“Elvis”: a famous singer and actor was rejected to play the “King of Rock”
the australian director Baz Luhrman He has a great career in films in which music is one of the main protagonists. It was the brains behind Moulin Rouge Y Romeo + Juliet, among so many films. Now back with this biopic about Elvis Presley starring the Californian austin butler (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Y who will also be part of Dunes 2).
Elvis will arrive in Latin American theaters in July 2022 and also has the stellar participation of Tom Hanks as the singer’s manager, Tom Parker, the man who discovered the Memphis artist.
But there was another actor and singer who desperately wanted to fill the role of Elvis. It was the pop singer Harry Styleswhom we will soon see star in the films Don’t Worry Darling Y MyPoliceman. it was the same Luhrmann who rejected the young actor. On the Australian podcast Fitz & Wippa, the director explained why he decided that the one who should have the main role was Butler and no Harry.
“Harry is a really talented actor. I would work on something with him [pero] The real problem with Harry is that he is Harry Styles.”analyzed Luhrmann. “He is already an icon. Harry was genuinely desperate to get into the suit and explore. He has a great spirit and I have nothing but good things to say about him,” he added.
It often happens that when looking for actors for the biopics They try to choose artists who are not as well known or who are not linked to previous roles. The idea is precisely to give the greatest resemblance possible to the new fiction and to the life of the person to be portrayed.
Butler For his part, he also wanted to earn that role. she sent him to baz, as part of the audition in 2019, a version of the song “Unchained Melody” that fascinated the director. He thus he was chosen. But immediately that the recordings began, the pandemic broke out and the filming was suspended. In fact, Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilsonwere among the first Hollywood stars to announce that they had contracted the COVID-19 virus.
The producers told Butler to return to Los Angeles until activities resume. However, he decided to stay in order to deepen his character. He turned his apartment into a home filled with photos of Elvis and newspaper notes from the time. “I think the movie would have been a lot different if we had started shooting at that point, and I’m glad I had time to let myself marinate.”Butler told GQ.
“The thing about Austin is that he himself will tell you, ‘I didn’t choose him.’ It is as if he was attracted, as if the role attracted them, because almost He was born to play it. You know, we can talk about it now, he lost his mother at the same age as Elvis. He sends me a video with this song and… just He spent like two years nonstop living and breathing like Elvis. Now it’s going through a kind of deprogramming.”counted Luhrmann. Butler had to be hospitalized after the conclusion of the filming of Elvis, initially for what was believed to be appendicitis. He took a week to recover.
“The next day [después de terminar la filmación] I woke up at four in the morning in excruciating pain and was rushed to the hospital.” Butler to the magazine GQ. “My body started shutting down the day after I finished Elvis”, concluded the actor who received a 12-minute standing ovation at the last Cannes Film Festival.
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