‘Elvis’ Cinematographer on Recreating the King’s Vegas Showroom for Baz Luhrmann Biopic

Director Baz Luhrmann said he felt “truly blessed” to have had time with Shonka Dukureh, who starred in his Elvis biopic, before her sudden death at age 44.

Baz Luhrmann says he and the cast of 'Elvis' are devastated by the sudden death of cast member Shonka Dukureh. The recently acclaimed actress, who had just drawn plaudits for her role as blues singer Big Mama Thornton in the Elvis Presley biopic, was tragically found dead in her apartment by one of her young children on Thursday (21. 07.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaBaz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” topped $100 million at the domestic box office on Friday, becoming one of the rare films without superheroes or dinosaurs to reach that mark. Globally, the Warner Bros. film has made over $170 million, an impressive result for this kind of material.To be fair, “Elvis” was expensive.

Baz Luhrmann‘s latest movie, the dazzling and operatic rock ‘n roll biopic “Elvis,” is in theaters now. And it’s wow-ing critics and audiences alike.

three endings to the romance drama. “I originally set out to take the notion of the sweeping, ‘Gone With the Wind’-style epic and turn it on its head — a way of using romance and epic drama to shine a light on the roles of First Nations people and the painful scar in Australian history of the ‘Stolen Generations,‘” Luhrmann noted in a statement.“While ‘Australia,’ the film has its own life, there was another telling of this story; one with different layers, nuances and even alternative plot twists that an episodic format has allowed us to explore,” he said.“Drawn from the same material, ‘Faraway Downs’ is a new variation on ‘Australia’ for audiences to discover,” the “Great Gatsby” director added.“Australia” told the tale of an English aristocrat (Nicole Kidman) who inherits a cattle station called Faraway Downs following the death of her husband on the brink of World War II.She teams up with a cattle driver (Hugh Jackman) when Australian barons want to infiltrate her land and take over the territory.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Alanna Nash’s 2010 biography on Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley has become a No.

While out there promoting the hell out of his new film, “Elvis,” filmmaker Baz Luhrmann has made it no secret that he plans on re-editing his 2008 film, “Australia,” and turning it into a limited series. Well, now we finally have more details and it’s starting to sound like “Australia” is getting the full Snyder Cut treatment.

Fans who go see the new movie Elvis in theaters will probably be wondering if actor Austin Butler is doing his own singing in the film.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticReading the reviews of Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” one would be forgiven for thinking that it must be some madly baroque spectacle of exquisite excess, the sort of thing that makes people roll their eyes — or that makes the eyes of others widen with delight — when they hear the name “Baz Luhrmann.”In The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney writes, “How you feel about Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Elvis’ will depend largely on how you feel about Baz Lurhmann’s brash, glitter-bomb maximalism.” In Rolling Stone, K. Austin Collins calls the film “a brash, overwhelming experience.

little too much sway over the King of Rock ‘n Roll. Sure, he helped elevate Presley in the public consciousness but also trapped him in a gilded cage.True to form Luhrmann gives the story an extreme stylistic overlay; songs bleed and warm into each other, remixed frenetically with modern artists and current sensibilities.

In the 2000s, the critical, financial, and Oscar success of Ridley Scott’s ancient Rome actioner “Gladiator” led to studios chasing the same highs. A string of high-budget period action films were greenlit in its wake such as Wolfgang Petersen’s Greek epic “Troy” (loosely based on the Iliad), Scott’s “Kingdom of Heaven,” and Oliver Stone’s ambitious but ultimately messy “Alexander.” Stone wasn’t the only established filmmaker that attempted to tell the story of the ancient Macedonian general and king, Alexander The Great.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticDoes the phrase “that’s all right” apply to the new “Elvis” movie… as in, “that’s all correct”? No one is probably expecting that — any practiced watcher of biopics knows virtually any example of the form will take deep liberties with the facts for dramatic purposes. And maybe it’s a given that a director who puts hip-hop and hard rock on the soundtracks for period films, as Baz Luhrmann does, might favor effect over absolute verisimilitude.Still, “Elvis” is right on enough counts — literally or spiritually — that it’s worth trying to separate fact from fiction in the movie’s narrative of Elvis Presley (played by Austin Butler) and his nearly career-long manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks).

Elvis film exists, including scenes that show the legendary singer meeting Richard Nixon.Speaking to Radio Times in a new interview published yesterday (June 20), Luhrmann explained that the longer version exists, but needed to be worked into a smaller cut to for audiences.“I have a four-hour version, actually,” he said. “I do.

Eight Elvises, was sold by the Italian art collector Annibale Berlingieri in a private sale for $100m to an unidentified buyer, thought to be the Qatari royal family. In 2014, another Warhol painting, Triple Elvis, sold for nearly $82m at an auction at Christie’s in New York. In the years since his death, the character of Elvis has featured in some 31 feature films, played by actors including Kurt Russell, Harvey Keitel and Don Johnson.

According to director Baz Luhrmann, a longer version of his newest biopic, Elvis. 

RadioTimes.com. The director’s latest biopic clocks in at a runtime of two hours and 39 minutes.