP via Getty Images)
A close up of the record label showing the incorrect spelling of Elvis Presley's name on the only known surviving promotional copy of a 1954 recording of That's All Right (Mama) by Elvis Presley, the vinyl that kick-started his career almost six decades ago, which is the highlight of the pop and rock memorabilia auction in the RDS in Dublin on Sunday March 24 and is expected to fetch between 50,000 euro (£43,000) to 70,000 euro (£60,000).   (Photo by Julien Behal/PA Images via Getty Images)
Ian Whyte, of Whyte & Sons Auctioneers Ltd, holds the only known surviving promotional copy of a 1954 recording of That's All Right (Mama) by Elvis Presley, the vinyl that kick-started his career almost six decades ago, which is the highlight of the pop and rock memorabilia auction in the RDS in Dublin on Sunday March 24 and is expected to fetch between 50,000 euro (£43,000) to 70,000 euro (£60,000).   (Photo by Julien Behal/PA Images via Getty Images)
Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Phineas T. Barnum, born in Danbury, Connecticut, on July 5, 1810. He started in business in 1828 by opening a store, started show business in 1835.
Barnum and Bailey Circus advertisements showing the three rings in the big top and a composite picture of all the acts performed. Litho, 1896.

You can watch the clip with Elvis Presley’s First Appearance on the Louisiana Hayride here:

The Making of a King…

You can listen to Elvis Presley’s First Appearance on the Louisiana Hayride in 1954 here:

Elvis Presley on the Louisiana Hayride on October 16, 1954…

A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL…

Parker plays on Presley’s love of comic books and persuades him to fly sky high and let Parker take exclusive control of his career, which quickly results in the Presley family no longer living in poverty. Elvis buys Graceland for his mother, and his family all move into the estate, and when he is not on the road touring and singing, Elvis lives at Graceland with his family and a slew of Cadillacs of different colors fill the driveway. But after Elvis begins his televised performances in 1956, the public becomes conflicted about the singer and differ in their opinions of him. His performances come to the attention of Segregationist Southern Democrat Mississippi Senator, James O. Eastland, who believes Elvis to be violating segregation laws by performing black people’s music and dancing sexually will corrupt white children in America, which results in racial hostility from his fans and the offended black communities he speaks of. When Elvis’s manager and controlling party of his career, Parker is called to an informal hearing by Eastland, in which Parker is questioned about his mysterious past and orphaned immigrant status.

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Elvis Presley's Graceland in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Elvis Presley's Graceland estate is seen December 16, 2004 in Memphis, Tennessee. Robert F.X. Sillerman and Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE) announced December 16 the pending sale of an 85% stake in EPE, which will include all naming rights, intelectual property, archival documents, operations of Graceland and surrounding properties as well as revenue derived from Elvis' music, films and television specials. The sale, estimated at $100 million, was structured so Lisa Marie Presley, sole heir to the Elvis Presley estate, would retain the 13.6 acre Graceland grounds and most of Elvis' personal effects.  (Photo by Mike Brown/Getty Images)
Elvis Presley's estate, Graceland circa 1970.  (Photo by Mick Hutson/Redferns)
MEMPHIS, TN - CIRCA 1957: Rock and roll singer Elvis Presley strolls the grounds of his Graceland estate in circa 1957. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
3/26/1957-Memphis, TN-A thoughtful Elvis Presley leans against a massive pillar on the front porch of his traditional southern-style home, "Graceland," at Whitehaven, near Memphis.
Singer and actor Elvis Presley with his Rolls Royce in front of his estate 'Graceland' in Memphis, Tennessee (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
Austin Butler as Elvis in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
American musician (and actor) Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) performs during a rehearsal for his appearance on the 'Steve Allen Show,' New York, New York, July 1, 1956. (Photo by Alfred Wertheimer/MUUS Collection via Getty Images)
American musician (and actor) Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) performs live on stage at CBS-TV's Studio 50 on the Dorsey Brothers' 'Stage Show' program, New York, New York, March 17, 1956. Guitarist Scotty Moore, and the rest of the band is in the background. (Photo by Alfred Wertheimer/MUUS Collection via Getty Images)
American singer and musician Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) (center) swivels his hips as he performs with his band onstage during his second appearance on 'The Ed Sullivan Show,' New York, New York, October 28, 1956. (Photo by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)
Nicolas Bell as Senator James Eastland in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros
Nicolas Bell as Senator James Eastland in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros
Senator James O. Eastland. Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons
Senator James O. Eastland. Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons
Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

