“Elvis” stars Austin Butler (Elvis), Tom Hanks (Colonel Tom Parker), Olivia DeJonge (Priscilla Presley), Kelvin Harrison Jr. (B.B. King), Alton Mason (Little Richard), Yola (Sister Rosetta Tharpe), and director Baz Luhrmann sit down with CinemaBlend’s Sean O’Connell to talk about the making of a story about The King.
Austin Butler describes his nervous energy about singing in front of strangers and how they shot the film’s concert sequences. Tom Hanks and director Baz Luhrmann talk about being asked to compromise artistic vision for those who want to profit. Yola, Alton Mason, and others discuss the idea of talent and whether or not the talent of someone like Elvis is timeless.
Austin Butler describes his nervous energy about singing in front of strangers and how they shot the film’s concert sequences. Tom Hanks and director Baz Luhrmann talk about being asked to compromise artistic vision for those who want to profit. Yola, Alton Mason, and others discuss the idea of talent and whether or not the talent of someone like Elvis is timeless.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00I want to go back into the theater with a bunch of strangers and leave with something in common.
00:04That's what I want to do.
00:07Everyone's told me that things are too dangerous to say.
00:16Sing.
00:19Baz stages these concerts with full-on audiences and screaming fans and I want to know how that
00:24kind of impacted your performance to have a crowd in front of you.
00:28Well I so for one I was really nervous about that because I'd never performed in front of
00:34a crowd before I'm not I never sang in front of anybody except my very close friends before
00:39and in a moment of panic I called Rami Malek and I was like what how did it feel what what
00:47what did you go through and all those things and he said you know I really those days you end up
00:53feeling the energy of the audience and it becomes this thing that those will probably end up becoming
00:57your favorite days on set and it was so true and also the way that like you were saying the way
01:01that Baz did it very early on we we kind of set out to not have these moments where it's shifting
01:08between here I am Austin and then there's Elvis so anytime even when he gave me direction it was
01:15all kind of within the context of what we were the concert that we were doing or whatever so
01:21because they are all different yeah yeah and so like in Vegas the way we do it is this curtain
01:26comes up I come out we do the entire concert curtain comes down so the audience every time is
01:31getting the feeling of being at a concert wow that's incredible yeah so what we weren't breaking
01:37it up and so it meant that they had the experience of not seeing any illusion broken oh my god that's
01:44incredible you actually gave them a concert every single time and then we did that in Russwood as
01:49well and and uh so there's always the moment of Baz Kuzm supporting artists that all all the all
01:55the people in the audience they're just so I was so impressed with them there's girls in the audience
02:00with tears in their eyes and just the emotion that they had felt so truthful right so when I look in
02:05their eyes and I'm seeing real emotion seeing a girl blush and a girl with tears in her eyes
02:10it transcends what you imagine that moment will be one of the things I found so fascinating about
02:14the film is all the times that Elvis was asked to compromise his vision essentially um and to
02:19tune down the show to help the business side of it and I'm just curious how often you and your
02:23collaborators have run into that no never well mostly it's kind of like can it have a happy
02:27ending you know can you can you be a little more nice why are you so cranky in this movie
02:32it comes around like that but I've been for a long time in a pretty lucky position
02:37in which I get to weigh though is it you eventually have this vote yes or no and if you say yes where
02:44there you go and it's it's really hard to say no sometimes because the people are great you know
02:49you get you know who knows you get to go to Graceland or something like that but unless you
02:54have an understanding of there is a there you are going there is a theme you're going to examine in
02:59a very specific way if they're not going to let you do that then you then you have to say no or
03:04fight tooth and nail on her to get what you want and I've done that a couple of times I think
03:08the financiers have given up on that one with me they've given up on it like a lot of people have
03:16given up on that with me I mean it's not listen Sean I'm not arrogant about it like I genuinely
03:22I decide to make things I hope that have relevance now but also will be relevant in the future and
03:28honestly I just see it as my duty to do the work I came here to start research five years ago here
