Austin Butler, a 30-year-old actor has provided us with his interpretation of the renowned musician in the just-released theatrical picture Elvis, and he has hit the ball right out of the park.
Oscar-winning co-star Tom Hanks and celebrated writer & director Baz Luhrmann elevate the film even further.
Presley’s well-known “TCB” (Taking Care of Business) emblem, which merges into the Warner Bros. shield, makes a strong visual statement at the beginning of the movie.
The singer’s aged former manager Col. Tom Parker (a very substantially fabricated Tom Hanks), who is now close to death and anxious to clear his name as either a cunning charlatan or someone who has the singer’s best interests at heart, then appears.
To get the look of the bulky promoter, Hanks spent between two and a half and five hours each day in the makeup chair.
The script was written by Luhrmann, Craig Pearce, Sam Bromell and Jeremy Doner.
And it is fast-paced with lots of narration from the colonel and a cast of characters in an effort to cover the more significant events in the singer’s life in two hours and 39 minutes.
Australian performers Richard Foxburgh and Helen Thompson play Vernon and Gladys, Elvis’s parents.
We hear about Elvis’ upbringing, about the local Black musicians who influenced him musically in his youth, and we see him play at his debut concert.
The apprehensive artist unleashed his physical presence on an unprepared crowd that quickly got hooked.
The plot develops swiftly, at times bordering on frantic. Since it’s difficult to cover such a remarkable life and career in just a little over two and a half hours, many events are just briefly mentioned or skipped over.
Even while Priscilla Presley (played admirably by Olivia DeJonge) is mentioned in the narrative, much like many other events in Elvis Presley’s life, she could have been the subject of a stand-alone film.
The portrayal of Elvis Presley in this film is superb, and it also provides insight into the difficulties he faced in his personal and professional life. It also offers a closer look at the manager who controlled the performer for more than 20 years.