You can watch Elvis Presley on the Milton Berle Show in 1956 here:

https://youtu.be/YVwZmJHT_js
Elvis Presley on the Milton Berle Show on June 5, 1956…

THE MOST DANGEROUS HIPS IN ROCK AND ROLL…

Parker is told to calm his musician down and change his act or face legal consequences with the federal government. Parker explains to Elvis that he can’t perform as he used to, right down to the colorful Beale Street suits he would wear, He is to keep the show’s performance basic and the clothes basic or black in color and fitted to his body to make it difficult for the musician to move around or gyrate his hips in any fashion. Elvis was often called during this period, “Elvis the Pelvis” and newspaper front pages would call his hips a national security threat. But when Presley starts to feel boxed in, controlled, and not performing as the Elvis he felt he was, he defies the order of Parker and Eastland with a concert deliberately filled with charged-up dance moves, he faces real legal jeopardy as a result.

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Tom HAnks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Tom HAnks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Protected by police officers and the US Navy Shore Patrol, American musician (and actor) Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) performs, with his band, on stage at Russwood Park, Memphis, Tennessee, July 4, 1956. (Photo by Alfred Wertheimer/MUUS Collection via Getty Images)
American musician (and actor) Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) performs, with his band, on stage at Russwood Park, Memphis, Tennessee, July 4, 1956. (Photo by Alfred Wertheimer/MUUS Collection via Getty Images)
American musician (and actor) Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) performs, with his band, on stage at Russwood Park, Memphis, Tennessee, July 4, 1956. (Photo by Alfred Wertheimer/MUUS Collection via Getty Images)
Rock and roll singer Elvis Presley performs on stage at Russwood Park on July 4, 1956 in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
A police car, escorted by officers on foot, carries American musician (and actor) Elvis Presley through the crowd at Russwood Park, Memphis, Tennessee, July 4, 1956. (Photo by Alfred Wertheimer/MUUS Collection via Getty Images)
International News Service on January 7, 1957. Photo Credit: Elvisencyclopedia.net
First page of Jet Magazine interview with Elvis, August 1, 1957. Photo Credit: Elvisbiography.net
Newspaper article circa 1970s. Photo Credit: Pinterest.com
The Dayton Daily News story published Oct. 27, 1976 about the Elvis Presley concert at the University of Dayton Arena. Photo Credit: Daytondailynews.com

You can watch the film clip of the Russwood Park Performance here:

A ‘troubling’ performance by Austin Butler…

You can watch Elvis Presley at Russwood Park in 1956 here:

Elvis Presley at Russwood Park in Memphis on July 4, 1956…

IN THE ARMY NOW…

To keep Elvis out of jail as a result, and to keep his piggy bank stuffed, Parker persuades the government to not arrest him and instead draft Elvis into the US Army to avoid any legal liability. But it is due to his forced military service in West Germany that his mother becomes devastated and induces an early death via alcoholism. Elvis is distraught and in pieces due to his mother’s death, and only recovers when he meets Priscilla Beaulieu, played by Olivia DeJonge, while stationed in Germany where her stepfather was serving with the Air Force as a Major. He is discharged from the Army two years after being drafted and returns to his film career and weds Priscilla years later and Lisa Marie Presley is born soon after.