03:35Graceland and I wouldn't have believed that five years later I'd be sitting here and being asked
03:41to have a barbecue in Graceland and invited in by the family like as if we I was in someone's
03:46home you're right about what you're getting at like the the show isn't a biopic it's really
03:52about the cell and the soul you know and Parker is this gigantuan mister like you know he's a clown
04:00with a chain chainsaw I mean we've seen characters like that recently you know say anything do
04:05anything and he argues in the movie listen I didn't kill Elvis you know what I just did my job
04:12it's not in this movie I didn't put this bit in but when Elvis dies and the colonel gets the phone
04:19call the first thing he does is pick the phone straight up and ring RC and say print more records
04:25now we all go yeah what a what a cold human being yeah actually probably yes but he would go yeah
04:32but you wanted the records like I've just did my job yeah right you know what I mean like of course
04:37you of course will I'm not here to tell you the colonel's right or wrong I'm here to engage
04:42everybody out there in the audience and have them come into a dark room all as strangers watch a
04:47story and feel something afterwards and have a discussion and a drink and a dance and whatever
04:52you know are you born with destiny or does it just come knocking at your door
05:03I want to know if you think talent is timeless and by that I mean if Elvis were born in 2007
05:09do you think he still would have figured out a way to break into the entertainment industry
05:12oh yeah do you know what it's really dependent on whoever's cognitive bias let's go to like
05:19the executives of the industries that we deal in you know like when I was growing up I was told
05:25that no one had want to sit here a black woman sing rock and roll even and they were like a head
05:30of A&R of a record company and so then I'm like wait a minute you don't know I know a certain
05:36amount about music and I grew up with Cicero how don't you know who invented rock and roll
05:40and so then it becomes this thing like that I suppose guides who gets signed and who doesn't
05:48and so maybe Elvis still gets signed because he's white and that's really like where we are still
05:55jousting with this thing of like you know are you plus some dark skin
05:59right right oh man uphill battle hey well you know I'm doing all right I've got six
06:04Grammy nominations I ain't gonna cry but like don't cry for me Argentina all right mate
06:10but like it's like the idea of like seeing a gazillion me's versus just me like or me and some
06:20other people like you know like that's really so like I wonder like how many of the legends of our
06:28you know our ancestors come up and get that I think I maybe Elvis still does you know I don't
06:34he would have been totally different I think there's way too many um artists to be able to
06:40single just like I don't really necessarily I don't know this is a I don't really know if there's
06:44room for like big big like icons like Elvis Michael Prince anymore yeah just like I don't
06:51really think there's gonna be like big movie stars like that anymore you know what I mean
06:54Tom Hanks is a rare thing true very true Austin might break it through though I'll tell you that
06:58much he's giving us a run for his money he's got the magnetism to make it happen yeah if Elvis
07:03were born in 2007 would he have still figured out a way to break into yes I think absolutely
07:09he would have because it's a transcendent moment uh and I think you can look at any number of
07:14artists right now who have that one thing in common that Elvis had is that they go some other
07:19place when they start performing you know and I don't yeah I think there was certainly times later
07:24on where maybe Elvis didn't care too much and maybe when he was you know recording the 17th
07:30set up a bossa nova baby and you know and fun in acapulco maybe he didn't want maybe he wasn't
07:35putting everything into it there is an aspect of you know time and place that is undeniable but if
07:40we had never seen Elvis Presley and never seen that representation of a guy interpreting rhythm
07:46and blues or rock and roll with this kind of like physical abandon much less the quality of the and
07:52voice of the timber I think everybody would just say who's that guy and he would he would be the
07:57same sort of forbidden fruit yeah I mean talent and circumstance I mean the reason that I asked
08:02certain artists to tribute during the credits and I hope the audience watched the credits
08:08like when Eminem made the song the king and I that's Eminem going I relate to Elvis's journey
08:16I had a similar journey the circumstances of Elvis growing up dad going to jail the shame
