Baz Luhrmann reveals plans to release Elvis concert cut with Austin Butler’s onstage performances

Publish Date
Wednesday, 30 November 2022, 3:54PM

After portraying Elvis Presley in the highly-anticipated biopic ELVIS, Austin Butler wowed fans with his impressions of the late star.

And now director Baz Luhrmann has shared his plans to drop another version of the film.

Speaking to IndieWire, the filmmaker revealed there is plenty more footage of Butler as the legendary King of Rock and Roll and says he has plans to release it.

He said: "There’s a whole lot of material that adds up to four hours, but I have gone on record now to say not today, not tomorrow, but at some point, I would do [it]."

Luhrmann explained that he wants to release a director's cut of the film to showcase more of the 30-year-old's hard work at replicating Elvis’ performances — whose voice and mannerisms he studied extensively ahead of his portrayal.

He continued: "Austin did his concerts full out. He did all the numbers. Austin just did it and it was an out-of-body experience to watch him do those full concerts, so one day I will cut those full concerts together."

Butler had formerly admitted that the concerts were done full-out during production.

"So I would come on stage, like in Vegas, do the entire concert, the curtain comes down, I walk off. So every time the audience is getting the experience of the show.

"And if we would cut for any reason, I would entertain the crowd as Elvis. It was the same thing as him having to make jokes to keep everyone entertained."

ELVIS explores Presley's life at three different stages of his career.

The first, his discovery; the second, his 1968 comeback special; and finally, a recreation of backstage footage from the 1970 documentary Elvis: That’s The Way It Is.

The film - which was filmed in Queensland, Australia - also documents the iconic singer's complicated relationship with his longtime manager, Colonel Tom Parker, who is portrayed by Tom Hanks.

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