American rock n' roll singer Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) stands with a group of young men at an induction center, raising their right hands as they are sworn into the United States Army by an officer standing next to an American flag. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Elvis Presley receives a crew cut on his first full day as a member of the US Army. Photo Credit: Getty Images
Elvis Presley poses for the camera during his military service at a US base in Germany. (Photo by Vittoriano Rastelli/Corbis via Getty Images)
Austin Butler as Elvis and Helen Thomson as Gladys Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
6/2/58-Memphis, Tennessee: Pfc. Elvis Presley, on his first leave from the Army, escorts his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Presley, from their mansion here to town for a sneak preview of the entertainer's latest movie, June 1st. The film is called "King Creole." Photo Credit: Getty Images
14th August 1958, American rock and roll singer Elvis Presley and his father Vernon Presley outside the hospital room where his mother Mrs, Presley, aged 42 died in the hospital that day following a heart attack (Photo by Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)
8/14/1958-Memphis, Tennessee: Private Elvis Presley and his father numbed over the death of the singer's mother Mrs. Gladys Presley. She died this morning at a Memphis hospital of an apparent heart attack. Elvis, on a seven-day emergency furlough on the steps of the Presley mansion, with his father. Photo Credit: Getty Images
Richard Roxburgh as Vernon Presley and Austin Butler as Elvis in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
10th January 1958: Portrait of American rock singer Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977), wearing a military uniform, lying on an army cot with his hands folded across his chest. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Circa 1958, American singer and actor Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) sits in a restaurant wearing his US Army uniform. (Photo by Getty Images/Getty Images)
Austin Butler as Elvis in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Beaulieu/Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Beaulieu/Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Beaulieu/Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Beaulieu/Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Priscilla Beaulieu, Elvis Presley's "girl back home," plays a record album by the teen idol. Elvis was serving in the US Army in Germany. The couple were married in 1967 and divorced in 1973. Photo Credit: Getty Images
16 year old Priscilla Beaulieu is led away by a military policeman whilst trying to say goodbye to her friend Elvis Presley at Frankfurt Airport, 2nd March 1960. Presley is travelling to America to be demobbed after his military service. The two met in Germany where Priscilla's father was also stationed, and were married in 1967. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Sgt. Elvis Presley carries his bags through the snow upon arriving here March 3rd by plane from Germany. He then went to nearby Fort Dix, where he is to stay for 48 hours while being separated from the army after two years. Photo Credit: Getty Images
3/5/1960-Fort Dix, NJ- After being discharged from the US Army today, Elvis Presley (R) grins as he hands his mustering out pay to his business manager Colonel Tom Parker. Photo Credit: Getty Images
Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Presley and Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
5/1/1967-Las Vegas, NV- Singer Elvis Presley and Priscilla Ann Beaulieu, 21, cut the cake at the Las Vegas reception following their wedding, 5/1. Presley, 32, met his wife when he was in Germany in the Army in 1959. The marriage ends his reign as one of the most eligible bachelors in show business. Photo Credit: Getty Images
Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Presley and Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Las Vegas, Nev..Entertainer, Elvis Presley sits cheek to cheek wit his bride, the former Priscilla Ann Beaulieu, following their wedding May 1, 1967. Photo Credit: Getty Images
5/1/1967-Las Vegas, NV- Singer Elvis Presley and his bride Priscilla Ann Beaulieu, pose for photograph following their wedding at the Aladdin Hotel. Presley, 31, met his 22-year-old bride when he was stationed in Germany during his Army service. Photo Credit: Getty Images
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Beaulieu/Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Elvis Presley and his wife, Priscilla, prepare to leave the hospital with their new daughter, Lisa Marie. Memphis, Tennessee, February 5, 1968. Photo Credit: Getty Images
Lisa Marie Presley, Priscilla Presley & Elvis Presley (Photo by Magma Agency/WireImage)
American rock legend Elvis Presley with his wife Priscilla and their daughter Lisa-Marie. (Photo by Frank Carroll/Sygma via Getty Images)

You can watch the Video of Elvis Presley getting his Army Haircut in 1958 here:

“Get a haircut, buttercup…”

You can watch the Video of Elvis Presley’s Discharge and Homecoming in 1960 here:

Elvis Presley is Discharged and Returns Home from the Army in 1960…

You can watch a Video of Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s Wedding here:

Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s Wedding in 1967…

AMERICA’S CULTURE HISTORY AND ELVIS…

While Elvis reaches the height of his career making movies and touring, America’s significant history of the 1960s is occurring around him, Elvis is heartbroken by the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Despite Presley wanting to be more outspoken about his politics, Parker denies Elvis the opportunity to speak out and encourages Elvis to record and sing songs that will make people feel good. Elvis reaches his breaking point of being controlled by Parker musically and feeling stifled so he seeks the help of producers outside of Parker’s influence. Presley contacts producer Bones Howe, played by Gareth Davies, and producer and director, Steve Binder, played by Dacre Montgomery, with the hope of revamping his image when the country falls into turmoil over MLK and RFK. Elvis knows he no longer has the effect on the nation as he once did. His music wasn’t what people wanted to hear, his movies weren’t what people wanted to see anymore, Elvis needed a change. And Presley was going to use the Christmas special, along with Howe and Binder, and not Colonel Tom Parker, to bring about that change.

