AN EPIC CINEMATIC DRAMA
Warner Bros. Pictures movie Elvis, released on HBO Max. The production with a budget
of 85 million dollars is signed by Oscar-nominated visionary filmmaker Baz Luhrmann. The production, in which the life and
music of Elvis Presley, a music legend, is handled, stars American actor Austin Butler and Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks. Elvis' story is told through the lens
of his complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
Director Luhrmann uses
America's thriving cultural landscape and lost innocence as a backdrop, while
dramatizing the complex dynamic between the two over the 20 years between
Presley's rise to incredible fame and his transformation into an unprecedented
star. At the heart of
this fascinating journey is Priscilla
Presley (Olivia DeJonge), one of
the most important and influential people in Elvis' life. While the director
especially includes the audience in Elvis Presley's inner world, he does not
neglect to add to the ups and downs of the artist, as well as the tensions he
experiences while overcoming difficulties. In addition, while presenting all the enthusiasm of the
fashion of the period with a sparkling visual, it provides an incredible
musical experience.
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Writer-director-producer
Baz Luhrmann, through his detailed
and extensive research on music legend Elvis, discovered the strange
relationship behind the artist's public success and his personal woes. “While
the story is called 'Elvis', this is also the story of Colonel Tom Parker, at least in terms of narrative.
He is our narrator and in that sense, he is unreliable,” he says. “As I like to
say, Colonel Tom Parker was never a colonel, not a Tom, not a Parker;
nevertheless, he was a fascinating character. He was a festival goer dedicated
to finding that great talent." The filmmaker continues: “Nineteen-year-old
Elvis Presley lived for a time in
one of several white-segregated homes in the African-American section of
Tupelo, Mississippi. Here with a
group of neighborhood friends, he absorbed the music performed both in local
music venues and in Pentecost (a type of church music) tents. As he grew older,
he combined this with his love of country music. Parker had no musical ear by
any means, but was definitely struck by Elvis' influence on younger audiences as
a whole. As the colonel says in the movie, 'It was the greatest festival show
I've ever seen.'" Tom Hanks says of the real-life Parker: “He was both a
genius and a cunnning. He was a very disciplined man, a terribly smart
businessman, and a stingy trying to lube the fly. But he was also the
forerunner of big-time shows that didn't exist until Elvis Presley came along.
He instantly knew that Elvis was a unique artist, saw his great potential, and
knew that if he hadn't made a ton of money off of him, someone else would
have."
THE STAR OF ELVIS
After
extensive research to find the person who would bring to life this musical
legend, whose exciting art and image has permeated the world for over six
decades, the production team stumbled upon Austin Butler. Luhrmann relates: “I
knew I wouldn't have been able to make this movie if the casting hadn't been
completely right. We looked for an actor with the talent to portray the
vulnerable side in this unique star, along with her unique natural movements
and vocals. I had heard
that Austin Butler gave a stunning performance on Broadway in his role opposite
Denzel Washington in 'The Iceman Cometh. Then I got a call
from Denzel, even though we haven't met in person. He told me that this young
actor had a work ethic he had never seen before. Through an extensive journey of screen testing, music
and performance workshops, I am confident that we have found someone who can
bring the spirit of one of the world's most legendary musical figures to life.”
Actor Austin Butler, who wore more than 90 costumes to portray the legend
throughout the 1950s, 60s, and 70s in "Elvis," spent five months
developing the character and even periodically he worked as a workshop with
director Baz Luhrmann.
COSTUME DESIGN
The 4
most-award-winning Academy Award winners
in Oscar history Costume designer Catherine
Martin took up the challenge for an artist whose costumes have become
iconic, building a bridge spanning three decades between the radically
developed 1950s, 60s and 70s. and designed more than 90 costumes for the lead
role. She also worked
closely with icon fashion designers Prada
and Miu Miu to create the costumes
that Olivia DeJonge wore while
portraying the real-life style icon Priscilla
Presley. Martin and her team were privileged to collaborate with Kim and
Butch Polston of B&K Enterprises in Charlestown, Indiana, who faithfully
recreated the iconic stage outfits Elvis wore in the 1970s with the express
permission of Elvis' longtime costume designer Bill Belew. Through the Polstons, Martin was made
for the movie in the exact same way as the originals, with access to the
gorgeous chainstitch embroideries by Jean Doucette, who personally embroidered
Elvis's overalls. Also, renowned costume designer Martin, who pays a lot of
attention to detail, states, “We had a very talented team that made a number of
our costumes, from Elvis' suits to servants' aprons, and their costumes were
just as important as any costume Elvis wore.” says.