08:23ending up in the black community you know Beale Street friends breaking segregation laws all that
08:31journey all that yes there's always going to be some child with some broken heart seeking
08:41to have unrequited love like sorry unconditional love and do something whether it's a funny joke
08:50they're funny or they can dance or they sing whatever they do and love comes across the
08:56footlights and they grow and they get better and better and better but it comes back to your first
09:01question eventually someone's going to start giving them money for that and then someone's
09:05going to give more money for that but then someone's going to be going like but if you do
09:08this you'll get more money and they're just a human being and it's going to tear them apart
09:14that story is going to happen again but the profound uniqueness of Elvis's life a 42-year
09:21life that seems like it was a hundred years I do think talent is timeless I in the way that
09:28Van Gogh didn't really sell a painting until after his death you know it's all within the
09:35context of how people are perceiving things as well right I know that he hit at a particular
09:42point sure so him changing the atmosphere when he in the 50s that was something that nobody had
09:52experienced before right but I do think that music is timeless and there's there you could
10:01walk through a museum and see a painting and it may impact one person another person may just
10:06walk right by right and when when I think right now we're in a period where people may be
10:13overwhelmed by the amount that's out there and also the shock value of a lot of stuff out there
10:19so Elvis what he was doing in the 50s wouldn't be shocking today right right you know so there's
10:23there's that as well it's that's a really interesting question I like to say that movies
10:26don't change at all but we change you know so something that you see that's 10 years so true
10:32yeah it's the same movie same movie but we're a different person sitting in front experience
10:36different things in your life and it's hitting you in new ways my my story I'll wrap on this
10:41is I saw Finding Nemo um when it was in theaters yeah and then when it came to home video in that
10:46time I'd found out I was going to be a father for the first time and it was a totally different movie
10:52it was completely different so art changes you like that that really is beautiful
10:57all right Martin Luther King has been shot to death in Memphis
11:05there are moments in the film when the act of entertaining gets disrupted by
11:09real life you know assassinations and tragedies that happen and in the in the moment in the film
11:15it almost suggests that like art is frivolous like this Christmas special that Elvis is working on
11:20doesn't amount to what's going on but you don't think art is frivolous do you ah well I wrote a
11:26song called Diamond Studded Shoes and it's about the previous prime minister of the UK
11:31Theresa May and how she was delivering a little story about swiping meals out the hands of babes
11:37whilst wearing diamonds in her heels which you know it's a bit rich to be honest and like uh
11:42and so like I've always kind of put the two together it's like a call to arms for the
11:48everyone else on earth all the other humans to go you know stop riding us all the way to the bank
11:53please you know like I've always had that element of like trying to have a higher purpose to what
12:00I'm doing be it in galvanizing of people of working classes of like people from like a
12:08rainbow coalition of people that's definitely what my crowd looks like my fans look like every part
12:14of earth amen it's cool it's so cool but yeah and so like a film and I think like I think like I
12:22just watched like uh Judas and the Black Messiah oh yeah and that whole kind of idea of just like
12:27like bringing everyone together is like a really great thing it's a really great mission and
12:33purpose and I think music has every revolution has a soundtrack well you have to I think that
12:40art has to take into account some aspect of the zeitgeist that's that's going on sometimes the
12:46taking into the that means let's do something so totally different that this has truly and
12:51everybody knows this has no connection to what's really going on much like the carnival on the edge
12:57of town you know the lights are on the ferris wheel is set up let's go see the elephant and
13:02let's have a great night for a night or two and then we'll come back and deal with all the problems
13:05in town you know the plumbing doesn't work and we don't have a good bus you know we don't have a
13:11bus good bus system but the other time I think is you have and I think Baz did a great job on this
13:17is understanding the racial divide that was extremely cultural in between when Elvis first