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Civil Rights, USA, Personalities, pic: 28th August 1963, Black American Civil Rights leader the Rev, Martin Luther King delivers his famous "I Have A Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Martin Luther King (1929-1968) led the fight for equality in the USA, sadly assassinated in Memphis in 1968  (Photo by Rolls Press/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)
The procession bearing the coffin at the funeral of assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr in Atlanta, Georgia, 9th April 1968. (Photo by Santi Visalli/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
Rev. Jesse Jackson visits the balcony outside room 306 at the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, is seen on the grounds of the National Civil Rights Museum, April 3, 2018 in Memphis, Tennessee. - King was assassinated 50 years ago on April 4, 1968, as he stepped to the balcony. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)        (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSK
Clergyman and civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy (1926 - 1990) presides over the funeral of assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, 9th April 1968. King's widow, Coretta Scott King, sits with their children near his casket in the front row, next to his brother, Reverend Alfred Daniel King (1930 - 1969). Andrew Young is visible on the far right, behind Abernathy. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Beaulieu/Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Senator from New York, Robert F Kennedy (1925 - 1968, centre) at the funeral of assassinated American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr (1929 - 1968), Atlanta, Georgia, 9th April 1968. Kennedy was himself assassinated two months later. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)
Senator Robert F. Kennedy, accompanied by his wife, Ethel, tours northwest Washington, which was devastated by fires in the wake of Martin Luther King's assassination. The tour followed a memorial service for King. Photo Credit: Getty Images
1968 CALIFORNIA PRIMARY: ASSASSINATION OF ROBERT F. KENNEDY -- Pictured: (l-r center) Wife Ethel Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY) before he was fatally shot on June 5, 1968 during his Presidential Campaign at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, CA -- Photo by: Frank Carroll/NBC NewsWire
6/5/1968-Los Angeles, CA- Shirt open, one eye closed, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy lies on the floor of the Ambassador Hotel after being shot by a man identified as Sirhan Sirhan, 23, a Jordanian born in Jerusalem. The Senator died early June 6th, victim of an assassin's bullet, just as his brother perished. He will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, probably beside the late President. His wife, Ethel, mother of their 10 children and expecting an 11th in January, was at her husband's bedside when he died. Photo Credit: Getty Images
Clutching his rosary beads, Senator Robert F. Kennedy lies wounded on the floor of the Ambassador Hotel, after being shot by an assailant, following his victory speech in the California primary election on June 6, 1968. Kennedy's wife Ethel is at lower left corner. Photo Credit: Getty Images
Lyndon B. Johnson addressing the nation on the assassination of Robert F Kennedy in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment In
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Beaulieu/Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
6/7/1968-New York, NY: Mrs. Martin Luther King, widow of the slain civil rights leader, walks past the casket containing the body of the assassinated Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in St. Patrick's Cathedral. Photo Credit: Getty Images
April 1968:  A Black man crosses a street past soldiers and a bombed building during the race riots that followed Martin Luther King's assassination, Washington, DC.  (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
The west side of Chicago is on fire during riots following the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Chicago, Illinois, April 1968. (Photo by Underwood Archives/Getty Images)
Gareth Davies as Bones Howe, Dacre Montgomery as Steve Binder, and Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment In
Pictured: (l-r) Producer Bones Howe, producer and director Steve Binder, Elvis Presley, executive producer Bob Finkel during a press conference for the Elvis '68 Comeback Special on NBC -- (Photo by: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
Gareth Davies as Bones Howe in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
UNSPECIFIED - CIRCA 1970: Photo of Bones Howe Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Dacre Montgomery as Steve Binder in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment In
Pictured: (l-r) Director Steve Binder, Elvis Presley during his '68 Comeback Special on NBC -- (Photo by: Frank Carroll/Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
Pictured: (l-r) Lance LeGault, director Steve Binder, Elvis Presley during his '68 Comeback Special on NBC -- (Photo by: Frank Carroll/Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Gareth Davies as Bones Howe, Dacre Montgomery as Steve Binder, and Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment In

You can watch Robert F. Kennedy Announce the Death of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 here:

Robert F. Kennedy announces the death of Martin Luther King Jr. in Indianapolis, IN on April 4, 1968…

You can watch a News report from 1968 on the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy here:

https://youtu.be/xTeW-wkin6A
ABC News reporting Live on the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy on June 5, 1968…