SPECIAL MAKEUP EFFECT
He notes
that Tom Hanks required long hours
each day in the makeup chair under the creative gaze of prosthetics supervisor Jason Baird and his team of artists.
They spent three to five hours a day transforming the actor into Colonel Tom
Parker, depending on how old the character had to be for that day's shoot.
Baird explains the process: “The starting point for any major prosthetic
make-up is to mold the actor's head and digitally scan the actor's body. Thanks
to these, body costumes are created and different variations of each look are
prepared”. There were three versions for Parker: Parker in his mid-to-late 40s,
the age at which he discovered Elvis; Parker, who goes back to his 60s; and
Parker, 87. Baird says, “In the late '60s version, the chin was slightly fatter
to show the leap of age; his wig was different and also added age spots to his
look. When he was an 87-year-old man, he was very pale and sickly. In this
version of Parker, Tom's head is completely covered with prosthetics; whiter,
sparse hair, a set of dentures, and even more age and sunspots”. Baird
continues: “The total application for the appearance of the first two age
periods took three and a half hours each day, while the aged, ghostly version
took about five hours to apply. Tom was great throughout the implementation
process. He slept from time to time and took a break every two hours to spread
his legs.” “We were working with the best of the best: Jason, Sean [Genders]
and Brittany [Jones] were my support team, and I spent up to five hours with
them every morning before sunrise, so we needed to know each other's rhythms,”
Hanks says.
VISIUAL MANAGEMENT AND COLOR PALLET
As the story
spans a long period of time, all of which are periodic, Luhrmann and Walker
worked closely with Dan Sasaki,
Optical Engineering at Panavision,
from the very beginning of pre-production. Sasaki created two original and
completely different sets of lenses for the recording of the footage of the
film. “The first was the 65mm lens that took us all the way to Elvis'
trip to Las Vegas, with a softer
color palette and less contrast feel. And these lenses helped create that
historical element or reference to an earlier time with a softer feel.” At
times during production, the shots required what Luhrmann calls "train
watching." Walker explains: “Trainwatching, Elvis 68 Special is a complete
remake of existing footage, such as Elvis' performances in Vegas as well as his
performances at the Steve Allen and Milton Berle shows. Walker also explains
that he uses a lot of new LED
technologies: "We hooked everything up to a dimmer switch. So if we
turned the camera, we could change the lighting at the same time. So I could
change the color of the lights very quickly, from just an iPad." We've
also made some LED lights that are two and a half meters long; they both gave a
nice soft light and could be hidden in the ceiling”. The color palette was also
very period-like of the movie. Colored light appears later in Elvis' life. The
first part of his life, set in Memphis, was, as Luhrmann puts it, "in
black and white." This was the early period of photography, a reference to
color photography by Gordon Parks,
the famous 20th century American photographer. “The black and white color is a
pastel-like version of the color, but still has strong black and white,” says
Walker. This is something I was inspired by when recreating the Beale Street scenes.
SET DESIGN
Elvis” film
the production team saw Graceland as a symbol and expression of Elvis'
achievement, and to reflect this, they built interior sets on the massive
Village Roadshow plateaus on the Gold Coast in Australia. Graceland's exterior was built on a Gold Coast rural
property with a topography remarkably similar to the original site in Memphis, including the slope of the
grassy slope leading to the house. When constructing the interior sets, they
aimed to show Graceland as it was when Elvis first bought the house. They also
swapped out various items to show the renovations the family has made over
time. For example, the floorboards seen when Elvis and his family moved in were
covered with a red plush carpet that Elvis made a bold design choice for later
scenes. It is well documented that Elvis had a large collection of both cars
and motorcycles. That's why for the movie "Elvis" the vehicle
department of the production team acquired over 300 cars and motorcycles. Part
of it takes place on Memphis, Tennessee's legendary Beale Street. The set took the
production team 12 weeks to build, and to be authentic, it was built on a
hillside, in keeping with the space at that time.
A MUSIC LEGEND “ELVIS”
Noting that
Elvis has recorded more than 700 songs, director Luhrmann says his team had to
make tough decisions about which ones to include in the film, not based on
popularity, but simply on how to tell the story in the most effective way. Warner Bros. Pictures movie Elvis, in the genres of biography,
drama and music, offers a unique viewing pleasure where you will feel all the
enthusiasm of music and fashion with its non-stop tempo and unique visual
atmosphere.
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