Austin Butler sparkles in the lead role, but perhaps Baz Luhrmann’s high-octane, live-action graphic novel should not be called a “biopic” at all. For a start, if you want to talk about the life of Presley, there are plenty of omissions: his time at Humes high school, most of his Sun Records career, his rockabilly peers, studio sessions, personal interest in mystic literature, Lake Tahoe residences, and, of course, the sorry descent of his final years.
Other things, such as his love of martial arts, get only a brief mention. What biographic material the director does include is given dramatic licence. When Presley plays Jacksonville in 1956, for example, he is arrested on stage for his show; in reality, he was onlySpecial director Steve Binder, he sits in the “O” of the Hollywood sign rather than merely visiting Binder’s LA office. This movie plays fast and loose with the facts.
In Elvis, the strange sentimental-financial relationship between the manager and his client is located in bonds of family reconstituted by business. Presley’s mother is painted as a strong woman who passes after she is consumed by fear for her son’s welfare. In her absence, Parker emerges as the role model that Presley never had because his real father Vernon lacked the nerve to step up.
and Ginger Alden – are written out of the picture, reminding us that Luhrmann’s Elvis does work in managing the King’s image. Ultimately, Parker gets to argue that Presley imploded not just because he was, as the film’s final captions suggests, “financially abused” by his manager, but also because he and his audience loved each other too much.Photograph: Warner BrosIt is on the territory of race that Luhrmann’s film makes its most interesting argument.
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