A SPECIAL COMEBACK FIT FOR A KING…

Elvis hires, Howe and Binder, to redirect the corporate-sponsored Christmas special that Colonel Parker contracted Presley into and turns it into a career comeback special based on the return to Elvis’s older songs he was popular for, and he wears an all-black leather suit to perform in, to remind viewers of the days Elvis would use his own sexuality in his performances. The film shows the behind-the-scenes of producing, Elvis, or as its now known, the ’68 Comeback Special, and it’s while filming the television special that RFK is assassinated. And moviegoers get to see how the song “If I Can Dream” presumably came together as a result of yet another assassination in 1968, for the closing number of the special. Parker accuses Elvis of being brainwashed by the hippies of America and Presley’s sponsors are infuriated the entire special had nothing to do with Christmas. Regardless of how either felt, the special turns out to be a massive television hit and puts Elvis Presley right back on top where he started.

A scene in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Dacre Montgomery as Steve Binder and Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
ELVIS: '68 COMEBACK SPECIAL -- Pictured: (l-r) producer Bones Howe, producer and director Steve Binder, Elvis Presley, executive producer Bob Finkel during a press conference for the Elvis '68 Comeback Special on NBC-- (Photo by: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
ELVIS: '68 COMEBACK SPECIAL -- Pictured: Elvis Presley during his '68 Comeback Special on NBC -- (Photo by: Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
Poster for "ELVIS: '68 Comeback" Photo Credit: IMDB
ELVIS: '68 COMEBACK SPECIAL -- Pictured: Elvis Presley during "Guitar Man" opening numer of his '68 Comeback Special on NBC -- (Photo by: Frank Carroll/Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
ELVIS: '68 COMEBACK SPECIAL -- Pictured: Elvis Presley during his '68 Comeback Special on NBC -- (Photo by: Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
ELVIS: '68 COMEBACK SPECIAL -- Aired 12/3/68 -- Pictured: Elvis Presley during a performance at NBC Studios in Burbank, CA  (Photo by Gary Null//NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
ELVIS: '68 COMEBACK SPECIAL -- Pictured: "Guitar Man" extras Elvis Presley during the Elvis '68 Comeback Special on NBC -- (Photo by: Frank Carroll/Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
ELVIS: '68 COMEBACK SPECIAL -- Pictured: Elvis Presley during his '68 Comeback Special on NBC -- (Photo by: Frank Carroll/Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
ELVIS: '68 COMEBACK SPECIAL -- Pictured: Elvis Presley during his '68 Comeback Special on NBC -- (Photo by: Frank Carroll/Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
ELVIS: '68 COMEBACK SPECIAL -- Aired 12/3/68 -- Pictured: Elvis Presley during a performance at NBC Studios in Burbank, CA  (Photo by Gary Null & Frank Carroll/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
Pictured: Elvis Presley during his '68 Comeback Special on NBC -- (Photo by: Frank Carroll/Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
ELVIS: '68 COMEBACK SPECIAL -- Aired 12/3/68 -- Pictured: Elvis Presley during a performance of "If I Can Dream" at NBC Studios in Burbank, CA  (Photo by Gary Null & Frank Carroll/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Rock and roll musician Elvis Presley performing on the Elvis comeback TV special on June 27, 1968. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Filming Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback Special in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

You can watch the scene featuring the opening medley of the ’68 Comeback Special here:

A Royal Comeback…

You can watch the opening medley from the ’68 Comeback Special here:

Elvis Presley performs “Heartbreak Hotel/Hound Dog/All Shook Up” on the ’68 Comeback Special...

You can watch the scene featuring “If I Can Dream” from the ’68 Comeback Special here:

The dream of a comeback personified…

You can watch the ’68 Comeback Special performance of “If I Can Dream” by Elvis Presley here:

Elvis Presley gave us a song for the suffering of 1968 and hope everlasting and eternal…

A COMEBACK HIT MEANT VIVA LAS VEGAS…

The massive hit the comeback special becomes gives Elvis an opportunity to headline a show at the largest showroom in Las Vegas located in, the International Hotel, and follows it with a return to touring. When Elvis decides he wants to spread his wings and go global, Parker persuades him against it by tricking him into signing a five-year deal for a residency with the International Hotel. The film depicts a supposed arrangement made by Colonel Tom Parker and Alex Shoofey, named Meyer Kohn in the film, to resolve gambling debts of Parker and give him an unlimited line of credit at the International Hotel, at the cost of Elvis Presley. He holds Elvis off of leaving for a while, by broadcasting his nightly shows internationally through Satellite. It is brought to Elvis’s attention that Colonel Tom Parker has resisted an international tour due to his inability to travel abroad.

Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker and Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Dutch-born manager Colonel Tom Parker (1909-1997), wearing a jacket on which is printed 'Elvis International In Person', American singer-songwriter and pianist Fats Domino (1928-2017), and American singer and actor Elvis Presley (1935-1977), wearing a black jacket with a red-and-black scarf, attends a press conference, held in the 'convention hall' of the International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, 1st August 1969. The press conference was convened after Presley's first live performance in eight years, also at the International Hotel. (Photo by Graphic House/Archive Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Rock and roll musician Elvis Presley during a press conference after his first performance at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 1, 1969. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Vernon Presley (1916-1979) and his son, American singer and actor Elvis Presley (1935-1977), wearing a black jacket with a red-and-black scarf, attend a press conference, held in the 'convention hall' of the International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, 1st August 1969. The press conference was held after Presley's first live performance in eight years, also at the International Hotel. (Photo by Graphic House/Archive Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
The International Hotel in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Exterior view the International Hotel (1969, architect Martin Stern Jr) and it's marquee which advertises performances by Elvis Presley, Wayne Cochren, and Ike & Tina Turner, Las Vegas, Nevada, late July or August 1969. Presley performed 57 shows, usually two a day, between July 31 and August 28 at the newly opened hotel, then the largest hotel in the world. (Photo by Fotos International/Getty Images)
Popular American singer and actor Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) performs on stage at the International Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, late July or August 1969. Presley performed 57 shows, usually two a day, between July 31 and August 28, at the newly opened hotel. (Photo by Fotos International/Getty Images)
A scene in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Anthony Phalan as Meyer Kohn in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The International Hotel in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
A scene in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
A scene in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

You can watch a comparison of Austin Butler & Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds” here:

Austin Butler in ELVIS and Elvis Presley at the International Hotel in 1970…

A SNOWMAN’S BLIZZARD…

Presley discovers that Parker is an illegal immigrant without a state or country of representation since he surrendered his original Dutch citizenship, therefore he would not be able to return to America if he left for an international tour. Elvis becomes infuriated at the lies and deceit and feels utterly betrayed for trusting Parker and making a deal years ago with him that included Parker receiving 50% of Presley’s profits. Elvis retaliates by trying to fire Colonel Parker, and Parker responds by suing Elvis for an impossibly large amount of money that would bankrupt Presley and would force him to have to sell Graceland. The thought of losing the home he bought for his mother enrages Presley and he argues with Parker, who in the conversation manages to convince Elvis that they need each other, and this success only works with the two of them working as a team. Elvis agrees to keep him on as manager because he has no other choice, but the dynamic of their once close fatherly son bond is forever broken, and Presley has little to do with him socially afterward and restricts their dealings to manager and artist relations.

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Richard Roxburgh as Vernon Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Elvis Presley pictured with manager Colonel Tom Parker, United States, 1957. (Photo by Mark and Colleen Hayward/Getty Images)
Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) and his manager Colonel Tom Parker (1909 - 1997) are made life members of the Houston Astrodome Livestock Show and Rodeo in Texas, as a show of appreciation for Presley's run of concerts at the venue, 1st March 1970.  (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
Elvis Presley's controversial manager Colonel Tom Parker, (1909 - ) often refered to as 'The Colonel'.    (Photo by Alan Band/Keystone Features/Getty Images)
Rock and roll singer Elvis Presley holds court at a press conference to publicize his show at Madison Square Garden later that night while Colonel Tom Parker looks on at the Hilton Hotel on June 9, 1972 in New York City, NY. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

You can watch a short video detailing why Elvis Presley fired Colonel Tom Parker here:

Baz Luhrmann took some liberties with the film’s version of what happened, but still based it in factual knowledge…

THE FALL OF A KING…

The stress of it all compounds him and Elvis is overtaken by his mental health, behavioral issues, and a prescription drug addiction will further sink him into a dark hole, and Priscilla helplessly watches him slowly kill himself and despondent decides to divorce Elvis in 1973. She makes the decision not because she no longer loves him, but because she does love him and can’t bear to watch him spiral out any longer. Priscilla explains to Elvis that she will be taking Lisa Marie with her and that she would not change her mind and return to him. Presley starts to suffer from exhaustion due to overworking himself with shows, so as not to deal with the grief of losing his marriage and the love of his life to his demons. Elvis is at an airport where he and Priscilla are meeting to return their daughter to his ex-wife, Lisa Marie who was visiting with her father, and while Priscilla addresses the concern for his health and begs him to get the treatment, Elvis tells her of his worst fear. That no one will remember him after he is gone.

