BAZ LUHRMANN: I was a fan when I was young.
I loved him as a child.
But I’m not doing a biopic of Elvis Presley.
Warner Bros. Pictures
On the one hand, Americans have this ability to absorb.
There’s such a diversity in America, of all kinds of cultures and peoples and inputs.
There’s an openness to taking all sorts of things and making something new.
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I love that energy.
When those two things are really in balance, that’s a great thing.
When they get out of balance, tragedy ensues.
There’s been a lack of that balance lately.
We are really too much about the sell now.
That’s the beauty and the tragedy of the movie you see them rise and fall.
Music is essential to your body of work, but would you call this a musical?
It’s a drama.
But music in this film is as important as words.
Because Elvis was a man of few words.
Austin Butler is incredible when he sings the early Elvis.
And we also have the latter Elvis blended in.
It isn’t a nostalgia piece.
He was the first real pop-cultural youth rebel on a mass level.
Where does Elvis fit into your equation of who you are as an artist?
I come from a very tiny town in the middle of nowhere on a highway.
We had a farm and Dad had all sorts of artists live with us.
It left in me a need to always journey and to absorb.
I’m still fulfilled by just watching people and engaging and meeting new people.
And I think Elvis was like that.
Elvis was always in pursuit of some sort of impossible dream.
And it’s the impossibility of it that keeps you moving forward.
It’s taken us far and wide, but we’re still searching.
Your work is visually sumptuous.
What makes Elvis a good figure for that distinctive cinematic approach?
His life fits beautifully into three acts.
There’s Elvis the punk, if you like, the original punk rocker, the rebel.
Then there’s Elvis the movie man, and that’s when he is pop and family-friendly.
And then there’s ’70s Elvis, which is epic.
TheApocalypse Nowof musicals is what I’ve joked about calling the movie and that’s the ’70s period.
It’s so sprawling and it’s beautiful, but it’s powerful.
It’s a three-act pop-cultural opera.
You searched very hard to find the right man for the job.
Why was itAustin Butler?
How is that happening?"
And then I got a call from Denzel Washington, who gave me a cold call.
I did not know Denzel.
And he said, “I’ve just worked with this guy on stage.
I’ve never seen a work ethic like it.”
And I’m like, “Okay, I must see him.”
Honestly, I put him through the wringer, but he lived Elvis.
I can’t do the song because he had 900 recordings.
But I can pick a film.
He said to Priscilla once, “I’ve never made a great film.”
That was his wish, that he’d be like James Dean.
He makesKing Creolein New Orleans before he goes away to the army.
He shows real acting chops.
That was his greatest sadness after the Army, he did all the musicals.
He always wanted to do a great role, and he was capable of it.
What do you feel is missing most when people talk about Elvis?
I spent so much time in and out of Memphis.
I had a workspace in the back of Graceland.
We did the academic work, but I also lived in the field and met people who knew Elvis.
And I met a man called Sam Bell.
Sam told me verbatim these stories.
Elvis actually lived in the Black community.
And he loved white gospel music and he loved anything new.
For those that are not fans, Elvis is the guy in the white jumpsuit.
He’s inLilo and Stitchin a white jumpsuit.
But what’s been lost is Elvis' capacity to unite and bring things together.
He was a deeply spiritual guy.
1 love was gospel music.
Yes, there’s his good looks.
Yes, there’s this incredible musicality.
There’s the voice.
Yes, there’s his ability to adapt and absorb and the phrasing of songs.
And let’s be honest, he is a very sexy man.