13:23fell in love with music and by the time he's got the sweet inspirations up on stage with in Las Vegas
13:29there is something there that you that you had to pay some attention to otherwise I think you're
13:35uh you lack a brand of authenticity that I think is the whole point of being in cinema in the first
13:40place people do with inspiring them uh otherwise you know I hope they aren't doing it and I think
13:46I think it comes down to the individual if they don't find that there's some purpose in it then
13:51there probably is none um if someone's forcing them to do something and that's a different story
13:55you know and I think a Christmas special if someone's trying to make money off and you don't
13:58want to do it then probably not probably not best not the best idea it seemed watching the movie
14:04that Elvis was photographed constantly and that there was a lot of footage for Austin to look at
14:08and maybe get some ideas but I wasn't quite sure with BB King how much was even around available
14:13for you to take a look at archival footage was there any available and even like any specific
14:17thing that you looked at that it was limited because I think that it was more so focused in
14:21the 70s 80s and further down um but and I'm obviously I'm playing BB King in the 60s so I
14:27didn't get to see anything so pictures but you know you know when you think about it people don't
14:32really actually act that different so all I had to do is just take some of the through lines and
14:37I found this really fascinating guitar tutorial that he did where he kind of broke down how he
14:43improvises and I always find that musicians tend to talk like they play and so I kind of got a lot
14:49of inspiration for you know speech pattern and and where he found something more tender or you
14:56know it kind of slows it down because in a song you can listen to it but there's something about
15:00the way he explains that he gets really excited about a certain note or a certain bend I don't
15:05know and I was like oh this is where the pocket sits um in certain conversations so yeah does that
15:10pocket exist with acting too oh absolutely you know I think um well I don't know that's it's
15:16interesting there's a musicality to it um and I tend to like I'll pull from anyone like say I met
15:24you and I was like man I really like you know the way the way he talked and I like the way he you
15:29know nodded and the way he looks when he's listening I was like I'm gonna take that and
15:33then I'll put it in a movie and apply it to a different character okay he's like I want credit
15:39I want residuals got a good lawyer yeah no I do the colonel got your back yeah
15:48that's so true how much Little Richard was available and what did you is there a piece of
15:51it that you saw that really said like oh now I kind of figured out who he is um I dove in really
15:57deep and dived into all of his interviews his performances and even his rehearsals and there
16:03was one screening rehearsal that really resonated to me deeply because it's just him in the theater
16:10and there's no audience there's no band it's just him in the piano and you hear the rasp in his voice
16:15which training came from him playing the saxophone as well and you just hear his joy because it was a
16:21young Little Richard at like the age of like 20 21 and in the film I play a young 22 year old
16:27Little Richard at Club Handy so that resonated with me and aligned with me in a different way
16:32um helped me um develop the intention and the sense of direction
16:40I've never been to Cannes either so I mean I got that coming oh man that's a good start yeah
16:47you're dressed for the humidity of this I'm from North Carolina oh so you know what this is better
16:52yes I I didn't feel until I came came back uh east for the first time when I was 20 okay and
16:59then I felt humidity for the first time I thought well you know no wonder the pioneers kept moving
17:03because they didn't want to put up it's sticky and there's bugs everywhere I get it
17:08have you tried a peanut butter and banana sandwich dad yes you did yes how is it it's
17:13fantastic is it are you not no I just got here this morning so I'm going I'm going to get one
17:17tonight at the hotel oh yes absolutely change your life here I am smiling it's gonna be strange to
17:23be in theaters opposite of Buzz Lightyear film how about that uh why it's not uh I actually I
17:29wanted to go head to head with Tim Allen and then they didn't let Tim Allen do it I don't
17:33I don't understand that Chris Evans kid uh yeah yeah but here here's the thing is just as long
17:38as people come back to the motion picture theater don't you I want to go back into the theater with
17:42a bunch of strangers and leave with something in common that's what I want to do and going
17:47going to see a movie with him I'm looking forward to that