A scene in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
American rock legend Elvis Presley with his wife Priscilla and their daughter Lisa-Marie. (Photo by Frank Carroll/Sygma via Getty Images)
Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Presley and Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Entertainer Elvis Presley leaves Santa Monica California Superior Court after being granted a divorce from his wife Priscilla. The couple had been married six years and in spite of the October 9 divorce proceedings, they appeared very amicable as they left the courtroom. Photo Credit: Getty Images
A scene in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
A scene in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Lisa Marie Presley (Photo by Frank Carroll/Sygma via Getty Images)
Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Presley and Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

You can watch the airport scene from ELVIS here:

The outfits worn by Olivia DeJonge and Austin Butler are replicas of what Priscilla and Elvis wore the day they walked out of court from finalizing their divorce in 1973…

A KING GONE, BUT HIS MELODY UNCHAINED…

In the final moments of the film, Austin Butler is replaced with real footage of one of Presley’s final shows, where he is now bloated and pale, sitting at a piano and singing “Unchained Melody”, and the performance ends as the screen fades to black to thunderous applause. Colonel Tom Parker finishes his recall of meeting Elvis Aaron Presley, and Elvis dies on August 16, 1977, loved by the world and becomes the best-selling solo artist of all time, while Colonel Tom Parker dies alone and broke.

A scene in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Presley, the gyrating, hip-swinging King of Rock and Roll is shown during 6/20/77 concert here. Photo Credit: Getty Images
6/20/1977-Lincoln, NE- Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, belts out a song during a performance, here 6/20. Photo Credit: Getty Images
Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, belts out a song during a performance, here 6/20. Photo Credit: Getty Images (Photo by R.D/Images Press/Getty Images)
Elvis Presley, in a white jumpsuit with gold brocade and studs, tosses a nylon scarf into the waiting hands of the fans at a concert in the Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island. | Location: Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
View of the front page of the Commercial Appeal newspaper the day after the death of American rock and roll singer Elvis Presley, Memphis, Tennessee, August 17, 1977. The main headline reads 'Death Captures Crown of Rock and Roll--Elvis Dies Apparently After Heart Attack.' (Photo by Blank Archives/Getty Images)
The casket of Elvis Presley can be seen through the back window of the hearse as it passes out the front gate of the Presley mansion past saluting policemen, while thousands of fans watch from across the street. Photo Credit: Getty Images (1977)
The final resting place of Elvis Presley at the home he bought for his mother, Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by David LEFRANC/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama “ELVIS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Hugh Stewart. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

You can watch a comparison video of Austin Butler & Elvis Presley singing “Unchained Melody” here:

Austin Butler in Elvis and Elvis Presley in June 1977, Elvis Presley died three months later of a heart attack on August 16, 1977…

You can watch the news report of Elvis Presley’s death on August 16, 1977 here:

Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977)

You can watch the 1977 Special Report of The Funeral of Elvis Presley here:

Two weeks after his death, after a failed attempt to steal Elvis’ remains from the crypt, Presley’s casket was moved to Graceland…

MY ROYAL CRITIQUE…

The film will likely be a contender come awards season this year, and I estimate that Austin Butler may end up with nominations at all the major awards shows with a performance that was well praised across the board. Moviegoers get completely lost in his portrayal of Elvis Aaron Presley. This will play into the nominations if Butler receives any. Baz Luhrmann may see himself and his film nominated as well, the film has been a critical and box office success and was produced to praise by fans who waited a long time for this film to be made. While there are some issues with the accuracy of some of the scenes in the film, Luhrmann took liberties with facts to make the film and have continuity in the story he was telling. Overall, you can expect to see the film return to theaters for an awards season promotion and hopefully, ELVIS leaves the awards show building draped in gold statues.

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