Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Biopic Gets First Official Trailer

Take a look at the first official trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming Elvis Presley biopic.

The primary thing that got the Australian public to take the pandemic seriously was perhaps when Tom Hanks revealed he’d caught COVID-19 while on the Gold Coast filming the new Baz Luhrmann film, Elvis. Was it worth it? We’ll soon find out, with Luhrmann’s first feature film since 2013’s The Great Gatsby set for release this June.

Hanks plays the role of Colonel Tom Parker; Elvis’ manager from the mid 1950s onwards. Parker was a Dutch immigrant born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk, which explains the accent. Austin Butler is cast in the lead role. Butler played the Charles Manson acolyte Tex Martin in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time In Hollywood.

The cast also includes Australian actor Olivia DeJonge as Elvis’ wife, Priscilla Presley, musician Yola (Yola Quartey) as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Cyrano star Kelvin Harrison Jr. as a young B.B. King, and the ineffable Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog) as country pioneer, Jimmie Rodgers.

Luhrmann wrote the Elvis screenplay with Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce and Jeremy Doner. Luhrmann and Pearce previously collaborated on Strictly Ballroom (1992), Romeo + Juliet (1996), Moulin Rouge! (2001) and The Great Gatsby.

In 2016, Luhrmann co-created the Netflix series, The Get Down, which followed the rise of hip hop and disco through the eyes of a few teenagers.

Must Read